Opowieści z hrabstwa Essex

Essex County #1-3

by Jeff Lemire, Bartosz Sztybor (Translator)

Co zrobi młody chłopiec, gdy cały jego świat nagle przestanie istnieć? Co mogło sprawić, że dwóch braci ze zgranej drużyny przeistoczyło się w obcych sobie zgorzkniałych samotników? Jak praca jednej pielęgniarki w średnim wieku mogła doprowadzić do ujawnienia bolesnych sekretów całej społeczności? I czy coś może uleczyć rany wywołane dekadami życia w zakłamaniu?

Uznany twórca Jeff Lemire komiksem „Opowieści z hrabstwa Essex” składa hołd swoim korzeniom. Ta wielokrotnie nagradzana trylogia powieści graficznych została bowiem osadzona w fikcyjnym odpowiedniku prowincji Ontario, gdzie autor się urodził. W „Opowieściach z hrabstwa Essex” Lemire przedstawia kameralne studium niewielkiej społeczności na przestrzeni lat, a także snuje rozmyślania o rodzinie, pamięci, żalu, sekretach z przeszłości i pojednaniu. Ze świeżym i ekspresyjnym stylem rysunku, będący u szczytu swoich umiejętności Lemire najpierw wciąga czytelników, by w końcu ich wyzwolić.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Canada, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Book Club

512 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2009

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Lemire's magnum opus. Love, heartbreak, loneliness, regret, friendship, family. The human condition pressed into one rural Canadian county. It's absolutely beautiful. And I read it in two hours.

What I love about Essex County is its ethereal bending of reality, the way memory or imagination can be true but also false. The way Lester can fly, or Lou can travel through time. The ethereal, the way these characters' stories are intricately tied together like a Faulkner story, as well as the superb writing, make this a transcendent five stars.

I don't know if it's because I'm now a parent, getting older, or am deeply flawed like these characters, but this really got to me. Those quiet moments in life of joy and pain, when you wonder if it's just you in it alone or if everyone feels that way, are explored here. It's complicated yet simple, gracefully grand, and goes deeper than it probably should be able to, but it somehow does. There were so many incredible moments of writing where I just stopped and said, god damn it, how did he do that?

Like all his indie work, Lemire also illustrates. It's a style of its own, paired perfectly to his writing. Black and white, stark, rough, impressionistic, and makes great use of light and white space. His facial expressions are amazing in this incredibly reductive, Saturday-cartoon style, but it manages to do the heavy lifting and make one hell of an emotional impact.

So there you have it, his greatest work, as great as everyone says it is.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so sorry.
I know this is a beloved graphic novel, but I just didn't like it at all.



Maybe it's because I don't understand the deeper meaning behind sports (hockey, in this case), or maybe because I'm not Canadian, or possibly it's because my crusty heart looks like a shriveled up chunk of beef jerky?
But I was expecting to feel something when I closed Essex County.
And I did. Just not anything that gave me the warm & fuzzies or made my eyes glisten with tears.
I felt like I had wasted my time with a dull story about dull people leading dull lives and making dull mistakes.
With dull art.



This was (to me) a barely cohesive story that went nowhere. Nowhere.
My life story is more interesting than the rambling journey I went on with these characters. I kept waiting for it to make sense, come together, or turn into something poingnant and worthwhile, but it never did.
It appears as though I must be missing the entire point because all I'm seeing are 4 and 5 star reviews praising the hell out of this thing. <--from friends and reviewers whose opinions I honestly adore!



Obviously, I'm in the extremely small minority who wasn't completely blown away by Lemire's Essex County, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. However, if you are like me, and aren't really into stories that just kind of meander around showing slices of life that have no real resolution or point to them? You may want to give this a pass.
Everyone who didn't accidentally sell their soul at 3 am to that weird dude for a plate of Nachos BellGrande® should probably pick this up.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essex County (2011) is a collection of three linked graphic short stories set in Essex County, Ontario by Jeff Lemire. The three short stories are published separately as "Tales from the Farm (2008)," "Ghost Stories (2008)," and "The Country Nurse (2009)," but together they make sense as a graphic novel. Two other shorter stories titled "The Essex County Boxing Club" and "The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears" are also included in the collection, and they are part of the world, but not directly part of the main story.

Roy Orbison is mentioned in the text; here he is singing “Only the Lonely,” which is thematically relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YG__...

