What do you think?
Rate this book
Lucille #2
Renee
French graphic novelist Ludovic Debeurme returns with a devastating sequel to his prize-winning graphic novel Lucille. While Lucille moves back in with her overbearing mother and Arthur serves time in prison for murder, new character Renée becomes obsessed with a married jazz musician twice her age. Debeurme's haunting border-less panels follow these three lovers between dreams and reality, twining their stories together into a poignant and universal search for love.
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 28, 2016
Renee is the sequel to Parisian comics artist Debeurme's Lucille, and I understand there is to be a third. From my glance at Goodreads ratings and reviews, people mostly dislike this trilogy because they find the novel complex and grim, and they don't like any of the characters.
Lucille is about an anorexic teenaged girl and Arthur, OCD, downtrodden by his drunken father. In Renee these stories continue, though Lucille has moved back in with her mother and Arthur is in jail. And of course now we read about Renee, who has her own set of problems, living in a room, having an affair with a married jazz musician twice her age, not having fun.
Debeurme works without panels or speech bubbles, which contributes to the haunting, dream-like state you inhabit as you read. There's lots of white space, sometimes blank facing pages, few words because these are not verbose Shakespearean characters; they are simple lost folks. It's also lovely. Grotesque and graceful. The inner life of sad, lonely people, usually a little crazy.
It's like a fog, highly influenced by psychoanalytic theory. Madness. Hallucinations. Dream states. It's a little like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns world, though more grounded in the familiar every day world. The drawing is black and white, a little sketchy, ethereal. Sometimes it reminds me of Anders Nilsen's work, dark and depressed, though Nilsen's work (like Burns and Clowes) has a sense of humor about it. Not Debeurme's. This is the nightmare of the living dead, a highly literary novel about principally three characters we come to care about (or I do, anyway). Chet Brown's I Never Liked You.
I love this 460 page book and think it is more evidence of what the graphic novel is capable of accomplishing, like Blankets or Maus or Fun Home, complex and dark and rich and interesting. A portrait of misery and vulnerability and survival. It's one of the great stories, but not easy to read. All these lonely people, living in desperate conditions. Sad and touching and enriching, like any great literary novel. Haunting. You may not like any of the characters, as vulnerable as they are, but you won't forget them.
Lucille is about an anorexic teenaged girl and Arthur, OCD, downtrodden by his drunken father. In Renee these stories continue, though Lucille has moved back in with her mother and Arthur is in jail. And of course now we read about Renee, who has her own set of problems, living in a room, having an affair with a married jazz musician twice her age, not having fun.
Debeurme works without panels or speech bubbles, which contributes to the haunting, dream-like state you inhabit as you read. There's lots of white space, sometimes blank facing pages, few words because these are not verbose Shakespearean characters; they are simple lost folks. It's also lovely. Grotesque and graceful. The inner life of sad, lonely people, usually a little crazy.
It's like a fog, highly influenced by psychoanalytic theory. Madness. Hallucinations. Dream states. It's a little like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns world, though more grounded in the familiar every day world. The drawing is black and white, a little sketchy, ethereal. Sometimes it reminds me of Anders Nilsen's work, dark and depressed, though Nilsen's work (like Burns and Clowes) has a sense of humor about it. Not Debeurme's. This is the nightmare of the living dead, a highly literary novel about principally three characters we come to care about (or I do, anyway). Chet Brown's I Never Liked You.
I love this 460 page book and think it is more evidence of what the graphic novel is capable of accomplishing, like Blankets or Maus or Fun Home, complex and dark and rich and interesting. A portrait of misery and vulnerability and survival. It's one of the great stories, but not easy to read. All these lonely people, living in desperate conditions. Sad and touching and enriching, like any great literary novel. Haunting. You may not like any of the characters, as vulnerable as they are, but you won't forget them.
May 11, 2016
"There are mystical knives that bury themselves in the flesh of young girls beneath the weight of a boy."
Review to come.
Review to come.
February 1, 2016
Well I guess part of my confusion came from the fact that I didn't know it was a sequel. The rest of the confusion came from the highly abstract storytelling and equally abstract and highly disturbing imagery that littered the pages.
One thing I will say, is that this book calls for massive trigger warnings. There are several scenes that could cause alarm to unsuspecting readers.
