Flafík

by Simone Lia, Gisela Kubrichtová (Translator), Jan Kozák (Letterer)

Autorka Simone Lia původně vydala svého FLAFÍKA ve 4 dílech jako „příběh nezodpověditelných otázek, lásky, zoufalství, dobrodružství a štěstí“. Flafík je králíček, o kterého se stará úzkostlivý svobodný muž jménem Michael Pulcino. Michael se snaží Flafíkovi objasnit, že on není jeho tatínek, ale zdá se, že Flafík si to nedá vymluvit. Michaela pronásleduje nechtěná přítelkyně. Částečně proto, aby jí utekl, odjede Michael s Flafíkem navštívit své rodiče na Sicílii. Unikne jí? Vyrovná se Flafík se skutečností, že není lidský tvor? Vše je aspoň zčásti vyřešeno v naprosto neodolatelném grafickém románu.

Simone Lia je neuvěřitelně originální vypravěčka, která odzbrojujícím způsobem spřádá dohromady skutečný život a realisticky vykreslené emocionální situace s bizarní hravostí kreslených seriálů.

Lettering: Jan Kozák.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy, Sequential Art, Comic Book

189 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Simone Lia is a graphic novelist and a comics artist, and her work has been exhibited across Europe, including at the Tate Britain. She lives and works in London.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is one of my favorite bunnies ever. this book is funny and charming and just all-around great. highly recommended. yesterday i managed to convince 2 people to approve of it despite earlier pooh-poohing it - one for reasons of "too whimsical and not liking graphic novels as a rule", and one because "why would you read a graphic novel without sex or violence in it." conclusion - everybody loves fluffy. science.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's constantly asking annoying questions.

He whines a lot.

And he leaves turds everywhere.

If Fluffy was a child instead of a small, cute bunny, the internet would be teeming with Fluffy-Hate-Groups.

I know, I know. Everyone else thought the little rabbit was charming.

God, I'm getting old and cranky. I now have more in common with Mr. Wilson than Dennis the Menace.

(Seriously, Dennis. Leave the man alone. It's unnatural to be hanging out with him so much. Go play doctor with Margaret instead.)

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy is a iddle rabbit who has a big miserable loser daddy who's a teacher with girlfriend problems. Fluffy is a sad sweet gurgle of a graphic novel in which awkwardness is elevated to the level of a minor art form. It's a little bit sicky sickly sentimental. All right, since the main character is a iddy liddle rabbit, quite a lot really, if you want to be picky. Big men who can tell cars from each other may not like Fluffy.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe I'm the first person to rate or review this book. How can that be? Why are other people not reading and rating Fluffy? Do people not like bunnies obsessed with farmers and tractors who poop all over the place and who don't realize they are rabbits? I hope this is only temporary and soon many other people dangerously nearing middle-age will read and love this book about a man and a little bunny who follows him around like it was his own child.

[Minx Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

What did i just read ???!!! How odd.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy is a bunny who doesn't realise he's a bunny. Michael is his 'dad'. Michael is involved in a 'relationship' with Fluffy's nursery school teacher; actually she's more like his stalker, but he's too anxious and awkward and to tell her to get lost. When there's a lot of exposition to be delivered, the narration is taken over by a sentient dust particle, who sometimes has arguments with his rival, a sentient flake of dandruff. Fluffy is an absurd, funny and incredibly heartfelt graphic novel which combines innocent, childlike humour with grown-up themes: the struggles of single parenthood; loneliness; problematic family and romantic relationships. It made me smile and tugged at my heartstrings, and Fluffy is as annoying-yet-adorable as a cute little bunny who acts like a 5-year-old kid would probably be.

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[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaaah! Heartbreakingly weird and adorable! Tractors are good!

[Gary Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many words could be used to describe this book.
None of them would do it any justice.

[Shivam Kalra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is too cute.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fluffy humorously and sweetly details a few days in the life of a forlorn Michael who has a painfully cute rabbit for a child.

This book is lovely. Really, really lovely. Fluffy is a wide-eyed bunny child who greets the world with questions, a hunger for steak and ice cream, and tiny bouts of identity crisis. Her owner, Michael, has problems. It seems like his life is not what he wants, he's in a rut. His job is so-so, his romantic life is dominated by a harmless stalker. He doesn't have to guts to stop giving mixed messages or to tell her to go away. Michael and Fluffy journey to Sicily to go on holiday and hang out with Michael's parents. There are uncomfortable moments, realizations, and bunny turds.

The drawings in this book are made of smooth, sweet, delicate lines that make me want to pick Fluffy up and never let her go. The whole package is charming from the people, to the buildings, to the deliciously adorable sounds that Fluffy makes. You don't have to like cute stuff to enjoy this book. It will get you either way.

