Factory Summers

A chronicle of Delisle's summers working on the floor of the factory his estranged dad spent his life at, and told with typical excellence. The mild observational humour (and, at times, tragedy) and Delisle's not unrelated ability to make seemingly any mundane anecdote or life experience memorable and engaging carried me away to a teenager's experience straddling a white collar education with a blue collar summer job in 1980s Québec. If you've read and enjoyed his travelogues, "Factory Summers" (or "Chronicles of Youth", as my very limited French understands the original title) very much reads like a stylistic and thematic prequel, an unexpected first chapter in a fractured autobiographical series. It doesn't have the outsider's show more perspective on a foreign culture, true, but the vibe of the fish out of water trying to keep his head down and fit in, that's very much the same. Which might perhaps be a point in its own right.

Binding the whole narrative together is Delisle's relationship (or lack thereof) with his father, a figure who, in Delisle's presentation, seems airily tragic, a man quietly longing for connection with his son and with no notion of how to create it. Or, perhaps, the reader is simply projecting it. The mystery of that is part of the tenderly mundane moments with him in the story, and provides an emotional bookend -- and with a surprising level of closure to the whole story, in its own way.

Without a backdrop of war or dictatorship, it's probably not going to blow you away like some of Delisle's earlier works, but 'Factory Summers' is warmly recommended, and well worth the read. show less

A quiet, observational slice-of-life memoir about the three summers Guy Delisle spent working in a paper mill in 1980s Québec. It's not the kind of book in which much happens. Yet there's a dry humour in Delisle's interactions with the full-time employees, and an undercurrent of tension from Delisle's isolation from others and his distant relationship with his father. The art—grey scale with splashes of an industrial yellow—is charming and neatly evokes the ageing, historic hulk of the factory buildings.

The nature of the work—a memoir—meant that any unanswered questions the narrator had we’re going to remain unanswered for the reader, and I get that, but I still found myself feeling at a loss wondering about them. Perhaps I was meant to. I wish I’d gotten more of a look into what the author was feeling, but more attention went toward the day to day workings of the factory, leaving me with the sense that his emotions were almost muffled.

I am not usually a fan of books that are character studies, but this one is and I was thoroughly intrigued. We follow the author/artist as he works summer in the paper mill between studying to be an artist. The lesson on how paper mills work was really cool, but following Guy as he wades through life as the young person figuring out what it’s all about is compelling. Try not turning the pages one you start. The entire book is black and white with spots of a yellow or orange color and it creates a perfect setting for this story. This book was a translation so it marks off some reading challenges for me which is good.

Delisle delivers a matter of fact a memoir of his summer job working at a pulp and paper mill in Quebec City. He contrasts his fine arts student self with the blue-collar crowd around him and vaguely makes a point about his detached relationship with his father, but it's mostly a string of day-to-day anecdotes. Having spent my summers milking cows between semesters of college, I found it pretty relatable even if it isn't 100 percent engaging at all times.

Factory Summers is another great autobiography from cartoonist Guy Delisle. He has written several travelogues from following his wife to Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Shenzen and Burma while she worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres. Here, we have the story of Delisle's four summers as a teenager working for a pulp and paper factory in Quebec City where he grew up.

Factory Summers has alot of dry humor within its pages. Delisle describes his co-workers as sexist, telling dirty jokes on a daily basis. As a union employee myself, I can say they are typical union workers. LOL. If they can find a way to relax on the job, they do it. It's not that they are forgoing the hard work their jobs demand. These fellows work with huge machines that require show more constant cleaning up and fixing and the areas they are located in have no air conditioning. There is danger of getting hurt every day. The factory was built in 1927 and there had not been any changes to the building or the machinery over the years. This was an antiquated system that Delisle was dealing with. With 12 hours shifts required 6 days a week, I doubt that he would be allowed to work here as a youth if the factory was in the U.S. I thought it was a cruel job for a sixteen-year-old kid and cannot believe he did the work without questioning the rules. If it was me working there, I would have filed a complaint with OSHA for unsafe working conditions.

The story itself was well told. The monotony of the work days are shown by both dialogue and drawings. The only reprieve the author had was by drawing comics and making plans to attend animation school in Toronto. His relationship with his father, who got him the job, is also a part of the story. The book opens with Delisle having his annual visit with his father, divorced from his mother, and ends with his death. The relationship frames these summers working at the same plant his father worked at. show less

Straddles the blue collar paper mill and white collar animation school of the author's past. Excellent artwork and uncomplicated specificity with an observational style familiar from his travelogues.