Although the story - once I finally got into it and realized everything was interconnected - was... interesting, it wasn't captivating. Only shocking and at times unnecessarily so. The images at times seemed there only for shock value, which I did not approve of in the slightest. And believe you me, I'm ALL for creepy, messed up stories with equally creepy, messed up visuals... but at least half of this book's imagery seemed utterly unnecessary and pointlessly shocking. It caused me to dread what the next page would hold - and not in a good way AT ALL.
The plot, although good in its way, still lacked coherency and was rather jarring and disjointed. More times than not, I simply couldn't follow.
I also hated almost every character in the book, which, that in itself, is NEVER a good sign.
All in all... I sadly don't have much good to say about the book. :/ I wish I did. I knew I was taking a chance with this one, but BOY did I not know what I was getting myself into.
Perhaps if I had read the first book "Lucille," then I could have had better things to say about this one. Especially if this book continued directly from the previous one. But as is, I can only give my two cents on what I DID read. (And sadly, what WAS read wasn't very good.)
One thing I will say, is that this book calls for massive trigger warnings. There are several scenes that could cause alarm to unsuspecting readers.
Although the story - once I finally got into it and realized everything was interconnected - was... interesting, it wasn't captivating. Only shocking and at times unnecessarily so. The images at times seemed there only for shock value, which I did not approve of in the slightest. And believe you me, I'm ALL for creepy, messed up stories with equally creepy, messed up visuals... but at least half of this book's imagery seemed utterly unnecessary and pointlessly shocking. It caused me to dread what the next page would hold - and not in a good way AT ALL.
The plot, although good in its way, still lacked coherency and was rather jarring and disjointed. More times than not, I simply couldn't follow.
I also hated almost every character in the book, which, that in itself, is NEVER a good sign.
All in all... I sadly don't have much good to say about the book. :/ I wish I did. I knew I was taking a chance with this one, but BOY did I not know what I was getting myself into.
Perhaps if I had read the first book "Lucille," then I could have had better things to say about this one. Especially if this book continued directly from the previous one. But as is, I can only give my two cents on what I DID read. (And sadly, what WAS read wasn't very good.)
February 18, 2016
This is described as a sequel to Lucille, and obviously it is. It carries on with the stories of Lucille and Arthur, but separately, as the latter is stuck in prison. But the addition of the titular character makes this a very different kind of book that its predecessor. The storyline is threaded, with the narrative following the three main figures and, at times, bringing their stories together. Things become more cohesive toward the end, and I assume that Debeurme will continue things in another book. Renee is also more dreamlike and more ethereal than the earlier book. There were moments of the surreal in Lucille -- especially with the young boy (Renee's dead brother?) that appears throughout -- but this tone is more notable in the new work. The art is, in places, more detailed and textured in Renee, especially when we're presented with a closeup of figures.
We're discussing this book on an upcoming podcast, and I might just even interview Debeurme for the blog.
We're discussing this book on an upcoming podcast, and I might just even interview Debeurme for the blog.
November 11, 2020
A work of terrible beauty.
September 7, 2022
"People are ugly. Fuck, people are ugly."
This book is surreal and brutal and I absolutely love Debeurme's borderless approach to graphic storytelling.
This book is surreal and brutal and I absolutely love Debeurme's borderless approach to graphic storytelling.
February 29, 2016
You need to buckle up and strap on your helmet, because this book is going to take you on an emotional ride and it’s going to get uncomfortable. Renee should be applauded for getting so many things right in a medium that is honestly either misunderstood or underappreciated for what it can do. Who says comics can’t look fresh and tug at your heartstrings in a disturbing way? There are a lot of ideas floating around in Renee, so maybe it’s best to focus on the ones that work (or I should say the ones I get).
Unconventional to say the least, Renee is a book about love, and people who yearn for it. But also how love can make us miserable and tear us apart either because of our own decisions or through no fault of our own. Many nonlinear stories are being told in Renee which eventually intersect. The protagonists, absolutely heartbroken and desperate, must find some light at the end of the tunnel to keep them going. Heavy adult stuff, right?
Equally as impressive is Ludovic Debeurme’s art which is not just smooth and polished, but at the same time creepy and disturbing. Debeurme tells this story with non-panelled scenes, choosing to tell us where to focus our attention, and taking us back and forth between reality and a fantasy dreamland. When Renee gets real, it gets intensely so and commands attention. A victory for the medium.
Unconventional to say the least, Renee is a book about love, and people who yearn for it. But also how love can make us miserable and tear us apart either because of our own decisions or through no fault of our own. Many nonlinear stories are being told in Renee which eventually intersect. The protagonists, absolutely heartbroken and desperate, must find some light at the end of the tunnel to keep them going. Heavy adult stuff, right?
