It's All Science Fiction

It's All Science Fiction

Science Fiction
Joe Ollmann
Conundrum Press

On the heels of Joe Ollmann’s widely acclaimed Mid-life comes Science Fiction, the story of Mark Sett, a high school biology teacher who experiences an unforeseen crisis that shatters his belief system and threatens his long-term relationship. But it isn’t his unexpected breakdown that alienates his live-in girlfriend Sue, an over-educated grocery store clerk; instead, it’s what triggers his revelation and his wild claims that she finds so bewildering.

Mark, “a pragmatic and rarely frivolous man,” is concerned strictly with the facts and evidenced-based truths, so when he selects Taken At Night, a movie on the straight-to-the-video express, his girlfriend is perplexed. Not only is it science fiction, something her partner has always loathed, but it’s over-the-top cheesy. As Sue and Mark watch the opening scenes of the film, Mark begins to weep and later confesses that the film triggered a long-repressed memory of being abducted, not by gangsters or masked men, but by aliens….

Sue’s understandable response to her partner’s bombshell disclosure is shock, which quickly turns to annoyance. After all, asking your partner to believe a claim that is so dramatically out of character is an excessive demand. A bout of depression or even a repressed memory of sexual assault would indeed have been easier to accept. While Sue’s reluctance to take such a leap in faith is understandable, most readers will find themselves looking for some way to believe Mark and not dismiss him as delusional.

Ollmann’s work is always replete with humour, and Science Fiction is no exception. While there could have been a more plausible cause for Mark’s crisis that was equally at odds with his scientific way of thinking, such as a sudden belief in God or creationism, it probably wouldn’t have been as funny. In spite of the outrageousness of Mark’s apparent abduction, the turmoil the couple experiences in the aftermath of his revelation is highly realistic, with Ollmann skillfully and accurately capturing the various stages of the couple’s demise.

Science Fiction is a page-turner in no small part because of the strong characters Ollmann has created and his mastery of the story’s pacing. In addition, the author has a great ear for dialogue, which is infused with a wonderful wry wit. His frames also show a wide range of emotion demonstrating his keen sense of observation, but for the sake of variety, he could have experimented a little more with the layout instead of repeatedly giving us the same nine-frame panel. In the end, Science Fiction was enjoyable, but it was not quite as entertaining as Mid-life, for the simple reason that it is easier to relate to a 40-year-old man revisiting fatherhood than a high school teacher who believes that he was once abducted by aliens.

But these are minor points. Ollmann is nevertheless a gifted storyteller.

This has been cross-posted at the mRb.


Other related posts:
Review of Mid-Life by Joe Ollmann
AYA by Abouet and Oubrerie
Paul Goes Fishing by Michel Rabagliati
Susceptible by Geneviève Castrée





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Summer Reads: Letting It Go by Miriam Katin

Summer Reads: Letting It Go by Miriam Katin

Letting It Go 
by Miriam Katin
Drawn and Quarterly
   

Changing a career path becomes more difficult with age. Now imagine a career change in your sixties, right when most people are thinking about the end of their professional aspirations. Artist Miriam Katin did just that. In her seventh decade, she became a graphic novelist, not a change you’d expect with the genre’s high concentration of authors under the age of 40.

In 2006, Katin penned her first critically acclaimed graphic memoir, We Are On Our Own. In this story, a very young Miriam and her mother are forced from their home in Budapest during World War II after the Nazi invasion. They change their names and go into hiding, managing to stay just steps ahead of German soldiers. This experience marked Katin for life, giving her an understandable reason to despise all things German. However, in the years following the publication of We Are On Our Own, some unexpected news forced Katin to come to terms with her haunting past. Letting It Go is the account of this painful but ultimately inspiring experience.

In this, her second graphic memoir, we meet Katin and her husband living peacefully in Brooklyn. Their son Ilan arrives with his girlfriend, a Swedish comic artist. Over a cup of coffee, the son tells his mother not only that he and his girlfriend are moving to Berlin, but also that he wants his mother to help him with the paperwork so that he can become a Hungarian citizen and obtain an EU passport. Katin’s immediate reaction is horror, and she refuses to help her son. But when she realizes that her actions could undermine their relationship, she seeks the advice of friends and loved ones, and eventually relents. On the surface, she puts on a brave face, but underneath she suffers in silence, and her inner turmoil has some very surprising physical manifestations. In the end, she and her husband travel to Berlin, not once but twice, and the trips are filled with some wonderful unforeseen surprises. But we also see that letting go of long-harboured grudges is a very difficult process.

