The Cliff

by Manon Debaye, Montana Kane (Translator)

A budding friendship between two misfits unravels in the wake of school violence

Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. Not that navigating the unspoken pecking order of the school quad makes it easy. Can the intensity of their bond survive the scrutiny of their peers, or will it crumble under the sum of each other’s disappointments?

Manon Debaye’s characters live in a world just on the periphery of adult supervision, where kids prey upon one another with casual aplomb only to find themselves completely out of their depth. A deft use of colored pencils brings sleepy but barren suburban landscapes to the fore, further capturing childhood’s last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence with startling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut.

Winner of the 2023 Philippe Druillet Prize at Angoulême, The Cliff is a moody, visceral glimpse into pre-teen life, unflinching in its portrayal of trivialized cruelties alongside simple joys.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Sequential Art, France

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2021

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was beautifully illustrated but too sad and violent for me to enjoy reading. It's the story of a dysfunctional middle school friendship between two unhappy girls who make a suicide pact. This story will really hit for some readers but it wasn't for me.

[Victor The Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This French comic centers on two teen girls Charlie and Astrid, each with harsh personal lives but live in different social settings in school, who make a blood pact to leap off a cliff above the ocean in five days. Yet as the days past, their school lives will slowly clash into something emotionally intense and damaging.

Having charming colored pencil illustrations, it doesn’t completely help cover up this comic’s miserable and dark tone. There’s a lot of reflective topics involving teens found such as bullying, social circles, judgement, home life, and depression. Throughout there’s a cruel and harsh feeling from our characters, mainly students and Charlie herself, who throw constant insults at others like Astrid. Astrid herself is one of the very few who are likeable, while Charlie just has a mainly harsh tone despite understanding her own issues. The ending does offer a little comfort, but still with big loose ends.

A colorfully sad mess that does illustrate its main theme: teen-hood can be cruel.

C+ (58%/Satisfactory)

[Ward Khobiah]

Sad and violent. I liked the illustrations.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

D+Q continues to do a good job publishing interesting comics from around the globe. Bringing foreign comics to an English audience. This won the 2023 Philippe Druillet Prize at Angoulême and is Debaye's first graphic novel.

A strong start for sure. A short but powerful story of two young teenage girls. They make a pact to die jumping off the cliffs together. You think they're close friends, but in school they run in different circles. We get a brief glimpse into both their family lives and school/social lives where there's little adult supervision.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5! tense, devastating. beautifully rendered

[lucy black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cliffs is an angst emo book about two very sad teens. The story was a bit basic but the art is beautiful. Being a teenager really sucks ay.

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah this is very French in its tone and mood, the art work isn't really my thing at all and the story was too short, shallow and predictable to rise above mediocrity.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing art, traumatising story 🥲

[Clelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of reviews for this said it was too sad and violent. I thought it was the perfect amount of sadness and violence

[Chris Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Drawn & Quarterly release from last year I missed. Much darker than I was expecting but a really solid debut; caught me off guard.

[Emili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abbiamo fatto un po' di fatica a targhettizzare questo titolo.
R? GA? ADULT? Chi lo sa.
La graphic parla di Charlie e Astrid, due ragazzine che stringono un patto di sangue da rizzare i peli di tutto il corpo: suicidarsi insieme gettandosi da uno strapiombo (per l’appunto, la Falesia), non sopravvivendo al loro 13esimo anno di vita.
Sono esattamente l'una l'opposta dell'altra: Astrid è dolce, ha una famiglia che le vuole bene, ha dei meravigliosi lunghi capelli biondi e scrive, durante la ricreazione, storie nel suo diario; Charlie (Charlotte) sta con i maschi, ha dei capelli corti e neri e (erroneamente da parte nostra) l'abbiamo scambiata inizialmente per un ragazzino. Si allena nelle arti marziali e picchia chi la fa arrabbiare per sembrare forte, sarà per compensare una vita che la lascia insoddisfatta? Molto probabilmente è tanto forte fisicamente quanto debole emotivamente e psicologicamente.
Sono entrambe simboleggiate da due animali: Astrid da un coniglio e Charlie dai ragni, che la seguono sempre.

