Canada Reads 5

Finally, nearly a month later, I have obtained and read Essex County, (by Jeff Lemire) the fifth book (and first voted off) in this year's Canada Reads contest. However, it wasn't until I received the book that I realized that I'd somehow only ordered the first volume. Apparently there are two other volumes - which I sadly admit I probably won't get to.

Well, what did I think? It was interesting, to say the least. It was different from a comic book in that it had a hard cover, but other than that it sort of seemed like a comic book. There was even a superhero in it! I think I just don't know how to read graphic novels: I opened the first page to find spare black and white drawings of farm equipment and a little boy. No words. I was sort of at a loss. I could see in a second what the pictures were saying: trying to set the scene in writing would have taken a lot longer to read. But I didn't feel like I really had to stare at the pictures for a long time to get the meaning - I got it and moved on.

At the beginning, I was trying to narrate the book for myself because I'm so used to reading novels with that narrative voice. I was somewhat thrown for a loop by not having one. But that got kind of tiresome: it was like watching an amateur hockey game and doing the play-by-play yourself in your head instead of just watching the action unfold. So it didn't take me long to read because it was mostly pictures, with limited dialogue. I still caught myself trying to describe scenes and feelings as I went through, however. I was trying to put words to the pictures.

Surprisingly, I did get into the story. A little boy goes and lives with his uncle on a farm after his mother dies of cancer. I could see the uncle's emotions on his face as he tried to parent his nephew. In that respect, I enjoyed the pictures. It gave a window on feelings that a writer could use words to hide. It was sort of cinematic. So I did enjoy the story until the aliens showed up at the end. That moment of complete unreality really ruined the story for me. It was so deep and heartfelt before that, so to suddenly introduce this moment of fantasy really pulled me out of the story and detracted from it, in my opinion. It was hard to tell if it was the boy's imagination or if this was really the way that the story was going to go. I felt it took away from the relationship that was developing between the boy and his uncle.

I suppose one should discuss the artwork of the book. It was very spare and simple - just black and white pen/ink drawings. (I suppose - I'm not really in to art.) I would have appreciated some colour. I did like how the flashbacks were done in light grey and with softer lines. Also, the kid's comic book in the middle was very well done. However, I can't say that I would stare at the pictures for hours, as Sara Quinn said she would on the Canada Reads show. They were not detailed enough for me to do that. However, the artist did do a good job of showing place and landscape in his pictures, as well as human emotion. I must say though, that if I didn't know that the book took place in Ontario, I would have thought the farm located in Saskatchewan, due to the expansiveness created by the drawings. Also, my only experience of Southern Ontario was more urban, whereas I associate Saskatchewan with a more rural image. So for me, when I imagined the image colourized in my head, it was the colours and shadings of Saskatchewan that the images took on, instead of those of Ontario.

I did enjoy most of the story of Essex County, but I'm not really interested in reading another graphic novel (or the rest in the series). When I read a book, I want to read it. I want to read words and sentences and paragraphs. I want to marvel (hopefully) at how the author has created the characters or describe the landscape and be swept away into a different world. I like to read the words and then have my imagination take over instead of having the images presented to me. That said, I'm glad I tried it - it was interesting. It was mostly a good story too. Should it have been the pick for Canada Reads? No. But it's good that it was put out there and given some exposure. Maybe some of my readers will try reading a few graphic novels for themselves.