The stories are linked thematically and in tone, in telling the story of Lester, Jimmy LeBeuf, brothers Vince and Lou LeBeuf, Anne Quenneville, and Uncle Ken. “Tales from the Farm” is the story of Lester, a teen who has never known his father, who has lost his mother to cancer, and who’s being raised by his Uncle Ken on a farm. He does his chores but he also wears a mask and cape most of the time, draws comics, and doesn’t connect much with his uncle, who never had any children of his own. Sad and lonely Lester—we never see him with a friend, but we do see him bullied while reading comics on the school bus, called homophobic slurs--does make a connection with gas station attendant Jimmy LeBeuf, who played hockey but is now seen locally as “slow.”

Jimmy participates in Lester’s superhero fantasy stories; Lester shows him the comic he is working on; Jimmy gives Lester his personal hockey trading card. Ken disapproves of the relationship, though; Jimmy has a connection to Lester that is hinted at but not confirmed. Jimmy agrees to not see Lester anymore, and Lester casts off his cape to—we can assume--join the larger Essex community as a more conventional male.

“Ghost Stories” features two brothers, Lou and Vince LeBeuf, who play minor league hockey in Toronto. We tack back and forth the between the last, senile days of Lou, being cared for by The Country Nurse featured in the third story, Anne Quenneville, and the young hockey days. Lou gives up hockey to marry and have a child, and because of something dramatic that happens between them, they are separated for decades, and Vince lives in isolation.

“The Country Nurse” focuses on also lonely and isolated nurse Anne, who knows or cares for the LeBeuf men and Lester.

Essex County is an homage to the isolated community in which Jeff Lemire grew up (which I know now is roughly 4-5 hours from where I grew in Michigan, and that makes it resonate with me all the more, for some reason). Minimalistic, sad, not without tenderness, deeply humane, these are tales of small town rural (and urban Toronto, for a time) Ontario. A multi-generational tale of damaged working-class people who don’t talk much, that reminds me a bit tonally of Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan. Men, aging, dwelling on their lost dreams. Stark, rough sketchy pen and ink art mirrors the bleak cold isolated landscape. Lemire makes great use of light and white space in the process. Hockey, that Canadian national sport, runs through the book as a light in the lives of the area residents. There’s occasional moments of surreality or magical realism, as when a crow appears throughout or when the old hockey team visits to tap their sticks on the floor in tribute at a moment of death.

Essex County is one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and Lemire continues working to bring us back to that bleak Canadian world in Rough Neck, Royal City, Black Hammer and other stories. You could do worse to read all the work of Jeff Lemire, though the bulk of his superhero work is far less interesting to me. When he’s in Canada, he’s golden.

Helpless, Neil Young: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7rQv...

There is a town in north Ontario, With dream comfort memory to spare, And in my mind I still need a place to go, All my changes were there. Blue, blue windows behind the stars, Yellow moon on the rise, Big birds flying across the sky, Throwing shadows on our eyes. Leave us Helpless, helpless, helpless Baby can you hear me now? The chains are locked and tied across the door, Baby, sing with me somehow. Blue, blue windows behind the stars, Yellow moon on the rise, Big birds flying across the sky, Throwing shadows on our eyes. Leave us Helpless, helpless, helpless.

If you are in the mood for melancholy Canadian, here’s a Joni Mitchell Saskatchewan song, “Chinese Café”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUx9...

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more I read comics, the more I appreciate comics like this.

The first comic I read back in 1998 or so was Miller's Dark Knight Returns. The second was Moore's Watchmen.

Since then I've read me a lot of superhero comics. Some of them are really fine. I enjoy the hell out of a good batman story, and Whedon's X-men was some damn fine storytelling.

But comics like this one and Blankets are an entirely different sort of story. They're stories about regular people living their lives, and I love seeing them in the comic medium.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know a thing or two about Canadian small towns – and so does Jeff Lemire.

Perfectly captured in this collection are the loneliness of modest lives spent under infinite skies, the childhood enchantment of make-believe, the proximity of nature, the subtle vanishing of time, and the grinding murmur of a generational mill that adds layer after layer of anecdote to the local genealogy.

In focusing on a few favourite families and making time for small gestures to count, Jeff Lemire succeeds not unlike Kent Haruf does: if the delivery adapts to the medium, a similar, kindhearted way of bringing alive countryside candour and neighbourliness runs through the graphic novels.

These are stories of thwarted ambitions, secret love, open hands, and lifelong regrets. They are the stories of thousands of humble communities across the country – and I know the stories to ring true.

Picked this up on a whim, on top of it. Way to begin a new reading year.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book collects together what I think is one of the greatest achievements in comics in the last 10 years, Jeff Lemire's Essex County stories.

Essex County is a part of Ontario, Canada, and the three books collected here - Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse - explores the area and it's inhabitants.

