Pascal Blanchet

What a lovely little book. The storytelling is sparse, which is just fine because the stylistic beauty totally carries this little tale of a short-lived, rural Canadian town.

Blanchet's art is as stylish as always, and there are hints of a good story in here. On the other hand, the plot feels underdeveloped and rushes from event to event, accompanied by sub-par prose, and without giving time for anything to properly take form, before finally crashing to a halt with an ending that seems needlessly downbeat for no discernable reason other than to be downbeat.

Out of Blanchet's two works currently available in English, I'd say that casual or new readers should show more definitely stick with the much better White Rapids. show less

A solid 3 1/2 stars. Very Edward Hooper in style and atmosphere. Cole Porter music as the thread that unites the whole story of three people on the bricks on despairs and failure. Very 1930's. Classic Blanchet. More of a emotional picture book than a whole story but that's okay. Sometimes you don't need words or plot to make an impact.

A solid 3 1/2 stars. Very Edward Hooper in style and atmosphere. Cole Porter music as the thread that unites the whole story of three people on the bricks on despairs and failure. Very 1930's. Classic Blanchet. More of a emotional picture book than a whole story but that's okay. Sometimes you don't need words or plot to make an impact.