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Fluffly while working a slow register shift. When customers came over, insinuating that they might like to buy something, I would attempt to puff up my body in a menacing way. That's what animals do sometimes to try and get you to stay away from them. It mostly worked. Fluffy's the kind of book you just don't want to put down. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because I have the feeling that Simone Lia is capable of even more. A short while ago, an elderly lady whose first language was not English came into the store and asked me if I knew anything about comic books, and more specifically if I thought Fluffy would be appropriate for her 12-year-old grandson who was also learning English. I felt so torn. This is not a book for a 12-year-old. And yet, who was I to deny anyone the pleasure of Fluffy? In the end, I think I made her buy Moomin. I will live with my choices. And God will judge me for them.

[Isabel G L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta novela no puede partir de una premisa más loca y tierna: Mickey es un hombre soltero e inseguro que vive con un conejito que se piensa que es su hijo. Todo esto da lugar a un sinfín de situaciones cómicas y disparatadas, pero el mérito del libro es presentarnos una historia subyacente sobre el amor y la soledad que no podía ser más realista y adulta.
Ya había leído Fluffy hace años, pero está bien revisitar los clásicos personales de vez en cuando para volver a ellos con otro punto de vista. Le pongo 5 estrellas, pero si pudieran ser 6 también se las pondría.

[Jess Fawcett · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is the loveliest book EVER!
i don't want it to end!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't worry Fluffy, you're always a real boy to me :)

Adorable.
Utterly.

[Nidhi Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy is ridiculously cute. And weird in an unforgiving honest depressing way. But mostly cute.

[Utkarsh Bansal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stylistically innovative, but I couldn't get invested emotionally. The protagonist (not Fluffy, the other one) was unlikable, and not even in an interesting way.

[Evan · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Fluffy' is a comic book about a man named Michael Pulcino and a talking bunny, Fluffy, who seems to think that Michael is his daddy (and that he is not a bunny). Despite this bizarre and wholly unrealistic premise, the rest of the story depicts Michael's totally uninteresting, meandering life in such boring dialogue and detail that leaves readers confused and unsure if they are missing some underlying meaning.

The novel is mostly Michael and Fluffy walking around London or Sicily (where he goes to visit his parents who have moved there following his sister who recently married an Italian man, where they live in his uncle's flat in Catania). Very little about British or Italian culture and society is communicated.

Michael is an uninspiring loser of a protagonist, and Fluffy is one of the most annoying characters ever conceived in literature, coming off as potentially a figment of Michael's imagination if it wasn't for a few times in the book where he interacts with others or is referred to by them.

If anything, this book is good inspiration for up-and-coming creative artists and burgeoning authors. But my recommendation would be to avoid it.

[Maria Popescu]

review to follow

[Seán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fluffy might be one of my favourite books. As teenagers me and my friends would loiter around Waterstones and HMV in Plymouth, always picking up the same books and CDs, turning them over in our hands and minds, and possibly inching closer to actually buying them. Many were never purchased, but luckily for me my friends got me Fluffy one Xmas/Birthday and it has been mine ever since. So I have had this book for around 15 years, and every now and then like to take it out and flick through it. But the last couple of readthroughs have been with my partner. Early in our relationship I used to read it to her as a bedtime story, and having gotten back from our travels and rediscovered the book we did the same again.

Fluffy is about Michael Pulcino, a middle-aged architect who lives an unfulfilled life in London. The one remarkable thing in his life is Fluffy, a little bunny rabbit who believes Michael to be his father and who lives in denial of his rabbitness. Essentially Fluffy is Michael's toddler - obsessed with tractors, not quite toilet trained and prone to emotional outbursts. Apart from his dissatisfaction with life, Michael has one problem, which is that he has begun a relationship with Fluffy's nursery school teacher. Or rather, something has happened between them and she has quickly become obsessed with him, despite his emotional frigidity and absent-minded disregard for her. So Michael plans a trip. He wants to break out of his London life, and just as importantly, he wants a break from his stalker. So he and Fluffy travel to Sicily to see his family.

Not exactly plot driven, the book focuses more on the inner lives of its characters, sometimes giving us a literal look inside a character's brain. Even the most fleeting characters are given idiosyncratic backstories with vivid detail. Chapters are narrated by a dust particle, small enough to see the rich minutiae of the lives on display. And through all that complex human emotion Fluffy remains sweet and simple and ever-so cute. This juxtaposition in the true heart of the book and brings consistent delights. This was far from the first time I have read this book, and it certainly won't be the last.