Equally as impressive is Ludovic Debeurme’s art which is not just smooth and polished, but at the same time creepy and disturbing. Debeurme tells this story with non-panelled scenes, choosing to tell us where to focus our attention, and taking us back and forth between reality and a fantasy dreamland. When Renee gets real, it gets intensely so and commands attention. A victory for the medium.
January 9, 2016
Renée is a strong and haunting sequel to Lucille. Lucille moves back with her mother and her boyfriend Arthur ends up in jail. Then we have Renée, who falls in love with a married jazz musician way older than her, and Renée's life ends up colliding that of Lucille in a dark and twisted way. Debeurme is amazing at portraying the ugly and hollow side of people. The story line is simple and twisted mixing up with dreams and nightmares. The comic is basically nasty and beautiful at the same time. Renée isn't as well structured as Lucille was and the comic feels slightly all over the place. Many of the things we get to understand only at the end, which is too late for most. This scatters the plot, even if the revelations are brilliant and make you throw up.
Debeurme's art works amazingly in its simplicity and airiness. There aren't any panels and the line work is naive and soft as opposed to the themes. The page structure is wonderful and the flow of the comic is fluent and quite harmonic. It's great how the story is also moved without words, but with an ambiance so eerie. Debeurme's style is very interesting and very distinguished. It's the perfect counterpart to topics so heavy they crash through all surfaces.
Debeurme's art works amazingly in its simplicity and airiness. There aren't any panels and the line work is naive and soft as opposed to the themes. The page structure is wonderful and the flow of the comic is fluent and quite harmonic. It's great how the story is also moved without words, but with an ambiance so eerie. Debeurme's style is very interesting and very distinguished. It's the perfect counterpart to topics so heavy they crash through all surfaces.
November 26, 2023
La suite de « Lucille », que j’ai lu il y a quelques jours. Encore une belle histoire, mais plus complexe à suivre, je trouve. On finit par se perdre entre rêves/imaginations et réalités des divers personnages de l’histoire.
Une nouvelle personnage, Renée, entre dans l’histoire. On suit son quotidien où elle rencontre des hommes avec qui elle a des rapports sexuels. Elle explique à l’un deux qu’elle s’imagine être violée pendant les moments intimes qu’elle partage avec lui / d’autres hommes. Elle finit par rencontrer Pierre, un musicien de jazz qui la captive mais qui, après avoir quitté sa femme, Anne, pour Renée, revient sur sa décision et quitte cette dernière pour retrouver sa femme. Renée est anéantie.
En parallèle de la découverte des aventures de ces nouveaux personnages et particulièrement celui de Renée, on suit le quotidien d’Arthur/Vladimir en prison où il finit par partager la cellule d’un certain Denis, apparemment enfermé pour des faits de pédocriminalité et d’inceste. J’ai trouvé le traitement de ce thème très intéressant : on n’en parle pas assez ; n’est-ce pas pour cela qu’on dit qu’il s’agit du « dernier tabou » ? L’inceste est partout et, pourtant, personne n’en parle.
Intéressant aussi de voir comme Ludovic Debeurme parvient simplement à décrire la solitude de Denis au milieu des prisonniers : en quelques pages, on comprend que les criminels tolèrent les crimes des uns et des autres mais jamais les crimes des condamnés pour pédocriminalité.
Arthur/Vladimir finira par tuer Denis qui lui avoue les détails sordides de ses méfaits et le supplie de le tuer car il n’en peut plus de vivre avec ses remords.
Évidemment, Arthur/Vladimir voit sa peine encore allonger et décide de se noyer dans le lavabo de sa cellule.
En apprenant ça, Lucille ne répond plus de rien et sa mère s’inquiète qu’elle retombe encore plus profondément dans sa maladie (anorexie) dont Arthur/Vladimir l’avait sauvée.
Cependant, un jour, Renée (la fille de Denis) l’appelle et ici une nouvelle amitié naît : elles partent toutes les deux à la recherche du père de Lucille, parti sans explications, du jour au lendemain, quand celle-ci avait 11 ans.
Je recommande, mais c’est une lecture assez lourde.
J’ai personnellement beaucoup aimé, ça m’a beaucoup fait réfléchir, sur de nombreux sujets ; mais j’ai beaucoup de mal avec le style graphique et c’est pour cette raison que ma note n’est pas maximale (4/5).
