Comics are a good format for travel writing because by their nature they are about taking motion (and emotion) and capturing its essence on the page. Words and images combine; the creator can both tell and show their readers what they saw, and what they experienced.
That is precisely what Lucy Knisley does in her work French Milk. In December 2006 Lucy and her mother Georgia lived in Paris for about five weeks, from Christmas Day until the end of January. French Milk is her drawn journal from that time, possibly with some editing and interspersed with photos taken on her new digital camera.
Because the pages are taken straight from her journal, the book isn’t expressly designed as a comic; most of the pages are Knisley describing things in text, accompanied by a few lovely drawings to liven up the page or illustrate her point. On top of that, the photographs aren’t fully integrated into the story. Most are presented without captions, and a few without context. Some are even blurry, and the black-and-white printing doesn’t help distinguish one Parisian building from another.
The art is fine; Kinsley chooses to use a simple cartoony style for most of her drawings but there is the occasional delving into more detailed, realistic styles. I particularly enjoyed the drawing of her mother looking at a map, displayed on the same spread as photo of her mother looking at a map in front of an ad for a skin magazine.
The strongest part of the book is the food. Knisley is fastidious in documenting everything her and her mother ate, accompanying most mentions with a drawing of the food item in question. She also names the restaurants they eat in, so aspiring tourists can give them a try on their next trip to Paris. She does the same thing with some of the shopping trips they took as well.
When Knisley isn’t talking about food or shopping she’s talking about her personal life, and that’s where my problems with this book arise. She spends a good deal of the first half of the book being homesick, and it’s absolutely no fun to read a travel comic where the author gives the very strong impression that they’d rather not be traveling. Sure, everyone gets a little homesick at times, but this isn’t the appropriate venue for it. And when that angst subsides, we get a glimpse into her other insecurities: she’s going to graduate college in a few months, but has no idea what to do with her life, how to be a “grownup,” what or she’s going to do for money. These concerns are normally relatable, except that the particular context in which they’re expressed is damning. She and her mother can afford to live in Paris for six weeks. I think that she’ll be just fine.
Given that I am reviewing her book, an honest-to-god paperback published by an actual publisher, she is doing just fine. The book is fine too, I just wish that it was better.
French Milk
written and drawn by Lucy Knisley
Touchstone (New York, 2007)
ISBN 978-1-4165-7534-4
(thanks to Anna)
