A writer in a small town has hit a block he can't get past and he has the added stress of a pregnant wife to take care of. He answers an ad to paint a house in order to bring in some money. There he meets a brother and sister who he becomes friends with and maybe more with the sister. The twist was well done and I didn't see it coming. The artwork was great too.

'Melvile: The Story of Samuel Beauclair' with art and story by Romain Renard is a story of a writer returning to a small town to find inspiration.

Sam Beauclair is a successful author who is on the hook for his second book. His wife is pregnant and the financial pressures on his life make him take an odd job painting a house. He knows nothing about house painting, but he forms a relationship with the guy who has hired him as well as the guy's younger sister. Sam's past is about to be discovered, and his new friends will find their loyalties tested.

I liked this story and the painted art style. There are pages that have a bit more text, and I found those kind of pulled me out of the story, but this was a decent read, and I'm glad I got a chance to read it.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Sam Beauclair is in trouble. His agent is waiting on the imminent submission of the new book Sam has been working on, but there's no new book to submit. Sam has been unable to write anything to follow-up on his first successful novel, and he seems to have other personal problems to deal with. He is living in a cabin in the remote woodland location of Melvile, there are money problems, his home is being repossessed, and the situation is causing tension between him and his wife Sarah. There's clearly more to Sam's problems than a case of writer's block.

Sam knows that he has to move forward and, on a whim while visiting a local store for provisions, he picks up a notice for a brother and sister who need some painting work done to their house before the autumn sets in. It's money and Sam could do with that, but more importantly it's work, something that Sam can use to keep him occupied and his mind off his immediate problems. It's also a way of re-establishing contact with other people in the outside world again.

Sam's wife however is suspicious about how Sam seems to be spending a lot of time over at David and Rachel's house, particularly as Rachel is young and attractive and he has given her a copy of his book to read. She has reason to be suspicious, as there is definitely something growing between Sam and Rachel, little glances and passing comments. But there's also something that isn't right about Sam and Sarah's relationship, Sarah never leaving the house and Sam never talking about her.

What's good about Romain Renard's work in Melvile is how he manages to get across all these little undercurrents full of suggestion within the artwork. Purely from an aesthetic viewpoint, the artwork is beautiful. There are lots of silent panels and pages that capture the beauty of the location, its brown and orange glows and hazes capturing something of the mood of late summer's sunlight and gloom, but it also seems to chime perfectly with the mood of Sam as he goes through this difficult phase in his life. It's paced beautifully to give the story room to breathe, but there is also detail in the expressions that hints at tensions and dangers to come.

Inevitably, events gather pace towards a dramatic conclusion, since Sam is clearly in such a position that he needs to destroy everything and break from the past if he is to renew. And, evidently, that ties in with the cycles of nature, which can also have its moments of high drama. The way that Renaud depicts this invites you to follow that path, get caught up in the rush to such an extent that it stops you dead with some spectacular images, before picking you up again in amazement.

The story itself isn't exceptional, it has to be said. It's a bit predictable all the way through, although there are certainly a few surprises; perhaps not so much in any narrative twists as in how Renaud chooses to visualise them in the artwork. Everything about this is a perfect marriage of word and image to move the story along, capturing the weight of life, the weight of expectation, the burden of the past, and sometimes there is a need to burn it all and start again, inspiring in a way that makes this ideal for graphic novel treatment.

I imagine by this stage you are starting to realize that this week features a ton of translated works. I’m fascinated by how this medium that I love exists in other countries and cultures. This week alone, I’m reviewing comics from Belgium, Turkey, Spain, and France. Melvile: The Story of Samuel Beauclair is another entry from France. Does it stand toe-to-toe with fellow French titles Mister George and The Wrath of Fantômas? Let’s find out!
Samuel Beauclair wrote his first novel, got another book deal, an agent, and an editor. At which point his writing career came to a grinding halt. He fled to his deceased father’s cabin in Melvile, haunted by the memories of his past and his ongoing failure to produce new work. Taking on a new job working on a house, he begins to develop feelings for the homeowner’s sister, staying out later and later before coming home to his pregnant wife. As his life begins to be more and more possessed by the stories of his past, how will Samuel get his life back together?
I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect from this title, as “man cheats on wife to find meaning in life” isn’t exactly my cup of tea. However, Melive proved to be so much more than that. This complicated story explores its characters in depth, allowing Samuel to be full of shades of gray rather than black and white morality. Even more so, it navigates Samuel’s life in a meaningful, mature way.
I loved Melvile. Adult readers looking for a mature, intelligent rumination on the struggles of living up to the past and processing grief should definitely consider giving Melvile: The Story of Samuel Beauclair a try.

Review will be available at the provided link on 3/7/19.

Sam Beauclair is a writer with current writer's block, living with his pregnant wife in the cabin (or not?). He decides to take a job as a handyman, he falls in love with a really young girl. Spoken as this it sounds a little bad and ordinary. What really caught my attention was the interesting and unusual artwork. It was something I saw as quite ugly here and there and seconds later I loved it. The landscape images were nice, animals too. Faces looked sometimes poorly drawn.

Seeing as a real reviewer would nit-pick with this book, I will. For one thing, he does say where he lives, so they shouldn't make out they don't know. For another, there is a case for saying the legend is slightly shoe-horned into proceedings. For a third, you could question whether the voicemail would have that message, considering the timeline. For a fourth, she asks to crash when she already seems an accepted part of the household. But all the same – boy. What a book. The artwork really sets the mood, with two houses growing to have completely differing palettes and tones, as our hero grows to prefer life with his employer and his sexy sister and not his home life. Our main man is a young bloke, struggling to fit into his father's footsteps and house, as his one-book-and-then-block writing career is not a match for his old man's. You can see that being done elsewhere. His eyes alight on the svelte figure of the sister of the guy employing him to decorate and winter-proof his huge cabin home. You can see that being done elsewhere. But there is still so much else on these pages that you won't have seen. Wonderfully rich painted artwork, a real narrative drive that drops your emotions on a fairground machine mid-ride, and – it's just really well done. Those niggles aren't quite enough to knock this off the rarefied five star perch – let's face it, I've thought about and looked back over this book more than others that have reached that esteemed rating. This is well, well, well worth consideration. As are, so it seems, heart-shaped areolae. Please, publishers, bring us the sequel soon!

I read the English edition of this and realised that this is an excellent graphic novel. On the face of it the story appears to be about a writer who is supposed to be writing his second novel but instead drifts into writers block and an adulterous relationship even though he has a pregnant wife.

As the story develops it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. The echos of the past blend in with the present and a haunting and excellent story unfolds. The artwork has different dark tones which emphasise the haunting feel of the story. As I read it that haunting feel grew and then just burst into the truth in a way that is surprising.

Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This graphic novel has a cool storyline and the art is interesting. Not quite my thing, but I'll recommend it to patrons that have shown a similar interest.