A selection of July graphic novels

 Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki and translated by Alex Dudok de Wit (2022) 160 pages

This is read right to left. The book was originally published in 1983 with it being translated into English just recently in 2022. The note from the translator at the end was fascinating. Miyazaki was doing much creative brainstorming in the 1980s and I definitely noticed some visuals like the slave wagon and the slave trade in the fortress town that were also used in Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea film. There are many beautiful watercolors. It is a quick read because there is not much text. There are some narrative leaps that I wish were explained or developed better, but still very enjoyable.

You and a Bike and a Road by Eleanor Davis (2017) 172 pages

Simple and kind of rough line drawings. No color. Nice journal of a journey by bicycle. Eleanor starts in Tucson, Arizona and is aiming to go all the way to Georgia. Cool observations. This fit with the #hooplachallenge July prompt of Tales in Transit.

The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Cormac McCarthy with art by Manu Larcenet (2024) 160 pages

Yes, it is bleak in every way. A post apocalyptic tale of survival. I gather from the letter at the end, from the artist to the author, that it is a faithful adaptation. Smoke and ash, dirty decay and destruction, and alarming apprehension are illustrated realistically at every step of the way. There are moments of relative plenty, but often scarcity and death. A father and son can only rely on each other and are often scared of losing the other. When they find packaged food I like that we get a little bit of color. Some of the wide landscapes are beautiful even though desolate. After I finished, I flipped back to the beginning to write this review and there is a definite progression that the two main characters go through in becoming more ragged. This adaptation is handled really well.

Djuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna Barnes by Jon Macy (2024) 320 pages

Fascinating. I listened to the audiobook of her Nightwood recently. Struggled to understand it, but this graphic biography of her life is brilliant. I loved the art (b&w with bits of red like Djuna's hair). It captures the times realistically. Structured like a three act play, but not completely linear. The who's who of art and literary modernists she crossed paths with was incredible. The free love commune run by her grandmother was outrageous. So much throwing around the term genius. So many people striving to break the rules. So much alcohol, sex, and people living their queer lives. Djuna Barnes was a struggling artist who stood out in a crowd.

George Sand: True Genius, True Woman by Severine Vidal with art by Kim Consigny (2024) 344 pages

Following the graphic biography of Djuna Barnes, I read this biography of another writer. 19th century France and Aurore Dupin's life from childhood is very detailed. Despite her writing habits, liberal social values, and rebelliousness against the strictures of marriage, she remains a little mysterious. Her playfulness comes across strongly. Moving in circles of artists, taking many lovers, and seeking freedom by dressing in men's clothes and using a male pen name also comes across. There was a lot of family drama and romantic drama and social issues of the day that she used in her fiction. This graphic novel does a good job encapsulating a full life within its pages. The art serves its purpose without many surprises.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Literary, 1330 pages.

So, I meant to finish this epic, sweeping, really long book when (almost) everyone else did, back in August for our last summer-reading program meeting, but that didn't work out. I was only on page 990 or so at that time. Then I meant to finish it last year, maybe in December, so I could count the page total in 2012, but that didn't work out either. I finished it this morning and now I understand what everyone was talking about at the last meeting with the marriage, and the moving out, and characters not seeing each other anymore, and what Thernadier was trying to do, etc.. I found it a very satisfying end. Marius is redeemed, Jean Valjean gets his belated due, Thernardier is sent off to work his malign nature on America. I'm a little concerned that what Jean says about Fantine, and about seeing Cossette for the first time ten years ago might raise some of the same problems in her marriage that Thernadier was trying to raise, but hey, it's over. Yay.

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Les Miserables / Victor Hugo 1432 p.

Our Adult Summer Reading program choice.  I had read it 25 years ago, forgotten it, and enjoyed it again the second time.  I was surprised to find that I liked quite a few of Hugo's rather long-winded passages about the progress of human history, the rights of women and men, and social justice.  (Up to a point, of course - he does tend to like to hear himself write.)