[Nuno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had my doubts in buying this book, it seemed aimed for young girls (a book about a bunny named fluffy doesn't help a guy, really), but I saw it cheap in a promotion, so I decided to take a chance.

And I don't regret it for a bit. I loved it. Yes, it features a bunny named Fluffy, a cute and silly bunny, but the story doesn't float around Fluffy, it's about Michael, his family, his dysfunctional relationship with a clingy girlfriend and vacancies in an Italian island, and yes... Fluffy. But what's really good about this well told simple story is the small life lessons Michael ends up learning, all to which any of us can relate. An uplifting fun graphic novel.

[Roanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel was very nice, because I related a lot to Fluffy's parent, Michael... This is just a story. A very simple one! Like I don't know what else to say... Fluffy is sweet. (I just don't know if it's one graphic novel I would ever re-read... But then again, Simone Lia knows this!)

P.S. This book is more about Michael than it is about the baby bunny, Fluffy... And I could not have read this book at a better time. (Comparing - and er, connecting the dots of - my thoughts after reading Fluffy with something that I am feeling similarly, in the present.)

[sweet pea · Rating 4 out of 5]

me likey. fluffy is such a great, random character. random in the way that kids are. and leaving little pellet turds everywhere. this steak-eating, tractor-loving rabbit also likes ice cream. to add clarity, some of the chapters are narrated by a dust particle, flake of dandruff, or neuron in michael's brain. a quirky book about traveling from london to sicily, evading stalkers, dealing with your family, and - of course - talking bunnies. it's also charmingly illustrated.

[Anand Koppar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and hilarious take on a bunny rabbit named Fluffy who thinks he isn't one. While he is being adopted by an anxious human called Michael Pulcino who stays alone but has a stalker in the form of Fluffy's nursery school teacher called Suzzane. This a rather realistic take on human emotions which make us who we are. Fluffy is book worth reading whenever you want a distraction from whatever you are doing and have a good laugh.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet & funny little graphic novel. Perfect for reading in bed on a rainy fall night. I thought it might be sickeningly cute, but it held my attention and I laughed out loud. Fluffy reminded me a little of Calvin, maybe when Calvin was still young enough to have not fully developed his mischievous streak.

[Kyla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story felt very forced and disjointed. What were intended to be fun plot devices (e.g.-the speck of dirt and dandruff flake) detracted from the story, which wasn't all that deep or well-designed anyway. Fluffy took a backseat to his "Daddy," which, I think, was a mistake.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Velmi roztomilé a dojemné, četla jsem to několikrát.

[Victoria Nightingale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in my collection the other day and remembered how much I loved it. It really is such a special, sweet comic book

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous, hilarious little book. Fluffy is precious!

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fluffy was charming, everything else not so much. The overall joke wore itself out pretty quickly.

[Saba · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fluffy is a baby rabbit who is being looked after by an anxious, single man called Michael Pulcino. Michael tries to make it clear to Fluffy that he is not his daddy, but the little rabbit appears to be in serious denial. To add to his troubles, Michael is being pursued by Fluffy's nursery school teacher. He hopes distancing himself (literally) will help, so he and Fluffy set off to visit family in Sicily. Once there, Fluffy is made to face some harsh truths about species, existence and life.

My top three thoughts on ‘Fluffy’:
1. I guess Fluffy is meant to be some kind of childishly funny, charming graphic novel with some other themes like dating, single parenthood, social awkwardness and loneliness... The book falls flat!
Where do I even begin? Fluffy's annoying (which I guess is the point), Michael is a real piece of work (I’ll address this next), and the story is random and pointless.
2. Michael Pulcino is a douche. I’m not even going to get into his behavior towards annoying Fluffy. Michael has a one night stand with Fluffy's teacher. He doesn't want to commit but he leads her on as he's too cowardly to talk to her like an adult. He runs away from his problems and gets angry when she chases after him. She even comes to another country for him just to talk to him! Even if she's intense and comes on strong, there's no need to label her as delusional or a basketcase. Michael lets this woman believe they are in some sort of relationship because he refuses to speak up and clarify anything. It’s being shown as something light hearted in the book but I personally didn’t find this funny! By not even attempting a conversation about his feelings, Michael continues being agreeable towards her. MAYBE if he actually bothered communicating with her, she wouldn’t have come across as so clingy and desperate for answers.
He is with her despite finding her annoying because he claims he’s being 'nice’ to her and also because he fears he'll end up alone!
3. The ending was pretty terrible too. It rambled off to a feel good conclusion, which I obviously didn’t care for since I didn’t like the book.