Sholm Pearly

“A Sister” by Bastien Vivès is a contemporary graphic novel of a summer romance. Romance actually seems too mild a term, a sexual awakening is more accurate. The book is not for every hand as it is graphic and I’m sure talks more to men than women.

I really liked the illustration style, pur lines, focused on the two main characters, simple black white lines and grey volume for a very simple holiday at the beach story. It is elegant and fits the mood, we can see the awakening love in the hero’s eyes for the pretty Helen.

But the story is a little too raw for my taste. I guess it didn’t talk to me – not my feelings/way of seeing things, not my memories, not my generation, just a little off, this will give nostalgia to people who are going to be 30 soon and grew up on Pokémon under the internet booming of sex addiction. 

You know you are not in for a soft ride when the opening dialogue in the car is about a friend of the family having a miscarriage. The discussion is truthful, the parents are open and honest with their preteen and just 13 years old boy, but you just know if this is the beginning you can expect a story that doesn’t put on the brakes on anything. At first I thought it was interesting, the first few questions it pauses I would have liked to see played out. But it took a different direction, focused on other interests that did not resonate with my own. It reads like an autobiography. Which I usually like. But the subject matter didn’t interest me. I just think it was for a different audience.