Une nouvelle personnage, Renée, entre dans l’histoire. On suit son quotidien où elle rencontre des hommes avec qui elle a des rapports sexuels. Elle explique à l’un deux qu’elle s’imagine être violée pendant les moments intimes qu’elle partage avec lui / d’autres hommes. Elle finit par rencontrer Pierre, un musicien de jazz qui la captive mais qui, après avoir quitté sa femme, Anne, pour Renée, revient sur sa décision et quitte cette dernière pour retrouver sa femme. Renée est anéantie.
En parallèle de la découverte des aventures de ces nouveaux personnages et particulièrement celui de Renée, on suit le quotidien d’Arthur/Vladimir en prison où il finit par partager la cellule d’un certain Denis, apparemment enfermé pour des faits de pédocriminalité et d’inceste. J’ai trouvé le traitement de ce thème très intéressant : on n’en parle pas assez ; n’est-ce pas pour cela qu’on dit qu’il s’agit du « dernier tabou » ? L’inceste est partout et, pourtant, personne n’en parle.
Intéressant aussi de voir comme Ludovic Debeurme parvient simplement à décrire la solitude de Denis au milieu des prisonniers : en quelques pages, on comprend que les criminels tolèrent les crimes des uns et des autres mais jamais les crimes des condamnés pour pédocriminalité.
Arthur/Vladimir finira par tuer Denis qui lui avoue les détails sordides de ses méfaits et le supplie de le tuer car il n’en peut plus de vivre avec ses remords.
Évidemment, Arthur/Vladimir voit sa peine encore allonger et décide de se noyer dans le lavabo de sa cellule.
En apprenant ça, Lucille ne répond plus de rien et sa mère s’inquiète qu’elle retombe encore plus profondément dans sa maladie (anorexie) dont Arthur/Vladimir l’avait sauvée.
Cependant, un jour, Renée (la fille de Denis) l’appelle et ici une nouvelle amitié naît : elles partent toutes les deux à la recherche du père de Lucille, parti sans explications, du jour au lendemain, quand celle-ci avait 11 ans.
Je recommande, mais c’est une lecture assez lourde.
J’ai personnellement beaucoup aimé, ça m’a beaucoup fait réfléchir, sur de nombreux sujets ; mais j’ai beaucoup de mal avec le style graphique et c’est pour cette raison que ma note n’est pas maximale (4/5).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2017
Lucille ormai l'ho dimenticato: parlava di una ragazza anoressica che supera la sua malattia grazie al rapporto con un ragazzo, Arthur, vessato dal padre e desideroso, come lei, di fuggire. Renée parte dalla conclusione di Lucille, ma è perfettamente leggibile senza il primo capitolo: Lucille vive con la madre e visita per quanto può Arthur. Arthur si macera in carcere, e si infila nella scatola senza speranza dell'omicidio in cella. Il destino di entrambi si intrecciano con Renée, una studentessa che nasconde un oscuro passato in cui il padre abusava di lei: passato che si manifesta nei tagli che si autoinfligge e negli incubi che la perseguitano. Arthur si troverà a dividere la cella proprio col padre di Renée e lo ucciderà grazie al potere ossessivo della routine del carcere, della vita a stretto contatto e delle dicerie degli altri carcerati. Lucille perderà così il suo innamorato, ma verrà in contatto con la figlia della sua vittima. La storia si snoda seguendo un ritmo torbido e drammatico, in cui i sogni e le sensazioni prendono corpo e si fondono con l'esistenza, i corpi si distorcono, le persone si tramutano in animali. Ma la dinamica del racconto è una crescita sostanziale: se in Lucille si tendeva alla fuga, qui si tende all'accettazione. Di sè e del proprio ruolo. E' un lavoro lungo di cui Renée arriva ad inquadrare solo l'inizio. I disegni sono spettacolari: è come se Daniel Clowes si fosse accordato con Charles Burnes per intagliare una storia su pagine bianche. E il bianco sa essere più denso del nero di Burns. Il tratto non è solo sottile e schematico come in Lucille: qui si sa fare dettagliato e compiuto, meno etereo e meno duro a digerirsi. La stessa dinamica di racconto, che può apparire complessa, va affrontata con una certa attenzione ma è ottimamente delineata e percorre l'intreccio delle storie senza confondere.