Tales from the Farm follows a lonely boy called who has recently lost his mother, never knew his father, and is in the care of his uncle. The two have an awkward relationship as they struggle to come to terms with grief and the balance of their relationship. Lester draws comics and dresses as a superhero, and finally makes a friend in the form of Jimmy LeBeuf, a gas station attendant who used to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs before an injury brought an end to his career. The two find a small measure of happiness in their bleak lives in their time talking together about comics and hockey.

Ghost Stories follows the story of two brothers, Lou and Vince LeBeuf, who play minor league hockey in Toronto. They both dream of making it into the big leagues but Vince (the more gifted of the brothers at hockey) meets a girl, marries her, drops hockey, and starts a family and farm out in the country. Lou tries to crack the major leagues but incurs a career ending injury and spends his life driving a tram in Toronto. A dark secret splits these once close brothers so that they never speak for decades.

The Country Nurse follows the story of Anne Byrne who looks after Lou LeBeuf as well as other people in Essex County. We find out about her lonely home life and her family's ancestors. The revelations in her family tie together the LeBeuf family and ties the trilogy together.

Also included are the stories "The Essex County Boxing Club" and "The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears" as well as "Barnyard Scraps: Bonus Material".

Lemire's artwork is nothing short of breathtaking. The haunting shadows of the bleak landscapes and the expressions on his characters' faces stay with you long after you've put the book down. There are many pages which stay in mind: Lou and Vinnie LeBeuf's final embrace, Lester and Uncle Kenny sitting down to dinner, Anne sitting at her kitchen table crocheting to Roy Orbison, and the final few pages with the crow. They're all imbued with a quiet tragedy and melancholy that you don't often see from comics.

If you're a fan of comics but in particular the kind that you hope will match Will Eisner's "Contract with God Trilogy" for emotional power coupled with masterful storytelling and artwork you wish was big enough to decorate your walls, Jeff Lemire's "The Complete Essex County" is your book. I can't recommend it higher.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost finished this in one night and I could probably read it again; it's that good, with that much depth: literary fiction at its best.

It's hard to say which of the three books collected here was my favorite, though the middle one, "Ghost Stories," the tale of two hockey-playing brothers from youth to their estrangement to old age probably elicited the most emotion from me. Within about ten pages I'd felt for the young boy and the old man whose paths cross in the snow, almost teared up at a two-page wordless spread and then smiled at the smile on the face of the surviving brother, his own emotion evoked by the crow who flies, dives, swoops and perches throughout the pages. Smiles on the characters' faces are few and when they do appear, it is effective. Life in this fictional rural Ontario county is hard and lonely, and many of the characters are death-haunted and feel guilty.

The third book, "The Country Nurse," takes us through the community and ties up some relationships with the historical account of how two ancestors of two of the families we already know arrived in Essex County. The illustration of the orphan with his patched blanket blowing in the wind like a cape as he points out the crow is another 'page-stopper.' Even the first book "Tales from the Farm," which appears simpler than the others at first, ends with a piece of sci-fi/fantasy that is psychologically acute.

The 'extra' two short stories and other bonus materials add further to the lore of the area and give us another character whose smile is hard-earned and well-deserved. Unused promotional art for "The Country Nurse" could be viewed as a summation for the whole collection.

[Bruno Neute · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of story Lemire excels at. Slow, atmospheric and with carefully dosed pathos.

Couple of reasons why I'm not giving it 5 stars.

First, I didn't care much illustrations. They are really basic and characters where hard to differentiate at times. I did like color pallet though.

Second, last story isn't on par with first two. It's still good but definitively weak link in this series.

And third, this is personal story and I think it would have greater impact if I grew in similar environment, not half-across the world.

Still it's wonderful graphic novel and easy to recommend even if name Jeff Lemire means nothing to you.

[Jerry Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke me. And then it fixed me.

With Jeff Lemire’s name and bright cover art, I was expecting something heart-warming. It was warm, in fact too warm that it managed to melt my heart a little bit.

Like the title says, it is the story of Essex County, an agrarian Hockey town, of its people and their lives spanning over generations. There are three separate stories that subtly segue between various characters and time periods. There is a prevailing sense of loneliness and longing in every character, be it the introvert boy ‘Lester’, one hit wonder ‘Lou’ or the Nurse 'Anne'. Jeff easily characterizes these emotions through art; through fonts, shadows, inanimate objects, snow and even the eyes of characters. The artwork here is more or less sequential, strictly minimal and monochromatic. And it was impressive how the concatenating narrative unraveled complicated relations in sheer simplicity, evoking strong emotions in the process. To each person Essex means something different, and they all have their personal passions to hold on to when the world around them slips.