Questa graphic è stata una lettura che mi ha tenuta fino all'ultima pagina con i fiato sospeso, mi ha fatto riflettere su quanto i ragazzi siano fragili anche senza mostrarlo e come noi adulti, il più delle volte, sottovalutiamo l'intensità delle loro emozioni forti come uragani.
Qui il dilemma: è accettabile per un ragazzo questa lettura?
Per quello che è il tipico ragazzino di questi anni: SI. Vedersi rappresentati e legittimati nel loro dolore nelle loro ansie e paure può far solo che bene.
E allora qual'è il problema? I genitori che considerano i loro bimbi incapaci di tutta quella forza e preferiscono tenerli sotto una campana di vetro per non intaccare la loro fragile sensibilità.
Mi è piaciuto molto, mi ha lasciato l'amaro in bocca e l'ho amato per questo.

5/5!

[Sole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me había parecido súper interesante el desarrollo de personajes, uno de los mejores que he visto en libros que tratan sobre bullying, pero al final lo encontré un poco raro. No tanto por lo que sucede, que me parece creíble, sino por la romantización de ese vínculo que de romántico no tiene nada. Nadie trata peor a Astrid que Charlie y se la deja presentada como si la hubiera salvado.

[Elodz · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est beau, c'est triste, c'est poétique, c'était intense et j'aurai aimé que ça dure plus longtemps. Merci pour cette histoire

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooof. It’s difficult to write about this because it’s adjacent to my own experience as a child at school (the being bullied mercilessly bit), but also a world away from anything I lived with at the age Charlie and Astrid are at in this book. It’s a brutal, deeply sad and heartbreaking book and at times a genuine howl of pain, but it’s also beautifully written and gorgeously drawn. The art has moments of true beauty but mostly feels horribly oppressive, all shown at a distance but mercilessly framing the characters at every turn. Debaye uses coloured pencils, usually something delicate, to almost savage ends throughout and the whole book matches the doomy tone of the story in both text and art. It finishes ambiguously, because I suspect it only can end that way, but that does sort of feel a little like a rare moment of the artist losing their nerve, stepping back from the inevitable horror at the last moment

[RSC_Collecting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeez. What a book. Two outcasts make a pact to jump off a cliff in one week. One gets bullied constantly at school while the other is completely neglected at home. They both have their reasons for wanting to end their lives. And they're only 12 years old. Already that's extremely sad. Then you get to see a week in their life and understand why they are the way that they are. You feel their pain and suffering. Not just for themselves, but for each other. Each day passes and you don't know if they're going to end it all when the book is over or if they'll back out. I'm not gonna spoil it but I don't know if that was supposed to be a happy ending or a sad ending. But I know that I am crushed by it. Crushed and confused and left with a million questions as to what actually happened. Damn. This was heavy. And it was absolutely incredible.

[Angela Murat · Rating 3 out of 5]

What stood out to me was the impressive complementarity between the illustration style and the thematic content of the story.

The illustrations look as if they were drawn by a child - innocent, yet with a heavy, angry hand. Bold lines etched with a sharp pencil pressed hard to the page. Clean, sparse spaces reduce the world to just a few elements, evoking a lingering sense of loneliness.

And always, that muddy, dark undertone in the backgrounds: a red sky, yellow clouds, a dark blue overlay cast over a crowd at school. It’s moody, evocative of those darker, more turbulent days that come with teenage hood.