Although this might sound like a serious book, there are many light moments that make it an easy read. Katin’s borderless panels have a beautiful flow to them, and many of her finely detailed establishing shots are stunning. My personal favourite was the crayon effect of the choppy river below the Brooklyn Bridge.

However, while this book is enjoyable and sends a powerful message, it has one significant shortcoming. Although we can see and hear Katin’s pain in Letting It Go, we don’t feel her trauma. This will be particularly true for anyone who has not read We Are On Our Own. Without having a clear idea of Katin’s past, this memoir loses considerable power. In spite of the book’s many references to the horrors suffered by Jews at the hands of the Germans in World War II, the references are too well known and impersonal to produce the desired effect. A flashback might have helped readers better identify with Katin’s experience.

Nevertheless, it is inspiring to read a memoir by a woman in her seventies who is not only willing to share her past, but who also shows us that it is never too late to face our demons. Katin has the courage to tell her story, warts and all, and do it unconventionally with a graphic novel.

This review has been cross-posted at the Montreal Review of Books.

Other related posts
My Mother, the Nazi Midwife and Me by Gina Roitman
Stony River by Tricia Dower
Susceptible by Geneviève Castrée
Studio Saint-Ex by Ania Szado
Bombay Wali and other stories by Veena Gokhale
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
Gay Dwarves of America by Anne Fleming

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Review: Essex County by Jeff Lemire

Review: Essex County by Jeff Lemire

At the office, I started an Off-Canada Reads series and invited other co-workers to join, hoping that at least four would be interested so that we could each buy one of the five finalist books and then pass them around. In the end, six people were interested, so we decided that we would choose two other books from the original top 40 that we thought should have made it into the top five. Those books were Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall and Heave by Christy Ann Conlin.

Essex County by Jeff Lemire

I was dying to get my hands on this book, not only because I had read good reviews, but also because I love graphic novels, and I wanted to read the first graphic novel to make it into the top five of the Canada Reads series.

I read the Collected Essex County in one sitting. In Book #1, Tales from the Farm, we meet Lester and his uncle. Lester's mother has died of cancer, and Lester is left to his uncle Kenny. Obviously, because they live on a farm, Lester has chores, which he doesn't always do, much to the dismay of his uncle. Instead, Lester escapes to an imaginary world where he's a superhero, perhaps as a way to stave off his grief. He eventually meets Jimmy Lebeuf, who is rumoured to be somewhat slow after a head injury in hockey. Jimmy befriends Lester, but Kenny is opposed to the friendship for reasons that the reader later discovers.

Lemire's drawings are scratchy lines that convey a considerable amount of nuance and quickly pull the reader into the story. The angles of his frames sometimes give us the impression of a very detailed storyboard for a beautiful short film. Lemire is also very good at crafting natural dialogue.

The first book is a wonderful beginning to a beautiful and moving story, perhaps the best of the three in the Collected Essex County. Although the characters change throughout the three books, they are all connected by narrative threads and Essex County itself. The exact relationship of all the characters is only disclosed towards the end.

Unfortunately, the second book Ghost Stories was a disappointment. The reader meets an old Lou Lebeuf, who is hard of hearing and suffers from dementia. His flashbacks unveil the story of his youth. Twenty-year-old Lou moves to Toronto and is eventually followed by his brother Vince. They play hockey on a losing team, which eventually finds itself on a winning streak in no small part due to the playing ability of Lou and Vince. Sound familiar? Vince and his girlfriend eventually decide to leave Toronto and move back to Essex County, but not before there is an indiscretion on Lou's part. This transgression keeps Lou in Toronto for 25 years without returning to Essex County even to visit his mother. He works as a TTC streetcar driver and leads a lonely life, never feeling quite at home in Toronto.