I found a lot of my confused childhood in ‘Lesters’ eyes; awkwardness and loneliness and escapism in comic book reality. Even in the absence of colours and detailing, little incoherent circles that formed his eyes, and single line that formed his facial expression, conveyed a lot to me than usual words would. Like brightening of those circles and downward curving of facial lines, when ‘Lester’ runs around, in his red cape.

Jeff was honest in his literature and artistic depiction of guilt and loss, and their aftermath. There was a lot of similarity between 'Lester' and 'Lou', mostly on the pleasant side, and for more than once in the surreal business of flashbacks I suspected the latter being the elder version of former. The simultaneous loss of love and friendship drives 'Lou' to strong guilt, the kind that doesn’t allow you to move on or be happy. He tries to make sense of my his lonely life by holding on to the only thing that matters- Hockey, to which he was a one hit wonder of; yet his life somehow finds its way back to the focal point of tragedy.

The subtle difference between grief and guilt was addressed in surprising detail here, like how others move on with their life and you are left with a perpetrator guilt that runs simulations of ‘what if’ scenarios in your head over and over. And even after eons, the first thing that gets to your head about a broken friendship would be that focal point. You will be looking for excuses, trying to fix something that is permanently broken and that no one cares about anymore. Guilt kept Lou in a state of perpetual ‘Merlin Sickness’; shrinking him mentally towards the traumatic past, and physically away from it.

The last story, involving the 'Nurse' was the one I connected least with even though it was the most communicative among the three. Yet, in a way, it was the story line I needed most. The whole book is predictable, occasionally surreal and even melancholic. But there is an element of magical realism in it, unreliability in the narration that bends reality between characters, time zones, dreams and memories. Jeff does a great job in making characters as real as possible, they age, they feel and they respond like normal human beings than someone sketched out of a paper. And above all, it is beautiful.

As I was nearing the end of my reading, the book had left me devastated, badly in need of a hug. And surprisingly, by the time I reached the back cover, the book itself had become the very hug that I so badly needed.

[Oriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

book #14 for Jugs & Capes!
book #13 for my review series at CCLaP!


Check out how cool Canada is: While we’re drooling over Real Housewives of Who the Fuck Cares, they’re watching a show called Canada Reads, where five famous people each pick a book and defend it, and then they all vote one book off each day, winding up with one winner, the book that “all of Canada should read.” That is fucking rad.

I learned about that only because Essex County was in this year’s running—the first graphic novel that’s ever had that honor. Even though it didn’t win, it’s clear that Canadians, at least, care about this book a lot. And from the little bit of research I did prior to writing this review, it seems like a lot of people like this book a lot.

I’m sorry to say I’m not one of them.

Oh, it’s not a bad book, it’s just not really for me. It’s incredibly, relentlessly bleak. It’s populated by extremely lonely people, people isolated by their own bad choices and by the deaths of those they’ve loved, people moving through their lives barely holding up under the weight of their accumulated sorrow and regret. It’s also about hockey.

This is actually a collection of three volumes. Book one is about a boy living on his uncle’s farm after his mom has died; book two is an old man looking back over his heart-wrenching life as a failed pro hockey player; book three is about a disaster at an orphanage in the woods. The stories are straightforward, no-nonsense, kind of working-class-style comics. They have no pretensions, no machinations, no trickery.

And they’re done well. The illustrations reinforce the bleakness of the stories, which takes place in (can you guess?) Essex County, Canada, where apparently it snows all the time. All of the stories have similar characters, who are either the same character or relatives of each other or just thematically linked, and this too is done very well, usually with just a particularly shaped nose. The characters are well formed, many with rich inner lives. And just about all of them play hockey, either for fun or professionally, and there are long game sequences, which even though I don’t really know all the rules of hockey were totally followable and dramatic.

So yeah, for what it was, it was good. But it was just. so. sad. Too much loneliness, too much despair, too many uncorrectable mistakes, too many miserable people making each other more and more miserable. I hate that. I hate sad movies, too. It’s probably a failing in my character, but there you are. Life is sad enough; I don’t need to depress myself in my escapism too.

[Tomáš Fojtik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamatuju si na dobu, kdy jsem komiks považoval za nezajímavý. Myslel jsem si, že komiks rovná se Superman nebo Batman. Prostě, hrdinské příběhy nadpozemských rozměrů. Až když jsem objevil Persepolis, Pod dekou nebo Maus (ten v první řadě), začal jsem názor na komiks přehodnocovat.

