Perhaps the cleverest trick Juliette pulls off is its simple title, printed large on the cover of the book above an alternate title, "The Ghosts Return in the Spring." It is a book about a family’s reckoning with figurative ghosts during a troublesome few weeks, sure, but set atop the compelling family drama is a fascinating depiction of an anxious young woman’s grasping attempts to be part of her family’s story. What French cartoonist Camille Jourdy has left readers with is deft and empathetically written - told as humorously as it can be to remain endearing, rather than becoming a farce.
Just after the titles, we have a scene of Juliette’s sister spending time with her children, then rendezvousing with a man behind her husband’s back. Soon the title character herself pulls in on a train, having temporarily traded her big city life in Paris for a few weeks with her family. Throughout, the book moves among family members; not just Marylou, the sister, whose costume salesman lover greets her for sex in her greenhouse wearing animal costumes, but Juliette’s free-spirited artist mother, who bounces between boyfriends, and her father, grumpily moping around and cracking jokes. Juliette struggles with lifelong anxiety disorder, and ends up connecting more with Polux, a quirky, kind-hearted, pudgy man who frequents a local bar and becomes her Lost in Translation-style temporary older paramour.
Throughout the comic, much is made of the fact that Juliette struggles to connect with her family; their hardships have been hidden in an attempt to emotionally protect her. This freshens up the family drama device of the 'black sheep' returning to the fold, to messily hopeful ends; a bit muted, but satisfying.
The book is very pleasurable. It’s immediately apparent from its cover and its splash page opening that Jourdy is a gorgeous stylist, beautifully dressing solid, expressive cartooning with watercolor paints. One- or two-page splashes recur throughout as chapter breaks of a sort, which are always stunning, but their smooth and lush imagery are only punctuation for more precise cartooning. Much of the story is told through boxy, ever-evolving but uncomplicated panel layouts; Jourdy's cartooning functions well, with copious use of wordless panels focusing on changing facial expressions set between dialogue-centered panels. While I sometimes found myself wishing for more background detail, these moments end up being among the most affecting; there isn’t a page in Juliette that doesn’t look great.
This is a fun read - fun in the broadest and most fulfilling sense of the word, funny and goofily charming. A few moments, particularly near the climax, get pretty over-the-top, but the mannerisms and quips of these well-realized characters always made me smile. The book’s playfulness never undercuts its drama and thoughtfulness; it just makes it fun to think about and reflect upon on top of being fun to look at and laugh along with. A real pleasure, and one of the best of last year.