November 18, 2016
'Renee' by Ludovic Debeurme is part two of a story started in a book called Lucille. There is a various cast of characters and it's the graphic novel equivalent (to me anyway) of an independent film. That means I liked it quite a lot.
The book is told in a series of vignettes that I thought at first were not connected, since I didn't read the first book. Lucille lives with her overbearing mother. Her lover Arthur is serving time in prison. Renee is a new character in this volume and her story follows her affair with a jazz musician named Jacques who is older than her. The mood is melancholy and the theme is despair and dissatisfaction. Arthur gets a new cell mate and he may be a pedophile. Renee didn't know Jacques was married when they met. Lucille misses or is haunted by her father. One of the inmate remembers the murder he committed at sea that landed him in prison.
The book has no borders. The characters faces distend and stretch grotesquely sometimes. A father hiding in a tree lowers his arm and they distend to become a swing. Strangers in a crowd have exaggerated features. The characters are not pretty, and some seem pretty ugly, like the prison inmates who have ugly faces as well as ugly souls.
It's a quiet contemplative read, but one I enjoyed like a good independent film. It made me think and reflect. I liked the experience.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Top Shelf Productions, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
The book is told in a series of vignettes that I thought at first were not connected, since I didn't read the first book. Lucille lives with her overbearing mother. Her lover Arthur is serving time in prison. Renee is a new character in this volume and her story follows her affair with a jazz musician named Jacques who is older than her. The mood is melancholy and the theme is despair and dissatisfaction. Arthur gets a new cell mate and he may be a pedophile. Renee didn't know Jacques was married when they met. Lucille misses or is haunted by her father. One of the inmate remembers the murder he committed at sea that landed him in prison.
The book has no borders. The characters faces distend and stretch grotesquely sometimes. A father hiding in a tree lowers his arm and they distend to become a swing. Strangers in a crowd have exaggerated features. The characters are not pretty, and some seem pretty ugly, like the prison inmates who have ugly faces as well as ugly souls.
It's a quiet contemplative read, but one I enjoyed like a good independent film. It made me think and reflect. I liked the experience.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Top Shelf Productions, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
August 6, 2018
Renée, the sequel to Lucille, continues the main characters' life stories, still bleak and tragic and violent with Arthur now in prison. A third story is added and interwoven, that of a young, self-harming woman named Renée, who has started an obsessive love affair with a married jazz musician.
First, potential readers should have a content warning about themes of depression, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, sexual violence and child abuse. Renée felt more extreme and shocking than the first book to me, with some prison scenes especially disturbing.
Debeurme is a skilled artist who uses a light touch drawing and lots of negative space around the cells rather than using border lines. This makes the story feel like it flows over you. In this book he also flows back and forth between the characters' nightmares, daymares, and their bleak realities. The nightmarish drawings are also disturbing but I think artistically grotesque, highly creative and more justified than some of the extreme violence.
Both books have problematic aspects but I think Lucille has more food for thought and discussion, whereas Renée just felt relentlessly bleak. There were a couple of hopeful moments but they couldn't really make up for how frayed my nerves felt from the rest.
First, potential readers should have a content warning about themes of depression, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, sexual violence and child abuse. Renée felt more extreme and shocking than the first book to me, with some prison scenes especially disturbing.
Debeurme is a skilled artist who uses a light touch drawing and lots of negative space around the cells rather than using border lines. This makes the story feel like it flows over you. In this book he also flows back and forth between the characters' nightmares, daymares, and their bleak realities. The nightmarish drawings are also disturbing but I think artistically grotesque, highly creative and more justified than some of the extreme violence.
Both books have problematic aspects but I think Lucille has more food for thought and discussion, whereas Renée just felt relentlessly bleak. There were a couple of hopeful moments but they couldn't really make up for how frayed my nerves felt from the rest.
April 11, 2021
A perfect sequel to Lucille. The stories bound within this text are all phenomenal and everything from the title to the ending was so artfully done. This story evokes pain and healing, isolation and togetherness like tender contranyms to bring about an incredible picture. Nothing was left behind. Not even the reader.
October 29, 2019
This was one of those reads I was happy to end. It is well crafted no doubt but just an overload of dread seeping in every page to the point of exhaustion. I longed for escape. Maybe that's the point but man this was brutal to go through.
September 8, 2017
Part tragic romance, part regular-type tragedy, all of it peppered with bits of surrealism.
April 27, 2018
No, no, no. Not for me at all. Miserable characters doing nothing but stewing in their misery, and though the art is done well, it’s unpleasant.