Book 3, the Country Nurse, brings us back to Essex County, and although this book was enjoyable as the reader discovers more about the relationships between the characters, it couldn't make up for the lack of depth in Ghost Stories. I can understand that losing a hockey career to injury was a disappointment for young Lou and that he harboured a lot of guilt for his indiscretion, but the depth of these emotions is not explored in the story. And let's not forget--this was no small twinge of guilt. It kept Lou from Essex County for 25 years.

Unfortunately, the hockey narrative has been used far too many times without ever serving up anything new. If Ghost Stories had shed some light on Lou's feelings of loneliness, regret and the profound disappointment of losing his hockey career, this story might have worked. Even when Lou returns to Essex County, his 25 years in Toronto do not appear to have transformed the 20-year-old, except of course, for a drinking problem.

Overall, I would say that Jeff Lemire may one day become a great storyteller. We can definitely see his potential in Tales from the Farm and Country Nurse. He also has a beautiful way of weaving together narrative threads, but he hasn't hit his stride yet.

In terms of a great Canadian graphic novelist, look no further than Michel Rabagliati and his Paul series. My favourite, Paul Goes Fishing, has the depth and maturity that was lacking in Ghost Stories. I wanted to love Essex County, but unfortunately I didn't.

Other Reviews and Canada Reads posts
Paul Goes Fishing by Michel Rabagliati
Some Thoughts on Canada Reads
Expozine's Broken Pencil
Make Me A Woman by Vanessa Davis
Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
Comics: Girls, Boys and Reading


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Expozine's Broken Pencil

Expozine's Broken Pencil

St-Enfant Jésus, site of ExpoZine

Although it seems like yesterday, two weeks ago I took my son to the Saint-Enfant Jésus Church at St-Joseph and St-Dominque for the 2010 Expozine, which is held in a very warm basement with a low ceiling. This may sound unappealing, but in fact, it's wonderful. This is a large room filled with very creative people, presenting some over-the-top, fun material. And besides they serve beer.

You would expect that there would be only zines as the name implies, but in fact Expozine also features book, graphic novels and comics. It's actually a small press expo. This year, I had the impression that the work was a little more polished than in previous years. Polished is fine, but I love the very basic zine, just so I can imagine what it might be like without the typos, formatting glitches and slips of pen. These kinds of errors make a zine much more human.

A zine is a DIY self-published, small-circulation publication that uses original and/or borrowed texts and images; in other words, it can be anything you want it to be because you're the author, illustrator, graphic artist, editor, promoter and salesperson. I recently reviewed a political zine (review coming soon) that folded out into a poster, but for maximum reading pleasure, you had to read it as you unfolded. These zinesters combined the themes of raspberry jello and the Red Scare to great effect and the price was right--two bucks.

Mariko Mamaki on the Cover of Broken Pencil

As I walked around Expozine, I came across the table for Broken Pencil, a Toronto-based magazine that specializes in zine culture and independent arts. I remembered reading a Broken Pencil feature a few months earlier when I was researching work by Sonja Ahlers. They were giving out copies of past issues and a year's subscription for $10.00 at the table. I leafed through a few and saw several familiar names, all of them young writers I had never heard of until October of this year when the Canada Reads named its Top 40 Novels of the Decade. It appears that Broken Pencil has a good eye for talent.

I decided to buy a subscription. From the two issues I was given,  I learned that Heather O'Neill, a past Canada Reads winner, started out contributing to a zine. Zoe Whittall, whose recent novel was one of the Top 40, also began with zines. The graphic novels of Mariko Tamaki and Jeff Lemire were also named in this year's Top 40, and Lemire is the first graphic novelist ever to become a Canada Reads finalist. Did they, too, start out with zines? It wouldn't surprise me if they had.

The zine seems to provide the perfect starting point for aspiring writers. After all, they have to come up with the idea, story, theme, plan how it will unfold, consider the artwork and layout, find images and/or text, submit to magazines such as Broken Pencil, find a way to distribute the final product, and maybe, just maybe, recover the photocopying costs. Sounds like a practice-run for publishing a book to me. Stay tuned for my zine review...

Related posts:
Sonja Ahlers' the Selves
Upcycling: Big Cig Turns Over a New Leaf (Distroboto)
Montreal's 8th Annual Small Press Expozine
Some Thoughts on Canada Reads
Make Me a Woman by Vanessa Davis



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