"Madam ... Sir ... May we come in?" ... What could the policemen want at their door at this hour? ... "I'm afraid we have some bad news!" ... Before these dreadful words were spoken it had been a normal start to the day in the Germonprez residence. Carl checking on his modest investments in the newspaper, Simone tackling some early morning housework and their son Bart ... "Your son has jumped off the roof!" ... At first there was no pain, just the blur. Carl, in an emotional haze, heads off to work only to discover, on the sidewalk outside their home, a chalk outline where there had been a son. Willy Linthout follows Carl's journey intimately and sympathetically with unfinished art as he careers from colleagues to friends, therapists to machines, crazy to angry in his attempt to deal with his son's suicide. But, as Willy knows only too well himself, this particular journey is long and may be never ending.
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About the Author
Belgian artist [b]Willy Linthout[/b] was born in Eksaarde on 1st April 1953. He started his career in comics as a prize winner in the Dutch edition of [i]A Suivre[/i]. He met TV and movie performer [b]Urbanus[/b] and they started an "Urbanus" comic. When it appeared in 1983 it was an immediate and huge success. Twenty-one years later the series had topped 100 albums and was still among the top sellers. That year his only son, Sam, committed suicide at the age of 21...
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Transforming Story,
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This review is from: YEARS OF THE ELEPHANT (Paperback)
Years of the Elephant is sad. Infinitely sad. It's the unfortunately true story of the suicide of Willy Linthout's son and the resulting toll it ends up taking on both him and his wife. As such, it's incredibly difficult to get through, yet remarkably good. It's a journey we don't want to go on, and yet Linthout is so deftly good that we want to embark on it...for his sake and for ours.
Linthout has been perhaps best known for his work on Urbanus before this. And perhaps that comic background informs some of the work here, which often takes a surreal turn as he attempts to make sense of his new world without a son. Linthout and his wife deal with the news and the ongoing sadness in much different ways, and the split is palpable. Years begins with the parents receiving the sad news from the police. Their son, just 21 years old, had jumped from the roof and his body was on the street below. His parents were unaware, but the chalk outline outside their building will speak volumes of pain and sadness to them when they attempt to leave. The chalk outline becomes the representation of his son for Linthout in this work, a reminder of the power of graphic books. Here, in this simple drawing, is a perfect representation of the power of the graphic form: how art and story combined can tell a truly transforming story. -- John Hogan
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