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Epileptic

By David B.

(18)

| Hardcover | 9780375423185

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Book Description

Hailed by The Comics Journal as one of Europe’s most important and innovative comics artists, David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. Epileptic gathers together and makes available in EngliContinue

Hailed by The Comics Journal as one of Europe’s most important and innovative comics artists, David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. Epileptic gathers together and makes available in English for the first time all six volumes of the internationally acclaimed graphic work.

David B. was born Pierre-François Beauchard in a small town near Orléans, France. He spent an idyllic early childhood playing with the neighborhood kids and, along with his older brother, Jean-Christophe, ganging up on his little sister, Florence. But their lives changed abruptly when Jean-Christophe was struck with epilepsy at age eleven. In search of a cure, their parents dragged the family to acupuncturists and magnetic therapists, to mediums and macrobiotic communes. But every new cure ended in disappointment as Jean-Christophe, after brief periods of remission, would only get worse.

Angry at his brother for abandoning him and at all the quacks who offered them false hope, Pierre-François learned to cope by drawing fantastically elaborate battle scenes, creating images that provide a fascinating window into his interior life. An honest and horrifying portrait of the disease and of the pain and fear it sowed in the family, Epileptic is also a moving depiction of one family’s intricate history. Through flashbacks, we are introduced to the stories of Pierre-François’s grandparents and we relive his grandfathers’ experiences in both World Wars. We follow Pierre-François through his childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, all the while charting his complicated relationship with his brother and Jean-Christophe”s losing battle with epilepsy. Illustrated with beautiful and striking black-and-white images, Epileptic is as astonishing, intimate, and heartbreaking as the best literary memoir.

Critics

  • A suitable case for comic treatment

    Epileptic by David B Cape £16.99, pp368 David Beauchard's graphic novel memoir Epileptic explores the juncture of public and private life through the story of his elder brother, Jean-Christophe, who, at the age of 11, is found to have epilepsy. The n ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Epileptic By David B.

    Original and moving, David B.'s Epileptic is a graphic memoir about the author's childhood near OrlŽans, France. His older brother, Jean-Christophe, developed epilepsy at age 11, and the impact this had on the artist as a child, a teen and an adult ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • Even though this is supposed to have inspired / be better than Persepolis (and the drawings are more sophisticated it's true) it wasn't nearly such an engaging story.

    Once you got the gist of it a few pages in (his brother has epilepsy, the family struggle to deal with it) it's hard to keep g ... (continue)

    Even though this is supposed to have inspired / be better than Persepolis (and the drawings are more sophisticated it's true) it wasn't nearly such an engaging story.

    Once you got the gist of it a few pages in (his brother has epilepsy, the family struggle to deal with it) it's hard to keep going to reach the end of the 300+ pages. David B.'s reaction to the emotional drama he and his family go though is to retreat into himself and this makes it hard to engage and empathise with him in the book...

    It feels a bit awful saying this; after all it's his life here! but... I think he could have got his side across, even with a bit of judicious editing.

    Is this helpful?

    goldtop said on Nov 8, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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9780375423185 Hardcover $28.95 $20.49 bn.com
$28.95 $22.98 The Book Depository
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