Every time I say how much I love Lucy Knisley I feel a bit
like a stalker. I should rephrase that and say how much I love her work. But it’s through her work (that is
primarily autobiographical) that I feel like I know her so well. Check her out
through her LiveJournal, tumblr, Twitter, and other internet stalking methods.
A few years ago when Graphic Novels (not just comic books)
were becoming the thing to be seen reading I picked up Knisley’s French Milk and first fell in love. French Milk is a travel journal (or as
the French say, Carnet de Voyage) from a trip Knisley took with her mother to
Paris in January. It’s a glimpse into the touristy things we all would love to
do with our mothers in Paris, if we had the kind of relationship that Knisley
has with her mother. There are lots of sketches of baguettes and cheese. All
the ‘je ne sais quai’ of Paris is rendered into full page panels with little
notes of what was seen and experienced.
What I like most about Knisley’s writing is that she doesn’t
shy away from telling it how it is. Amongst the beautiful sketches of
cobblestone streets in Paris there are anecdotes of her momentary meltdowns
over turning 22 and not being financially responsible. (Oh, if only I could be
22 again, I’d tell myself to relax more.) We see how not all travel moments can
be magical, that it can rain and be freezing in the most magical of places on
earth. French Milk is a personal and
wonderful story of a young woman’s journey through adulthood. It may sound
cheesy but the more stinky the cheese the better.
You can imagine my excitement when I saw that Knisley was
coming out with a new book in the Spring of 2013. As a bookseller I am lucky
enough to be surrounded by books everyday but the biggest perk of the job is
getting to read those books that everyone is waiting for first. I asked for an advance reader’s copy not expecting anything
but hey, it never hurts to ask. And when I got approved and got the first look
at the beautiful, full colour illustrations I nearly lost my mind.
Relish: My Life in
the Kitchen (Published by First Second) which comes out in April is so cool. Just imagine the super fan girl
(that’s me) with wide eyes clutching this book as I tell you how cool it is.
First of all it’s in colour. Not that I mind reading comic books and graphic
novels in black and white but when you see the work that you love so much in
Technicolor, well there’s no going back after that. Not only is this book in
colour but it’s all about food.
Good food is such a wonderful thing. We as humans can have
such visceral reactions to food. Just notice what happens to you when someone
bakes you a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. Or how nice you feel, if
even for a moment, when you’re sick and someone makes you chicken soup just the
way you like it. Humans can be very emotional eaters it’s only one of the many
reasons we’re having such problems with obesity in North America. There’s
always a valid excuse for that bucket of ice cream. And who hasn’t celebrated a
momentous occasion with a good meal?
In Relish we see Knisley’s life told through the food that
has helped her become the person she is today. It doesn’t hurt that her parents
were total foodies even before she came into this world. Her mother worked in a
cheese shop while she was pregnant with Knisley and thinks that perhaps the
cultured dairy had an effect on the unborn artist? In French Milk the readers got to see the complex relationship that
isn’t always perfect between a young, not yet fully adult woman and her mother.
Being in your early 20s is still an awkward time and even more so in the age of
“you can be whatever you want to be”.
But in Relish we get to see
how Knisley’s relationships were formed not only with her mother but with her
father and extended family, friends, coworker by the food they enjoyed together.
Scattered throughout the book are visual recipes for some of
the special dishes Knisley mentions. I love how each ingredient magically jumps
into the bowl. I hope Knisley makes prints of these recipes. This book is one
part cookbook and 2 parts memoir.
The only trepidation I have about these types of
autobiographical and deeply personal graphic novels is that the artists can
sometimes go off on tangents. There’s a fine line between telling the whole
story and going overboard. Food is clearly a very important part of Knisley’s
life but I sometimes felt that there was only so much to be said about one’s
nutritional history. Nonetheless I really enjoyed this book and would highly
recommend it to anyone who loves to eat and read comics. Or both at the same
time!!