As for the story itself, I wish it would’ve dug even deeper. It felt like something was missing. Regardless, loved the feelings the world stirred in me.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A propulsive story told extremely well, set (mainly) over the course of a school week, telling the story of two friends (that don't let anyone else know that they are friends), Astrid and Charlie. I think they're supposed to be 13 or 14, but it doesn't matter that much; the story is unfortunately very familiar, involving school yard cliques, bullying and suicidal ideation, with Manon Debaye setting it up so that we see most of the story from Charlie's point of view; her strained relationship with her mother, lashing out with particularly devastating results and her inner visualisations, illustrating her conflicted emotions. The resolution is not clearcut and probably never could be.
A melancholic read, but nevertheless engrossing.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent debut graphic novel. Some of the best colored pencil work I've seen and its aggressive shading really vibrates with the angst of this story, even the medium itself is evocative of childhood. If you were a misfit or a reject, this might hit home for you. Often when I'm finished reading a book I'll pick up another immediately or in a few hours or later that night. At the end of the The Cliff I knew I had to sleep on it before starting something else. Might not be for everyone but middle school being a nightmare is something I think a lot of folks can relate to.

[Travis Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

That is a gut punch right down middle school memory lane! The cliff follows Charlie and Astrid and their evolving relationship. It really hits on all the shit we feel in middle school, Identity, relationships, assholes, cruelty.

The book is a really quick read with expressive pictures that really portrait their feelings. There are a few scenes that really hit you hard, flashbacks to those crappy middle school days.

This was a surprise for me, liked it more that I thought it would.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking story of two young girls who make a suicide pact to jump off a cliff. Charlie is the toughest kid in school (she beats up bullies) and Astrid is the artistic girl who just doesn't fit in anywhere. The two girls make a 'blood oath' (cutting their hands and shaking) to come to the cliff and jump off in five days. But at school they ignore each other; they can't be friends even after the vow they have made. The shocking ending will stay with you.

[Rylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a happy book, it’s not a book to pick up and read on a whim. It is a simple read with beautiful illustrations but the story is dark and painful; it drops you right into the lives of two struggling preteens and slaps you in the face with how hard public school can be on kids that are dealing with problems bigger than themselves. I read the book cover to cover in 30min and then went back through to admire the artwork and really feel what these two girls could have been going through.

[len 📖 · Rating 3 out of 5]

alors jai la vision sur certains côtés oniriques, il y a de super idées et des passages vraiment marquants je trouve, j aime bien comment les pulsions violentes de charlie sont représentées, avec ces cases un peu "pensées intrusives", après j'ai moins accroché dans l'ensemble aux dessins et à la narration, j'ai pas vraiment eu le temps de me plonger dans l'histoire, j'ai trouvé le tout un peu brouillon !

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - I liked the pencil drawings a lot, as they signified really heavy emotions in peaceful ways. The story had me very tense the whole time, so it didn't take me long to read in one sitting. It has a lower rating because of the violence throughout, and my inability to connect with any of the characters. Summary of book: it's hard being 12 and misunderstood.

[Jay Crywank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, the energy throughout and illustrations were gripping, nostalgic and raw. Although not a ‘perfect’ graphic novel (If I could give half stars it would be a 4.5), it left me with such flushes of intense feeling whilst reading it that I’d feel I was doing it an injustice scoring it a four.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5?

The art and atmosphere were fantastic. Charlie’s character was great. Yet, the story feels like it’s missing something or that I missed something.

I’m fine with ambiguity, but I would have liked more of Astrid and how and why she had this connection with Charlie. Had they known each other when they were really little, did Astrid have a crush on her?

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two classmates decide to create a suicide pact in this very strange graphic novel. I didn't really get what was happening in this book, and it was a bit too abstracted for my taste, but the art was very well done, thus getting the 3 stars.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork is wonderful. The pair of main characters are tweens who are frustratingly angsty and nasty. It’s a dark book and while the plot isn’t particularly unique, the characterization makes the story.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel, The Cliff tells a story of preadolescent angst, replete with bullying, as two friends, misfits, each with their own issues, make a pact to commit suicide before their 13th birthdays. Very dark.

[Tifenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai adoré <3

[xGwenBx · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 étoiles**