Starred review from June 1, 2021
Having previously offered keenly perceptive records of his experiences in China, Myanmar, Israel and Palestine, and North Korea, Delisle (The Handbook for Lazy Parents) turns his attention to the Quebec City Pulp and Paper Mill in this memoir of the three summers he spent working there, beginning when he was 16. Over a succession of 12-hour shifts spent maintaining dangerous machinery that emits a deafening roar and radiates smothering heat, Delisle observes the work's physical and mental toll on manual laborers, listens as his coworkers swap misogynistic banter, and becomes aware of how bitterly they resent the white-collar managers and engineers sitting in tidy offices far from the factory floor. That resentment is particularly eye-opening, as one of those white-collar managers happens to be Delisle's father. The two aren't close--during a rare visit, his father remains standing, eschewing conversation to deliver a rambling monologue. As Delisle navigates his new class consciousness and the toxic masculinity rampant at the mill, he begins to wonder how the environment might have shaped his father; more importantly, he's galvanized to chase his own artistic aspirations. VERDICT A carefully observed portrait of a time and place, as well as a deeply personal coming-of-age tale. Not to be missed.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2021
A rites-of-passage portrait of the graphic artist as a young man. For more than 20 years, French Canadian cartoonist Delisle has chronicled his experiences as a vagabond traveler, with graphic narratives taking readers to Burma, Jerusalem, North Korea, and elsewhere. Here, he provides a kind of origin story of his formative years in Quebec City, when he was drawing for fun and unsure how to translate his talent into a career. Beginning at the age of 16, he spent his first of three summers working at the local paper mill, which produced newsprint for the likes of the New York Times. His father had spent his professional life as an engineer at the factory, but the author rarely saw him. Most of what's important in the narrative goes unsaid, or barely said, with Delisle and his father failing to connect. In the drawings, which any Delisle fan will appreciate, the mill and its machinery exert a greater physical presence than any of the characters. The author remembers himself as a "loner," more interested in going to the library than interacting with his fellow workers, some of whom are overly friendly, others brutish and ill-tempered. Those with whom he formed any sort of bond could be gone the next summer, and he chronicles how he visited his father, who no longer lived with the family, only once each summer. During the rest of the year, Delisle pursued an education as an animator, and though he was prepared to return for a fourth summer at the mill, an employment offer provided the pathway to his career in cartooning. He and his father never discussed his art, at least as portrayed in these pages, but when he died, the author discovered his father kept much of his work. Bittersweet and elliptical, a narrative in which not much happens but everything changes.
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July 1, 2021
True to Delisle's well-established style, Factory Summers provides a perceptive gaze into his younger self, particularly his time working summers at a paper mill in Quebec City. The cast of characters at this all-male workplace--from the overly touchy "helper" to the career men resentful of the summer help--will be instantly relatable to anyone who grew up in working-class or factory circles. Equally relatable are the haphazard safety standards and working hours for the floor workers (hallmarks of factory work, union company or not), all while the office workers enjoy air conditioning and the freedom of a nine-to-five life. Delisle has a simplified drawing style, put to great effect here. Each character is distinct, and the factory is rendered so clearly it will remain in the reader's mind long after they've set the comic aside. With smart use of a limited color palette, Factory Summers provides a personal history right alongside important lessons on work, climate, how we learn to navigate the world as a young adult, and, in the end, on the nature of family.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
April 26, 2021
Delisle (Hostage) opens this perceptive memoir observing himself at age 16, working summers at a Quebec City paper mill. Along with a paycheck, he receives a crash course in the class structures and social dynamics within the factory’s all-male workplace. He notes that the company’s white-collar employees (such as his engineer dad) enjoy air-conditioned comfort while he and the other laborers endure grueling shifts where “you feel like you’re in a sauna... you have to yell to be heard.” (Though he also explains how that shift cycle was negotiated by the union, as the long-termers prefer longer weekends.) The blue-collar resentment of privilege is sometimes aimed at Delisle; he repeatedly runs afoul of a coworker who “clearly has it out for summer hires.” He also regularly overhears instances of sexism, misogyny, and homophobia in his coworkers’ conversations, which contrasts with Delisle’s occasionally naive but sincere efforts at maintaining respectful relationships with others. His cartoony and simple yet textured drawings capture the characters with insight and gentle humor, as well as terrifying close calls with dangerous machinery. Delisle pinpoints the lesson learned those summers: “You can see the benefit of staying in school.” This should please Delisle’s loyal fans with its peek into his young adulthood.