November 21, 2019
Strange
Want to read
April 17, 2021Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
September 22, 2024
non esattamente al livello del primo per narrazione ma le illustrazioni sono di un altro livello. più ribrezzo, vergogna, con queste figure di esseri quasi mostruose, slabbrate, sproporzionate, che siamo noi ma nella nostra vera natura, quella che non mostriamo. debeurme, mi sa che mi piaci molto...
February 7, 2023
Painful, beautiful, and strange.
September 22, 2016
I had to restart this book because I didn't realize it was a sequel. After reading Lucille, this book made more sense, in terms of character, approach, plot, style, etc.
How to put into words my feelings about this book? At times it's transcendent. As a graphic novel, the seemingly surreal elements (which intensify in this second volume) are easier to work with, and indeed this is a very good use of the unique quality of such graphic elements.
Both volumes are poetry, prose, and liberated graphic storytelling. As many great graphic novels out there don't take advantage of this (and many don't need to, so this is not a criticism of them), it's great to see it happen, and in such tragic and beautiful ways. Man, I hope it's true that there is a third volume. The ending of Renee leaves such a possibility open.
How to put into words my feelings about this book? At times it's transcendent. As a graphic novel, the seemingly surreal elements (which intensify in this second volume) are easier to work with, and indeed this is a very good use of the unique quality of such graphic elements.
Both volumes are poetry, prose, and liberated graphic storytelling. As many great graphic novels out there don't take advantage of this (and many don't need to, so this is not a criticism of them), it's great to see it happen, and in such tragic and beautiful ways. Man, I hope it's true that there is a third volume. The ending of Renee leaves such a possibility open.
February 24, 2017
At first I didn't understand what was happening with this book. It seemed so random. And so odd and violent. Little did i know that what it is all about is processing and understanding some horrible past violence. As a meditation on living with trauma, this book was truly magnificent. Oi, frightening but beautiful art.
January 19, 2016
ARC Copy provided by Net Galley.
I stand somewhere between three and four stars on this one. I came in having no idea what to expect but itching to read a graphic novel. With comparisons to both Craig Thompson and Daniel Clowes, I was intrigued. I see more Clowes in the story, but I see more of Thompson in the art style.
Anyway, this is the sequel to a previous graphic novel called Lucille, which I had not read, so I was entering this story en media res. Still, I read it, and things began to make more sense as the story went on. Here, we have Lucille, an anorexic teen coming to terms with the imprisonment of her lover, Arthur, who apparently rescued her from a rapist and was imprisoned for doing so (I'm not entirely clear there). We have the titular Renee, a young girl learning to co-exist with her past, body image, sexuality, and self-harm issues. The stories of each character cross in ways that might seem a bit far-fetched, but, then again, we cross paths with dozens of people on a daily basis, so who am I to say?
The story jumps between Lucille, Renee, and Arthur that, at least initially, appears to be very confusing. In some cases, I lost track of who I was following, but, as time went on, the transitions felt a bit more natural as I came to know the characters and their stories.
The art style is borderless and, at times, very simple, which reflects the mental state of the characters. Negative space is used to an immense degree here.
In some ways, the topics covered in Renee feel a little cliche in 2016, and some of the character transformations seem a bit sudden, but, at the same time, I wanted to know what happened. Renee is an ambitious graphic novel. Graphic novels are difficult to do well, never mind when there are three simultaneous stories occurring that parallel one another. For me, the story is a bit lacking, but it's the art and ambition that drew me in.
Debeurme's art (despite its sparse nature) gives the story depth, and I feel like there's one particular image involving people crawling from under skin that will stick with me for quite a while.
I stand somewhere between three and four stars on this one. I came in having no idea what to expect but itching to read a graphic novel. With comparisons to both Craig Thompson and Daniel Clowes, I was intrigued. I see more Clowes in the story, but I see more of Thompson in the art style.
Anyway, this is the sequel to a previous graphic novel called Lucille, which I had not read, so I was entering this story en media res. Still, I read it, and things began to make more sense as the story went on. Here, we have Lucille, an anorexic teen coming to terms with the imprisonment of her lover, Arthur, who apparently rescued her from a rapist and was imprisoned for doing so (I'm not entirely clear there). We have the titular Renee, a young girl learning to co-exist with her past, body image, sexuality, and self-harm issues. The stories of each character cross in ways that might seem a bit far-fetched, but, then again, we cross paths with dozens of people on a daily basis, so who am I to say?
