Paul goes fishing
Rabagliati, Michel.
Adult Fiction RABAGLI

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From Publishers' Weekly:

A native Quebecois artist, Rabagliati has chronicled a thinly veiled version of his artistic and interior life in his previous three books, and the present volume finds his stand-in, Paul, entering into adult responsibilities with his fiance, Lucie, and thoughts of a child on the way. On a long summer break, Paul remembers his childhood vacations and his own upbringing and early love affair with Lucie. Meanwhile, Lucie has a very difficult time sustaining pregnancies. All of this is told in a matter-of-fact, somewhat flat manner. Rabagliati is an everyman chronicler in that way--telling the facts of a story with no artificial drama or hysterics. Unfortunately, this makes for a somewhat dull read. This slightly boring telling is redeemed by Rabagliati's wonderful skill with a pen. His cartooning is steeped in the clean-line style of Herge and other Europeans, and he cleverly delineates characters and their environs in this simple, elegant and reductive style. It's a pleasure to look at, even with somewhat limited returns. Paul Goes Fishing is a fine graphic novel--not great, not bad, but firmly in the middle, with a sharp sense of craft and a warm heart guiding it. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

From Library Journal:

Now in his midforties with a teenage daughter, Rabagliati in his semiautobiographical series follows alter ego "Paul" through his meandering, bittersweet life. Paul in the Country (2000) introduces Paul in his midthirties with a young daughter, disenchanted and reminiscing about his own childhood. Paul Has a Summer Job (2003) finds him toward the end of that childhood, quitting high school and working as counselor at a camp for underprivileged children. In Paul Moves Out (2005), he ventures further into adulthood by moving into his first apartment-with copacetic girlfriend Lucie. Now in Paul Goes Fishing, Paul and the pregnant Lucie vacation with family at a fishing camp. Camp life becomes a frame not only for musings on fishing and how modernity has twisted nature out of shape but also for memories of Paul's first fishing trip and several adolescent experiences significant for their blend of hope and anguish. Paul never does learn to fish, and the vacation is cut short when Lucie miscarries. Eventually, however, the young couple has a "happy ending," which then illuminates in a warmly satisfying way the otherwise puzzling frontispiece sequence. Rabagliati's sweetly introspective narrative, combined with simple, detailed drawings, makes Paul an Everyman and the most mundane events worthy of interest and respect. Sexual themes make this for high school and up.-M.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.