Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories: Essex County Vol. 2 by Jeff Lemire is the second volume in the trilogy of graphic novels about a fictionalized version of Essex County, Ontario where Lemire grew up. I read the first volume, Tales from the Farm, quite some time ago but you don't need to have read that one in order to appreciate this beautiful story. Lou LeBeuf is living out his last days in a nursing home and drifting in and out of memories from his past, reliving moments before he dies. The book is almost elegiac and wonderfully lyrical. Lemire's art takes a bit of adjustment, but once the reader is caught in the story, you can see that it suits the tale completely. He captures faces with just a few perfectly rendered lines. Lou's regret colors every page, but as he remembers a night of passion, he realizes that despite the damage it did to his life and family relationships, he wouldn't change a thing just to have that one moment of beauty and love in his life. I love Lemire's almost surrealistic drawings like Lou lying across the entire city of Toronto as he comments that he has become a part of the city and is slowly losing himself. Lemire's story is full of depth and haunting loneliness.

Ghost Stories is truly one of the best graphic novels that I have ever read. The story is told from a first person perspective, and that protagonist is deaf and suffering from dementia. This allows for many very interesting ways to tell the story. It's hard to explain until you see it, but Ghost Stories really takes advantage of the format. The art is simple but Lemire manages to fit so many things into each panel. This is a book you will revisit again and again. You may want to buy more than one at a time because you'll want to give them as gifts this Christmas. It's that good. Jeff Lemire is a great story teller!

Both books in this series of what is to be a trilogy have been so well written and drawn, that my head has fallen off each time I read them, and I keep going back.

Jeff Lemire's Ghost Stories is technically a sequel to Tales From The Farm, the first volume in his Essex County (Canada, not Jersey) trilogy, but you don't need to have read it to enjoy the engaging tale of Lou Lebeuf, an almost-was hockey star in the early 50s, and his younger brother Vince, a genuine phenom who chooses family life on the farm over superstardom, a decision that has far-reaching repercussions. Lou -- a lonely old man, deaf and seemingly suffering from Alzheimer's -- tells their story via flashbacks that often drift into and out of hallucinations, and Lemire's precise black-and-white artwork, deftly shifting between the realistic and metaphorical, beautifully communicates every emotion, both those on the surface and those bubbling underneath. The underlying premise of city mouse/country mouse plays out across seven decades, shifting back-and-forth in time as the titular Ghost Stories are the haunting memories of Lou's past that hinge on two key moments: his brother's decision to give up hockey, and his own one-night affair with his sister-in-law. He's a compelling figure whose ultimate fate is self-directed and hard-earned, yet he never comes off as unlikeable and Lemire never judges him one way or the other. Another winner from Top Shelf and highly recommended.