The story jumps between Lucille, Renee, and Arthur that, at least initially, appears to be very confusing. In some cases, I lost track of who I was following, but, as time went on, the transitions felt a bit more natural as I came to know the characters and their stories.
The art style is borderless and, at times, very simple, which reflects the mental state of the characters. Negative space is used to an immense degree here.
In some ways, the topics covered in Renee feel a little cliche in 2016, and some of the character transformations seem a bit sudden, but, at the same time, I wanted to know what happened. Renee is an ambitious graphic novel. Graphic novels are difficult to do well, never mind when there are three simultaneous stories occurring that parallel one another. For me, the story is a bit lacking, but it's the art and ambition that drew me in.
Debeurme's art (despite its sparse nature) gives the story depth, and I feel like there's one particular image involving people crawling from under skin that will stick with me for quite a while.
April 1, 2016
I was going to point out that this book took some time to settle into place in my mind while I was reading it; I've since found out it's a sequel so I guess that should have been a clue. And anyway, it's a little unusual to talk about a book taking time to settle, when you rattle through all 500 of these pages in under an hour. Dialogue is slight, and loosely attributed via crows-foot arrows. This is very much a visual read (again, a seemingly ironic statement when so many of the pages are blank), where the look is to the fore. The style, with no borders to any of the images, allows the freeform approach, where the wonderful line-cut styled illustrations can act as stills from an animation. This is especially evident when the book bursts out into dream sequences, concerning I assume a lad left behind by the prequel. The story is definitely a mature and adults-only one, featuring love and death and a lot of damage taking just a few people in this small, intimate cast from one to the other. If the draughtsmanship wasn't so superb I really don't think I would have rated it anywhere like as high as I did, and again I may have been hampered by coming to this author fresh here, but for anyone enjoying serious stories portrayed through imagery then they really should consider this title.
April 7, 2016
ARC copy provided by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, when I picked this book from NetGalley, I had no idea this was a sequel to a previous book called Lucille, which I didn't read. I'm not sure if this had an influence on the experience I had reading Renee, but I tend to think so as it was highly confusing at first.
It took me a good third of the book to even understand what was going on, if not more. Actually, I'm still not sure of everything that was going on. There is different character's storylines intertwining themselves, each with their own struggles with their lives and their mental disorders.
This book is pretty minimalistic on the text, sometimes going pages without a single word, and high on very disturbing representations of the mental disorders like self harm or body image disorders. Yet, Ludovic Debeurme's style helps to deliver an interesting result even if it won't be for everybody.
In the end, it wasn't much my thing, yet it's not a bad book by any mean. I would recommend anybody interested in picking it up to start with Lucille though, as I was pretty lost and had a hard time getting into the book without having read the previous one.
First of all, when I picked this book from NetGalley, I had no idea this was a sequel to a previous book called Lucille, which I didn't read. I'm not sure if this had an influence on the experience I had reading Renee, but I tend to think so as it was highly confusing at first.
It took me a good third of the book to even understand what was going on, if not more. Actually, I'm still not sure of everything that was going on. There is different character's storylines intertwining themselves, each with their own struggles with their lives and their mental disorders.
This book is pretty minimalistic on the text, sometimes going pages without a single word, and high on very disturbing representations of the mental disorders like self harm or body image disorders. Yet, Ludovic Debeurme's style helps to deliver an interesting result even if it won't be for everybody.
In the end, it wasn't much my thing, yet it's not a bad book by any mean. I would recommend anybody interested in picking it up to start with Lucille though, as I was pretty lost and had a hard time getting into the book without having read the previous one.
February 5, 2016
Renee is a haunting graphic novel that follows a number of storylines from Renee's infatuation with a jazz musician to the waiting game Lucille is playing waiting for her beloved Arthur to get out of prison. The artwork is great, a mix of simple and detailed, realistic and surreal to show the characters' complex feeling. I also like that the artist doesn't try to squeeze these twisting plots into panels—that would make this a much different book.
What I wasn't too happy about is that the plot is so complex and doesn't make any sense until you've read 75 percent of the book, then it all seems to click together. I didn't even know who Lucille, the woman from the first book of this series, was until almost a third of the way into the book. I don't know if reading Lucille first would have helped, but readers with short attention spans probably won't stick around for the payoff.
Although it was hard to maintain interest in this book until all the plots and subplots converge, I do like the artwork enough to look for more from this author.
