After reading a few comments and reviews of Lucy Knisley's graphic memoir French Milk, I had some serious doubts as to how much I would actually enjoy it. I thought I would just find it self-centered and full of insignificant details. (Do I really care what she bought or what she ate while on vacation in Paris?) Yet, I was drawn to it anyway, and I ended up really enjoying it.A brief synopsis: Lucy and her mom spend several weeks living in a quaint (and slightly bizarre) apartment in Paris' fifth arrondissement. Lucy's mom is celebrating her 50th birthday and Lucy is, well, not really celebrating anything. She's about to graduate from college, applying to grad programs for cartooning, and having a general freak-out about life. Her drawings serve as a travelogue of their stay—illustrating they places they visited, the food they ate, the people they met, and the things they bought—and a bit as diary of her own thoughts.
First off, whoever wrote the synopsis for the back of this book was way off. Aside from the nit-picky fact that she did not, in fact, spend six weeks in Paris (December 24—January 25 is not six weeks, right????), the blurb describes this as "moving, personal look at a mother-daughter relationship." If anything, this was a story of a girl struggling to deal with growing up and entering the real world. Aside from the mere mention that both Lucy and her mother were on this trip, there was nothing significant that could classify this as a moving mother-daughter story. Nothing. So don't read this expecting one.
I did really enjoy Lucy's cartoon style. She's great with using facial and body expressions to convey a mood. And this memoir sure gave her a lot of practice drawing food. Her style reminds me a lot of Craig Thompson (Blankets). I also liked her narrative of the pre-graduation freak-out. I can certainly relate (my own final semester of Senior year was full of anxiety and panic attacks), and verbalizing those feelings really really really really helps. I actually enjoyed her drawings so much that I've continued to explore her career, and I'm glad to see that she's been pretty successful—she maintains a pretty fabulous blog and a very thorough website.
This one's a fun read that just inspired me to discover more graphic novels. Also, she references (and draws!) Arrested Development, which automatically makes you a much cooler person.