Ale pak jsem už dlouho nic zajímavého „nepotkal“. Buď jsem nedával pozor, a nebo mne velké komiksové počiny míjely. Ale letos jsem si všiml, že v nakladatelství Paseka vzniká Essex County a začal se po letech těšit na komiks.

Možná by bylo lepší používat termín „komiksový román“, protože ta kniha má všechno, co má správný román mít. Silný příběh postavený na zajímavých postavách. Příběh o lásce, starých ranách a světě fantazie. Kniha ale také přináší mimořádně silné emoce, které ve mně dnes dovede vzbudit už máloco. Je to jako hudba Leonarda Cohena – sedíte a ani nedutáte. A poslední věc: příběh samozřejmě nese i téma k zamyšlení, a to mám na románech moc rád.

Kniha obsahuje tři původně samostatná alba (Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, The Country Nurse), které pojí jedno silné téma – a to téma je osamělost a sklíčenost. Osamělost ve světě, kdy je nejbližší farma hodinu autem a kde jediné, co vám může dělat společnost je hukot větru. Ale také osamělost v hokejovém týmu, což je prostředí, ve kterém byste osamělost asi nehledali.

Autor pomalu splétá klubíčko příběhů a osudů, aby nakonec předvedl velkolepé finále hodné velkých děl ruské klasiky. Essex County si Kanaďané zvolili za román desetiletí, kniha tedy porazila i nekomiksové knihy, a to rozdílem parníku.

Essex County napsal a nakreslil kanadský umělec Jeff Lemire. Kresba není kdovíjak propracovaná, jako by jen načrtnul tahy a zbytek nechal na čtenářích. To je ale jen první dojem. Při pozorném studování detailů si všimnete, jak nad každým tahem štětce (nebo čím to kreslil) přemýšlel a každý bod má své místo. Jeho úsporný styl časem vnímáte velmi intenzivně. Emoce nakonec ucítíte tak silně, že se nebudete moct od jednotlivých okének odtrhnout. Kniha vás chytne za srdce, pohltí celou vaši duši.

Já už vím, že po krátké době od dočtení potřebuji celou knihu projít znovu. Příběh už znám, ale znovu chci na sebe nechat působit ducha krajiny a emoce, které jsou častěji vyjádřené obrazem než slovem. Essex County neodložíte po dočtení na poličku přečtených knih. Budet mít nutkání se k ní zas a znovu vracet.

Pokud jste ještě nenašli cestu ke komiksovým románům, Essex County je ta správná cesta. Sluší se dodat, že knihu v perfektní podobě vydalo nakladatelství Paseka a přeložila ji Martina Knápková.

[maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Read-EH-Thon Book #1

Essex County was the first book that I decided to pick up as part of Read-EH-Thon, a read-a-thon in which you are tasked to read books by Canadian authors! I have had this book sitting on my shelf for way too long now and I'm so glad I was able to finally pick it up. So many people told me how amazing it was, including the man who sold it to me at Fan Expo Canada a couple years back!

It definitely lived up to the expectations! This story is told in three major parts, each featuring a different character from the town of Essex County, Ontario, Canada. This graphic novel was filled with so many Canadian things, but what stood out the most was the amount of hockey-related moments. It just felt so relatable for me coming from a family that LOVES hockey.

More than that though, the stories told within Essex County are heartbreaking and tragic, but beautifully told. What I loved the most was the way that these separate stories all eventually connected in the most unexpected ways.

This was a fantastic first read to pick up for Read-EH-Thon and I'm so glad I finally got to read it!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so expected this to be one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. A deep, emotional, powerful story + Jeff Lemire's writing + Dark and twisted art. But...

What I liked: The three separate stories made it fresh to go through a 500+ page book. I also liked some of the imagery. Dark and lost, deep and sad, you really felt the emotion from the characters. I also liked how the lives all intertwined with each of them. The ending result was also sweet, bitter, and left unfinished but not in a bad way.

What I didn't like: The art is sketchy like and not all that well done sometimes for me. I also didn't get attached to the characters...at all. Like I tried to really get invested but nobody grabbed me sadly. I didn't really like the last part of it as well as the nurse was the least interesting and their backstory did nothing for me.

I guess I'm so let down because I WANTED to love this but it just didn't click with me. I guess they can't all be winners. I'd still advise anyone who wants a good story to read this, if you get attached to the characters you might end up loving it.

[Tim The Enchanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotional and Accessible - 5 Stars

I don't read many comics or graphic novels in any given year. From time to time, one looks interesting enough to pick up and read through. Being that this is set where I live and grew up, the story was especially significant.