*Received a review copy from NetGalley
What I wasn't too happy about is that the plot is so complex and doesn't make any sense until you've read 75 percent of the book, then it all seems to click together. I didn't even know who Lucille, the woman from the first book of this series, was until almost a third of the way into the book. I don't know if reading Lucille first would have helped, but readers with short attention spans probably won't stick around for the payoff.
Although it was hard to maintain interest in this book until all the plots and subplots converge, I do like the artwork enough to look for more from this author.
*Received a review copy from NetGalley
February 6, 2016
This graphic novel reads like a literary novel. The illustrations are stark but strong, reminiscent of what a reader might imagine while reading the prose. The first half of the book has a lot of darkness. Renee is a sequel to the Graphic novel Lucille and though I suggest reading it , you can get the gist of the story from this book.
This is a rough read. for the first hundred or so pages I really didn't know if I could continue. Renee is involved in a very unhealthy affair with an older man. When they are apart she feels desperate and cuts herself.
When the focus is not on Renee we follow Lucille who is visiting her boyfriend in prison. We also get a glimpse into the tense relationship between Lucille's boyfriend and his cell mate.
These different threads weave into Renee and Lucille's meeting and the shocking revelations about how there lives are connected.
Again this is a tough read. The art and dialogue doesn't pull any Punches, As the story edged towards it's conclusion however I did find a bit of light in the darkness that has surround the characters lives. There are rewards in the ending for those readers willing to move through it.
This is a rough read. for the first hundred or so pages I really didn't know if I could continue. Renee is involved in a very unhealthy affair with an older man. When they are apart she feels desperate and cuts herself.
When the focus is not on Renee we follow Lucille who is visiting her boyfriend in prison. We also get a glimpse into the tense relationship between Lucille's boyfriend and his cell mate.
These different threads weave into Renee and Lucille's meeting and the shocking revelations about how there lives are connected.
Again this is a tough read. The art and dialogue doesn't pull any Punches, As the story edged towards it's conclusion however I did find a bit of light in the darkness that has surround the characters lives. There are rewards in the ending for those readers willing to move through it.
June 11, 2016
“Rene” the new graphic novel by Ludovic Debeurme. This is a sequel to his prize-winning graphic novel “Lucille”. “I think I am a river that must, now and then, be allowed to run….” The artwork is simple, stark but powerful and evocative. It is truly moving. “Rene” follow three lovers , mixing between dreams and reality. The heart of the message is the universal search for love. “Usually I never think about the emptiness all around me. But now I feel like it’s bigger than I am.” The characters deal with a number of self-image struggles, complications of loving someone, but not liking them. There are lots of unpleasantness that deals with issues such as cutting, anorexia, rape, murder, infidelity, pedophilia, and suicide. The best way I can describe this book is that it is real. It shows how people become a part of us, good or bad. They intertwine with our DNA our soul. It shows how much an impact can have on our lives, whether they are still here or not.
February 27, 2016
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a DRC for this review.
I spent most of the first half of this book with no idea what was going on or who all of these characters were. I'm still not sure that I understand everything that was happening in this story, but I did like how it tied together at the end. The graphics focuses heavily on the body, frequently distorting or distending it as characters obsess over the flaws in themselves and others. It was meant to be off-putting, a conscious choice that served the story but still made the book unpleasant to look at many times. Overall not one I'd recommend, personally.
I spent most of the first half of this book with no idea what was going on or who all of these characters were. I'm still not sure that I understand everything that was happening in this story, but I did like how it tied together at the end. The graphics focuses heavily on the body, frequently distorting or distending it as characters obsess over the flaws in themselves and others. It was meant to be off-putting, a conscious choice that served the story but still made the book unpleasant to look at many times. Overall not one I'd recommend, personally.
April 6, 2016
Renee is a sad and haunting dark graphic novel about human misery. This book is a sequel to the author's Lucille. I did not know that when I read it so it was highly confusing.
Renee is seeing Pierre, a married jazz musician twice her age. There's different stories in this book, mainly related to characters of the first book. The graphics focus a lot on the body, distorting as the characters obsesses over their flaws.
I personally didn't like the book, I wasn't expecting it to be a sequel and be so hard to follow.
Renee is seeing Pierre, a married jazz musician twice her age. There's different stories in this book, mainly related to characters of the first book. The graphics focus a lot on the body, distorting as the characters obsesses over their flaws.
I personally didn't like the book, I wasn't expecting it to be a sequel and be so hard to follow.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews