Isabelle Bauthian

I haven't read the original books by Armistead Maupin, so I don't know if the cheesy soap opera tone of this graphic novel adaptation is in there or if it is just a function of distilling down all the main plot points to fit them in a slim volume.

A young single woman with the on-the-nose name of Singleton moves to San Francisco to make it on her own. She gets to know the landlady and other tenants in her apartment building, and we get to know all their romantic entanglements, which frequently revolve around infidelity. There's a whole lot of hooking up and breaking up. To add to the drama, terminal illness, being closeted, homophobia, pregnancy, a private investigator, and suicide are tossed into the mix, and then the ending really goes over the top with blackface, pedophilia, and accidental death. Too many of the plot developments depend on "it's a small world" type coincidences

Frankly, it's like three or four seasons of All My Children boiled down into a book that takes less than an hour to read.

Also, I always feel weird when the book is subject to the Google Translate game. This is the English translation of a French graphic novel adapting an novel originally written in English. I'm curious if the translators went back to Maupin's original novel as a source to reference his exact words or tone or if they just do a straight translation from the French and call it a day.

In the end, reading this brief graphic novel felt more like reading a Soap Opera Digest weekly recap than watching the soap itself. I'm almost curious to check out Maupin's first novel to get the full effect, but I doubt I will.… (más)

Here we have the reissue of the second instalment of the pentalogy (5) 'Les Rhéteurs' (translation: The Rhetoricians): Grish-Mère. The first volume is Anasterry (only recently added to my TBR-pile). 'Les Rhéteurs' is a series that takes a closer look at five baronies (or rather, four baronies and a capital), each of which is governed in its own manner, with its own rules and principles. These five parts form the country Civilisation, where Koban Le Roux reigns. Civilisation, however, is under a constant threat of invasion. While each barony and the capital have a different political system, they need to collaborate, come together to deflect and fight off this threat.

How the series is set up so far, see also the page on the website of Éditions ActuSF:

01) Anasterry (2016, reissue in 2018)
02) Grish-Mère (2018, reissue in 2021)
03) Montès (2021, reissue in 2023?)
04) Landor/Capitale? (strike out what does not apply) (2023? Reissue in 2025?)
05) Capitale/Landor? (strike out what does not apply) (2025? Reissue in 2027?)

Each volume can be read independently, as has been confirmed in other reviews and by the author herself, last in this Facebook Live event (1st April, 2021; not an April Fool's ;-)). She explicitly said that she's written the stories so that you needn't worry about not having read the other ones.

Other presentations (mainly focused on 'Grish-Mère') can be found on YouTube: here and here.

However, each story does have a handful of characters featured in one or more of the other books. Luckily and for the sake of clarity, each book contains a list of characters, their home-bases, their functions and possible family ties.

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In this second part of the series, we follow a factotum(*), a servant in service of Lord Réor. The factotum's name is Sylve Cabron. Born, raised and educated in Landor, he was sent at a young age to a special school for factotums in Landor to learn the craft. It's also in Landor that he will be in service of Lord Réor (on a side-note, this name reminded me of the god Reorx in the series Dragonlance). Whilst on duty, protecting Lord Réor's property, an important relic was stolen right under his nose. Whodunit? Loquet, Braon of rascals (Baron des malandrins). Loquet also uses a different identity to remain under the radar.

(*) Factotums are servants, all knowledgeable and can handle anything, from cooking to defending one's home from intruders. Obviously, as they've been trained to handle all those skills.

Of course, as his function demands, this crime must be solved, the relic must be returned to its proper owner. Only, it's Sylve himself who's suspected of having committed the crime. So he decides to go on an investigation to wash himself clean of all suspicion and accusations. Correction: He flees to avoid persecution by his school's leading factotum, Mrs Indulgence. His flight will lead him to the barony of Grish-Mère, where his life will be turned upside-down, whilst trying to trace Loquet.

Grish-Mère is a matriarchal/matrilineal society, led by women, men have no place there, unless in subordinate roles. Women decide the rules and regulations, which, as you can imagine, are different (or are they?) from those in patriarchal civilisations. As powerful and responsible Sylve is in Landor, his political power is of no use there. Furthermore, as Grish-Mère is unknown territory for Sylve, he will find out the hard way that one can't just go to another barony and exert one's influence like at home. One of the most powerful guilds in Grish-Mère, that of the grocers, will be his employer for the time being. Or rather, Sylve will be their prisoner.

Sylve will be the toy of the guild (especially after having killed one of their warriors; one does not simply kill a Guild's warrior and run free), as they too seem to have their troubles or missions to accomplish. He will have to follow their orders, especially if he wishes to live ànd retrieve the stolen relic. The Grocers' Guild will tie him to a leash by means of a slow poison, which can be slowed down through an antidote that he must take in every 24 hours. And it's either Thélban, Constance or Céleste who are to administer it to him.

Especially Thélban, leader of the guild and grand manipulator, will make sure Sylve does as he's told. Even if Céleste, Thélban's sister, and Constance (his wife) will stand by Sylve or even keep him from going astray. Furthermore, Thélban has several tricks up his sleeve (e.g. alter ego Lévain, the herbaliste who has poisoned Sylve; as Lévain, Thélban will also speak differently, apply a different style, in order to win Sylve's trust) to make sure nothing goes wrong and the guild remains unharmed.

While Sylve was trained in the arts of service, his proper convictions surface and resurface time and again. While his locution is flawless, impeccable, his thoughts couldn't be more contrary: vulgar, insulting, racist. I have to admit that I had some trouble with this. Sure, in the context of the story and considering his agricultural background, I can perfectly understand this decision, but like in real life, such language does become aggravating, not to say irritating. This sort of vocabulary shows no desire to show respect or understand the other or even preserve one's own image. In this way, Sylve is being hypocretical. However, along the way, he'll have to realise that his behaviour needs revising if he's to survive his personal mission.

On the other hand, through his education and training, he had to memorise various encyclopaedia on his country's baronies, the distinct customs and uses, populations, legends and myths, ... It's with such snippets - Sylve recalling specific information on Grish-Mère's history and traditions - that the world is described in greater detail.

There's also some love in the air and quite some liberties, too, even if one is married. At least, when one is head of the Grocers' Guild. Despite his convictions, even Sylve isn't averse to imposing his desires, for whatever reason: power or lust, which is a bit hard to call love here. Both Thélban/Lévain and Céleste seem to have no trouble with it. On the contrary. What does that mean? That Grish-Mère (or the guild) is open-minded or that they too went along with it for political reasons?

When all is said and done, Sylve will have proven his worth for the Grocers' Guild (at a high cost), but a return to his former life is out of the question. Let's not forget that his school's mistress (Lady Indulgence) had been waiting to punish Sylve for the crime he was accused of, but didn't commit. That problem would then also be dealt with, once and for all.

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'Grish-Mère', part 2 of 'Les Rhéteurs', is my first proper encounter with Isabelle Bauthian's writing. I was reluctant when 'Anasterry' came out, because a classic setting was not what I was looking for at the time.
With the publishing of book three, 'Montès', earlier in 2021, came the pocket reissue of the previous book. A clear incentive to finally take the plunge, not in the least because each novel is indeed stand-alone, requires no foreknowledge of the other books.

Grish-Mère is a barony where women are in command, it's a matriarchal society, female-dominated, whereas our real world is largely male-dominated. This is one of the themes and issues that Mrs Bauthian wished to address in this book. What if the world was more just towards women? How do men fit in? Which rights to they have? Which roles are they to fulfil? The focus lies of course on Sylve's quest to retrieve his master's relic, something that requires overcoming various large hurdles, not in the least the ability to adapt to unknown circumstances.

As recent developments have shown, the role of women in various aspects of society remains an important topic. Books like this one are therefore an ideal gateway to open up discussions to find ways to improve the world in that domain. If, on the other hand, you only want to read an exciting story, then 'Grish-Mère' will provide what you are after or seeking to read. On a personal note, my interest in 'Anasterry' (a utopic society) and 'Montès' (a militaristic society) has been sparked.

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I do have some (subjective or objective, according to your own views) remarks:

* The writing style is not everywhere equally accessible. Mainly the use of old, if not ancient, vocabulary can disrupt the reading. Luckily there are sources like the excellent Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales (CNRTL - website, HIGHLY recommended!) to look up the definitions in various dictionaries. As you know (or don't), I love languages and understand that such vocabulary was (and needed to be) used for the character of Sylve. But if French is not your mother tongue, then keep that or another relevant website or dictionary close-by.

Some of those old words: pedzouille, pécore, gonze(sse), daron(ne), chevaleresse, tartouze, ...

* No one has eyes, they have 'mirettes'. Unfortunately, no synonymes (like 'coquillards') were used, so your 'mirettes' will come across 'mirettes' often enough.

* You in French can be 'tu' (singular) and 'vous' (either singular - and polite - or plural, depending on the context). However, not each polite address is done with 'vous'. Either a contextually deliberate choice or maybe a tad of negligence? Towards the end of the book, Sylve is suddenly addressed with 'vous', not 'tu'. Why the change?

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I was sent this book by Éditions ActuSF for review. Many thanks to them for the trust.… (más)

Esprit, es-tu là ?… Entrée en matière un peu facile pour cette note de lecture, mais de temps en temps, on peut légitimement se poser la question quand il s’agit d’esprit critique. Est-il encore là ? Cette bande dessinée arrive donc à point nommé pour nous montrer que l’esprit critique est bien là, et surtout bien plus complexe qu’on ne le pense parfois. Bien sûr, c’est un sujet qui d’une certaine façon est à la mode ces derniers temps. On nous explique comment raisonner, et, ce qui est vraiment à la mode, on nous explique à quel point c’est difficile, avec tous ces biais cognitifs qui obscurcissent notre jugement.
Avec un scénario qui est plus un prétexte qu’un vrai scénario, c’est avant tout un ouvrage qui se veut à la fois léger et pédagogique. L’esprit critique personnifié s’invite en effet dans la vie de Paul, qui se pique d’être un esprit rationnel mais qui n’est pas à l’abri de buter contre des discours un peu trop simplistes et d’avoir la sensation de ne pas pouvoir y répondre comme il le faudrait. Cet esprit critique lui délivre alors un cours en bonne et due forme sur ce qu’est l’esprit critique, sur son histoire et sur les développements plus ou moins récents de la recherche à ce sujet.
Le livre est dense. Je l’ai lu en une soirée, mais il faudra que je me plonge dedans à nouveau pour absorber toutes les informations que ce livre contient. Car certes, il prêche pour des convaincus, c’est toujours le problème de ces livres, ne les lisent que ceux qui font déjà fonctionner leur cerveau.
Mais j’apprends depuis quelques temps que l’esprit critique est plus compliqué que ce que l’on pense. Ce n’est pas comme la prose, que M. Jourdain pratique sans le savoir. On ne peut pas exercer son esprit critique sans, justement, l’exercer. Et, pour moi qui me targue de savoir faire fonctionner mon cerveau, ce livre m’a beaucoup appris. Des choses que je savais et dont j’ai pu faire meilleur sens, et d’autres choses que je ne savais pas.
Un livre utile donc, même pour les convaincus. J’ai découvert l’existence de biais que je ne connaissais pas, j’ai pris conscience de la difficulté toujours renouvelée de faire preuve d’esprit critique. Et je sais qu’avec ce livre, je fais encore plus attention à tous ces biais, je cherche, à mon petit niveau, à les débusquer. On ne peut pas éviter les biais, mais on peut les repérer pour tenter de limiter leur effet. Et pour cela, le petit exercice à la fin du livre est plutôt amusant.
Un chouette bouquin, donc, probablement surtout pour les anciens bons élèves, car il demande d’être bien concentré, et il a un côté très scolaire dans sa construction, mais c’est aussi ce qui en rend la lecture si simple, parce qu’aussi lisible qu’un cours bien fait, une petite pointe d’humour en plus. Moi qui lis peu d’essais, cette BD m’a permis d’en apprendre beaucoup et de façon légère. Je la garde précieusement sur mes étagères, car je sais que j’y reviendrai quand j’aurai besoin d’une petite piqûre de rappel pour savoir si mon esprit (critique) est bien toujours présent et vivace.… (más)