There are several stories in the work told from the perspective of three main characters. Essex County is the major connection between the stories. The setting is developed to the point that it becomes a character and he uses several plot devices that make it feel that the setting is living and breathing.

The device I most enjoyed with the use of the crow throughout the story. Those who live in Essex County are familiar with the bird. For years they plagued county and murders of crow could be found dotting the landscape, filling trees, weighing down electric line and eating any garbage in sight. Thought the day, the sound of gunshots were played on loudspeakers to scare the birds away. The crow became a symbol of our region. While I think the story allows a reader to understand this symbol, and others in the story, are representative of the setting, it was regional knowledge of these symbols that made the story even more special.

Don't misunderstand, the reader need not possess insider knowledge to understand the story. On its own, the story is complex and exudes emotion in the way that only a graphic novel can. It does a wonderful job of exploring themes such as shared history, the need to belong and loneliness. This is mature story with many layers and plenty of imagery. I strongly urge you to read this.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects the Essex County trilogy, as well as bonus materials.

The Essex County Boxing Club was a storyline that was originally intended for Essex County, Vol. 3: The Country Nurse but was written out during the revision process. The same is true of The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant-Ears who was written out in favour of a more focussed narrative.

I've separately reviewed each of the individual pieces in the trilogy, but since the sum is greater than the parts, a remarkable 5 stars for the collected edition.

[Melania &#x1f352; · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75/5

Even if I didn’t feel a strong personal connection with these stories, I can appreciate their value. The Essex County feels like an intimate work , even more because it’s written and illustrated by the same person and because it is, above everything else, a Canadian story ( Lemire being Canadian). The art style is interesting - simple yet complex - and I have to admit it took me some time to get used to it. But those black and white drawings , especially the crow and those closeups of the eyes ,crawled under my skin. Also, the way the three stories intertwined was a big plus for the story , the very ending being so satisfying. I’ll happily check Sweet Tooth when I’ll get a chance.

[Book Riot Community]

I’m rereading this for my Canadian comics class and I’m reminded, yet again, of what a masterpiece it is. This intergenerational story of life on a rural Ontario farm — and the dreams, be they of hockey or of superheroes, that sustain those lives — is moving and heartbreaking. Lemire’s art style is deceptive: what looks rushed and sketched belies an incredible depth of emotion (you will never, ever forget the eyes in this comic). I have no problem labelling this The Great Canadian Graphic Novel and sliding it onto my shelf alongside all of the greats of literature, from Alice Munro to Robertson Davies. (The influence of Davies is, I think, particularly strong in the trilogy structure here.) Read this. I know you’ll love it. — Brenna Clarke Gray



From The Best Books We Read In March: http://bookriot.com/2015/04/01/riot-r...

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This was a wonderful graphic novel, which perfectly captured life in rural Canada. I'm not sure if I would have connected with this book as much as I did if I wasn't a Canadian. Of the stories, the first was my favourite and alone would have gotten 5 stars. I loved the unlikely friendship between Lester and Jimmy. The other stories were still well written, but didn't affect me on the same emotional level. The art was a little simplistic and rough for my tastes, but it grew on me throughout the pages and seemed to fit the collection. I would highly recommend this graphic novel to Canadian readers. 

[marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Postoji nešto u ovom stripu, neka nostalgija za vremenom i događajima koje niko od čitalaca nije ni doživeo, ali su poput onog trenutka dok još spavamo i krećemo da se budimo, negde na polovini između sna i jave.

