Exquisite Corpse

June 1, 2015
Bestselling French cartoonist Bagieu makes her English-language debut with this absorbing, fast-paced erotic literary drama. Twenty-something Zoe is frustrated by her unfulfilling relationship and her demeaning job as a product representative for trade shows, where she is routinely objectified by men. On a break, she spots a man in a window nearby and ends up entering his home. Because she's never even set foot in a bookstore, she doesn't recognize world-famous author Thomas Rocher. As her relationship with Rocher deepens, another woman who is still in his life (for mysterious reasons) complicates mattersâand then the story takes an unexpected yet satisfying twist. Bagieu's character designs are brilliant, reflecting the emotions and energy of all the players, with a color scheme that highlights the mood in a loose, lively style. Though the ending comes out of left field, what comes beforeâa funny and fresh exploration of authorship and a writer's relationship to fameâis utterly charming.

May 15, 2015

Egocentric author Thomas Rocher finds to his horror that his novels are losing ground with readers and critics. So together with his ex-wife/editor, he attempts an unorthodox strategy for upping his literary cachet. But complications arise as pert waif Zoe, his new girlfriend, first inspires and then confounds his ambitions. Bagieu (La Page Blanche) serves up a sassy plot capped with an unexpected ending in which the women triumph. Her clear-line cartoony style depicts with graceful ease the big-eyed Zoe, stubbled-chin Thomas, svelte editor Agathe, and Zoe's Neanderthal ex-boyfriend. She uses characters' eyes as much as dialog to tell the story and relies on color delicately but evocatively. VERDICT An Angouleme Award winner, this is comic melodrama, not serious social commentary, thus don't look for depth or much character development. Those caught up in the book world will especially enjoy its lighthearted satire of best sellers and the personalities who create them.--M.C.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015
When Zoe is on a lunch break from her job as a booth babe hawking the luxury item of the day at trade shows, she asks to use the bathroom of a stranger peering out at her from his window. Only she doesn't recognize that it's world-famous author Thomas Rocher. Thomas is intrigued by uncultured Zoe, and in her finds something he's been severely lacking of late: inspiration to write something new. Zoe rapidly takes to wasting away days with the author as his muse, a far cry from her depressing job and brute boyfriend at home. Everything's great! Until Thomas' wife shows upand that's just the first secret to reveal itself. Bagieu, in this English translation, dresses characters and their surroundings in a mood-ring color palette, changing drastically and meaningfully throughout, and reveals whole oceans of feeling through Zoe's cartoonishly giant eyes. Offering funny commentary on fame, the act of creating art, and a woman's place in all of it, Exquisite Corpse could cross over to women's-fiction readers as well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)