Derborence: Eine Graphic Novel

by Fabian Menor, Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz

Derborence recounts the tale of a mountain and its inhabitants. It's a story of mourning villagers who perceive ghosts, a man who jokes and loses his mind, and a woman who remains hopeful.

Genres: Graphic Novels

Hardcover

Reviews

[Ags · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up sort-of-randomly off the "new" shelf at my local library, procrastinating working. I had not read the novel it's based on, and I didn't know anything about it. I was wrapped into this, and it's a very fast read. So, I experienced this all in one sitting.

Things I liked: hooked me, had a sense of mysterious atmosphere, really emphasized the mountain setting, and I like the illustrations and color palette (it was a good decision to go to sepia tone when Antoine returns, then back to the original color palette in the end return to the mountain). I also read this fairly recently after going to Mount Rainier National Park, and I appreciated this sense of grand scale, mystery, awe, and terrible beauty in a mountain. The full-page images of the landslide were especially powerful, as were the large panels of the mountain, with small word bubbles. Depictions of wildlife matched the theme.

All that being said, I had trouble following the side characters, and the end was a disappointment. Perhaps some confusion here was by design, but in the absence of me reading the original novel, I got the sense that I was missing somethings: e.g., who is this guy who goes to the mountain with Thérèse, what was he telling the young boy to not say, what's up with Pierre? Additionally, there are some brief references to a metaphor about a tree being cut and then healing, but this metaphor wasn't explored, nor was it visually depicted. Relatedly, it seems like this adaptation really skimped out on character development. Then, the ending felt like a sudden let down for me, rather than a dramatic or meaningful cliffhanger.

This did make me want to look into the original novel, since I generally like what's going on in this novel.

[Ma Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je reste un peu sur ma faim avec ce roman graphique. Le ton assez sombre correspond bien à l'histoire et les planches d'éboulement sont magnifiques ! En revanche l'histoire me semble abordée de façon très superficielle et je reste sur ma faim...

[Mik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Derborence could be about many things; hope, love after death, ideas of "the village" but I wasn't super captivated by the story's development. Although, the art is stunning -- live for a restricted pallet.

[Nicole Korczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess Derborence is supposed to be some sort of modern classic, but to be honest the story did nothing for me at all. The art, on the other hand, is worth taking a look at.

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My library put this in a “grab bag” of materials for me. I don’t usually read graphic novels but this one has beautiful illustrations. I enjoyed the story too.