[Lukáš Pokorný · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pokud se alespoň trochu aktivněji věnujete komiksům, nemohli jste neslyšet jméno Jeff Lemire. A pokud jste slyšeli jméno Jeff Lemire, nemohli jste neslyšet o Essex County. Opus magnum komiksového umělce z Kanady, kterým se navždy zapsal mezi největší komiksové tvůrce. Co je na něm vlastně tak skvělého?
Není to lidská tragédie opřená o velmi jadrné líčení života v koncentračních táborech, nebo o úpadku Íránu, není to epická vesmírná odysea přesahující smysly i koncepty přemýšlení, není to dekonstrukce superhrdinského žánru ani satirické, distopické sci-fi. Je to vyprávění lidech. Nic víc, nic míň. Stejně jako jsou lidské osudy někdy veselé, někdy vítězoslavné a někdy tragické, tak taková je Essex County.
Když uděláte krok dozadu a podíváte se na náměty příběhů s odstupem, zjistíte, že vlastně nejsou nijak převratné. Zasazení do rurální Kanady minulého století je možná celkem netradiční, ale pokud si vyberete libovolnou knihu současné literatury, která má ambici se brát alespoň trochu vážně, najdete velmi podobné motivy, zápletky a témata. Dokonce se tu Lemire občas uchyluje i do bezpečných vod klisché. Kresba je černobílá a až na výjimky nijak zvlášť propracovaná.
Takže proč? Proč Essex County sklízí ohlasy čtenářů i kritiků a Lemira katapultovala na vrchol komiksového průmyslu (fuj, pardon za to slovo)? Provedení. Autenticita. Téma. Tyhle tři věci. To je to kouzlo, které většina komiksových tvůrců neovládne za celý svůj život a Lemire to dokázal relativně brzy (vůbec nezávidím, ani trochu).
Provedení. Chcete být v něčem dobrý? Dělejte to. Dělejte to dlouho, dělejte to s láskou a učte se od lepších. Jiný recept na řemeslné mistrovství v čemkoliv neexistuje.
Lemire ve svých rozhovorech vzpomíná, jak dříve pracoval jako kuchař a po nocích a ve veškerém volném čase kreslil komiksy. Už od mala si osvojoval tvrdou pracovní morálku, bez které na farmě (odkud pochází) nemůžete přežít. Tu samou morálku poté aplikoval na své snahy při tvorbě komiksů. Takový shaolin komiksu.
Dokázal si tak osvojit unikátní vizuální styl a cit pro vyprávění, nad kterým žasnu. Tempo vyprávění je něco, s čím má hodně vypravěčů (nejen) v komiksu problém. Lemire vypráví ale s takovou lehkostí, že kloužete příběhem aniž by to jedinkrát zaskřípalo a při tom prožíváte silné emoce. Provazování časových linií, atmosferických vložek, i zdánlivě nesouvisejících panelů tu funguje jako dobře naolejovaný stroj. Úsporné a efektivní. Nádhera.
Autenticita. Problém, který často mám při čtení nebo sledování filmů/divadelních her, je, že postavám prostě nevěřím. Jejich ztráty a triumfy jsou tak uměle vystavěné, že se vlastně jen koukáte na pohyblivé kulisy. Lemire ale ukotvuje své příběhy v reálných lidských nedorozuměních, neschopnosti komunikace a dalších nedokonalostech lidských vztahů, které formují nás i naše vazby na jiné. Každou postavu jsem tam chápal, s každou jsem cítil a nejednou jsem musel zamačkávat slzu. Tak poznáte autentického vypravěče, příběh má zkrátka substanci.
Téma. To trochu souvisí s předchozím bodem, ale je to v komiksu natolik unikátní úkaz, že to prostě musím vypíchnout. Každý příběh Essex County má svoje téma: Otcové a synové, samota, smíření. Když dokážete vystihnout jedním výrazem celý příběh, víte, že autor někam směřoval, něco se vám snažil sdělit.
To bohužel dnes často nevidíte. Většina komiksů je bohužel plot driven a vy tak maximálně můžete převyprávět, o čem byla hlavní zápletka (někdy ani to ne). Zde je ale každý příběh vlastně esejí na dané téma a ještě se dokáže přirozeně prolínat s dalšími příběhy a tématy, které doplňuje. Majstrštyk.

[Lukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of three graphic short stories set in Essex County, Ontario. Also, a terrific read. It's one of the best graphic novels I've ever read.

[OV · Rating 5 out of 5]

É a obra maior - não só pelo tamanho, mas pela qualidade - do Jeff Lemire e isso só por si é suficientemente esclarecedor. Caramba, que livro é este?

Esta edição...esta belissíma edição, assim é que é, da Top Shelf reúne a trilogia completa Essex County e ainda nos oferece dois contos adicionais e outros extras. É magnífica a forma como a história é contada, fragmentada em três partes bem distintas para acabar, surpreendentemente, de forma perfeitamente redonda. E se pararmos para pensar que esta foi a segunda obra do autor, percebemos de imediato o talento fora de série que é o Lemire.

A arte é dele - fantástico trabalho a preto e branco - e a história é dele...é dele porque foi ele que a escreveu e é dele porque foi a partir das próprias raízes que a construiu. O Jeff Lemire, tal como as personagens do livro, cresceu em Essex County, numa quinta perdida no meio de nada. É uma história que aborda, essencialmente, a solidão...as várias formas de solidão. É um trabalho que mostra uma sensibilidade rara e que é capaz de nos deixar emocionados em muitos momentos...mas nem por isso é um livro deprimente. É um livro que simplesmente mostra a vida a acontecer.

