Originally written for Graphic Librarians bookstagram:
Life writes the most incredible stories. There are many different types of stories—from happy and sad to boring and exciting—but most of them are a complex blend of all these categories. As a male nurse, writer, and illustrator, L'Homme étoilé probably sees a lot of extreme life situations, emotions, and moments crash together as sea waves on a cliff, more often than me, a simple librarian. And damn, what a powerful story he wrote!
In "Je suis au-delà de la mort," we follow the life of Jean, a singer and a guitar player in the rock band The Dead End Kings, whose career and life in general are on an upward trajectory. After years of practicing, working, and gigging, the band is going to record their first album in the United States. They will become rock superstars!
But life had different plans for Jean. He discovers he has cancer and starts a battle for the most important thing a person has in this world—their life. As his health is declining with the speed of light, so is his music career; the band decided to continue without him.
But even in these dark moments, abandoned by his music friends and sick, Jean has light—his girlfriend is always there for him, his guitar is still producing new melodies, and he gets a chance and makes a real, deep friendship with a Sinatra-loving hospital roommate.
With simplistic and charming artwork, L'Homme étoilé sucked me into Jean’s life, and what started as an energetic rock’n’roll graphic novel quickly became a beautiful but bittersweet story of love, friendship, mourning, and ultimately, celebration of life.
As I was reading this book, a quote from a famous baroque Croatian writer, Ivan Gundulic, was in my mind: "Kolo od sreće uokoli vrteći se ne pristaje: tko bi gori, eto je doli, a tko doli gori ustaje." (The wheel of fortune does not stop spinning; whoever was up is now down, and whoever is down rises).