Essex County é um dos meus livros preferidos de sempre...e esse é o maior elogio que lhe posso fazer. Da história não conto nada, deixo para vocês descobrirem, se puderem, se quiserem...leiam.

[João Barradas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humanidade é o étimo que define o conjunto de seres humano mas também pode ser entendido como bondade e compaixão. Porquê esta dualidade? Justifica-se, porventura, por o ser humano ser um animal de relações, que necessita de outro para realmente se encontrar a si próprio. Como uma árvore, ele lança as suas raízes e vai sorvendo os nutrientes, vindos de outrém, enredando-se noutras raízes, até que frondosas atinjam a superfície.

Lemire, um natural desse Essex County, constrói uma mitologia inspirada na região rural do Canadá. Com claros lampejos autobiográficos, há uma aura de super-heróis, uma vibração face ao hóquei em patins, iam repescagem de memórias aprisionadas no presente. Mas o aspecto que mais sobressai é a solidão: esse estado sentido no meio da multidão e na pacatez de um lar unipessoal, levando alguns à perdição. Haverá mapa para sair desse labirinto?

A vida é invariavelmente uma insatisfação face à actual situação, num contínuo reviver de ciclos prévios. Tão incompleta como os traços a preto e branco que está obra apresenta, culminando em formas disformes. Ao invés de garantir um desconforto desmedido, embrenha o leitor ainda mais na história e fá-lo empatizar mais com as personagens. O sofrimento pode consumir o âmago de qualquer um mas as relações poderão ser uma solução eficaz. Há esperança na empatia – partilhem-na!

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Грубо, хоча і дуже стильно, змальована родинна сага про спадковість, образи та помилки у малому світі, жителі якого ніяк не можуть вибратися за його межі. Леміру вдалось дуже реалістично зобразити меланхолію провінційного генетичного та соціально-рольового болотця десь на віддалених від цивілізації теренах Канади. Специфічне чтиво, але беззаперечно якісне.

[Artemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an incredible and beautiful book. It's hard to describe or even discuss for me for some reason, but I wholeheartedly recommend it.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay read. Kinda semi-biographical maybe? About living in Essex county that is in the Ontario province of Canada. My guess is that Canadian readers rated this high.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a little ashamed to say that I started this book years ago and only finished now. Why, you ask? I seem to have this weird thing where I'm afraid to read masterpieces. I don't know what it is, I haven't really been able to place the reason for this quirk. Sometimes when I start a truly good book, I get a weird sense of anxiety about finishing it. You only get to read something for the first time once.

Well, I had read Tales from the Farm, the first story in this, and it left me feeling a lot. I started reading Ghost Stories and immediately decided to leave it for later because it was looking right away like it was gonna hit really close to home. Took me years to go back, and I'll be damned if I wasn't right.

Tales from the Farm got to me, The Country Nurse got to me, but Ghost Stories... Ghost Stories messed me up. Alzheimers and memory loss has always been one of the saddest and scariest concepts to me. I already have a spotty memory of my childhood and it's a frequent point of melancholy rumination, so it's only natural that I'd have this irrational fear of Alzheimers--whether it be having it myself or having it happen to a loved one. Never before have I seen a story on the topic so expertly portrayed.

The rest of the book is just as good too, and the way each story is tied together is beautifully seamless. Jeff Lemire is such a good storyteller. Don't sleep on this book.

I know, not much of a review, but just like reading masterpieces, I also feel trepidation over reviewing them so this is all you get.

[Funfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Jeff Lemire through some of his superhero books like "Green Arrow" and "Animal Man" and already liked his writing quite a bit. During those reads I realized that I'm into the more subtle, personal and even depressing stories. That brought Lemire's earlier works to my attention and I found an affordable copy of "The Complete Essex County", which is now (officially!) one of my favorite books.

The balance between human misery, sadness and small but powerful, heartwarming scenes and single moments is just remarkable. Especially since Lemire is using such minimal and simple words, which are combined with his unquie artstyle that's applying facial expressions (those eyes!) extremely well.

At first I couldn't grasp how the first story "Tales from the Farm" worked so well, cause there isn't happening too much to be honest, but somehow Lemire still manages make me care about the characters after only like the first half dozen pages. Although everything seems to be in a weirdly depressing and quiet state, the end of each story felt like being thrown out of a vortex of bitter emotions with just that tiny glance of hope and satisfaction that leaves you smiling.

It's hard to put my reading experience in words (as you probably already noticed ;)), but I'v never read a story so simple from the outside, yet so powerful from the inside. I already started reading "The Underwater Welder" and got my eyes on "Sweet Tooth", of course ;)

[Ondra Král · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opus magnum