there is something about french graphic novels that simply hits different... alongside with Alix Garin's novel, "Forget Me Not," this novel was a beautiful, nihilistic, and very reflective read that I adored.

the characters were relatable and deeply written, and I have to admit I cried a few times.

this novel follows Samuel, a miserable man in his thirties, living in Paris. one day, he decides to call his childhood home number and his 10-year-old self picks up.

with every conversation, 10-year-old Sam and 35-year-old Sam help each other to deal with everyday life, which results in adult Sam finally getting the courage to live the life he wants.

this was absolutely amazing. from the very first page, it was so atmospheric and deep, that I couldn't stop reading until the very end.

I will recommend this to everyone until the day I die. <3

In a nutshell: A brilliant graphic novel (one of the best I’ve picked up this year). A must read!

Story:
Samuel is down in the emotional dumps. He lives all alone in his tiny Paris apartment, he hates his job, and he has absolutely no one to celebrate his birthday with. While on this full self-pity trip, he decides to amuse himself by dialling the only phone number he knows by heart – that of his childhood home. Imagine his surprise when someone actually answers. And imagine his shock when he discovers that the respondent is none other than Samuel himself, from the past when he was just ten years old and full of dreams and aspirations about the future. How can the Samuel from the present talk to his past self without ending up crushing his childhood innocence?

The plot itself tells you what an imaginative story this is. And the writing style makes sure that you stay hooked from the first page to the last. Samuel’s anguish, his uncertainty, his loneliness, everything is woven into the storyline so beautifully. At the same time, his confrontations with and protectiveness about his younger self strike an emotional chord. After all, if you suddenly find yourself conversing with your younger self, what would you say to them, how much of your present life would you reveal? Do you think your younger self would be happy with the life you are living right now? The narrative covers a wide range of topics such as office struggles, dictatorial bosses, secret crushes, childhood dreams, loneliness, and so on, with each idea being handled well. The ending is the icing on the cake.

I loved how the illustrations depicted the interactions between the two Samuels. But present-time Samuel is drawn in a strange way at the start of the book and though I should have felt sorry for him in his loneliness and despair, I kept getting distracted by the odd drawing style. It’s only after a few pages that I was able to ignore the peculiar style and focus on the story itself. But other than present-time Samuel of the first half, the rest of the graphics are quite good and support the narrative well. So this is just a trivial complaint.

Overall, I found this novel simply brilliant! The story is outstanding, and the theme, thought-provoking. Recommended for all graphic novel lovers.

4.5 stars from me, rounding up to 5.

My thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the ARC of “Someone to Talk To”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

<b><i>Someone To Talk To</i></b> is a touching, often funny story of reclaiming the dreams we have for ourselves that got lost in time. Perfect for fans of The Midnight Library, it is a magical realism novel about a man who finds he is able to talk to his younger self.

I haven't read the novel this was based from, but I can tell it's a great adaptation for several reasons. First, that the art style was pleasing and brilliantly executed. Second, the dialogues weren't super long as to bore the reader, but enough to convey the scenes. The silent-picture bits were also brilliantly done.

Over-all, it was a great story of reaching out to the self we have lost. We often have dreams lost with the disapperance of hope, and finding it back is surely hard, but doable.

Sometimes, it takes but one single nudge for us to break-free from that which chains to us, and that nudge may come from anyone, including ourselves.

Thanks to Europe Comics through Netgalley for my e-arc. My thoughts are mine alone and not influenced by it.

content warning: racism towards a Chinese character

A highly readable and equably impressive graphic novel, that seems to be about one thing – a man having the birthday party of his nightmares, with nobody to spend the time with, and a strange compulsion to phone the only ex that still matters, for the eighth such year running – but soon turns into something else, when on a whim he rings his childhood number, and someone very very recognisable answers the call. Oh, and it turns out to be about something else after that, too.

Visually, we're in a world of quite thick inking, very rough and ready design, but a kind of R-Crumb-meets-Looney-Tunes cartoonishness when, say, our guy develops a crush at work. Some might take against some of the styling, and I'm not always a fan of such approaches, but it really worked here – the gloom of the work-a-day, and the spontaneity of happier times, both come across really well.

I think what helps this speed through, and have such appealing richness, is the fact it's an adaptation of a prose novel – and even though the page count is roughly the same as before we're still turning the pages fast, and still having a novelistic approach to cramming multiple themes, all thoroughly justified, onto the same paper. The fact that goodreads knows of no English translation of the French original makes this even more welcome, for there surely must come a time when the source gets a foreign market. On this evidence the novel is a wonderful thing, and I think this really invitingly matches it. Edifyingly strange, leaving something hanging for much thinking about in the days afterwards, and absolutely charming, this is a five star read as near as makes no difference.

Samuel is alone on his birthday for yet another year. He lights his candles himself, sings the birthday song to himself and drunk dials an ex-girlfriend who is less than sympathetic because he does that every year. His life is just not what he thought it would be. He also hates his job, hates his boss and has lost touch with his friends.

Samuel then decides to call the phone number for his childhood home and his ten year old self answers the phone. And suddenly Samuel is on a journey to recover all that he has lost about himself over the years. As he speaks to his ten year old self Samuel begins to live a different life, the one he saw for himself all those years ago when he was ten.

This is a lovely story about life, love and taking chances. It is about what we could change in the past, taking chances in the present and living in hope of the future. I wasn’t actually keen on the artwork but the story was powerful and very moving. Definitely one of the best from Europe Comics this year.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

“The kid I was doesn’t like the adult I’ve become…I gave up on my dreams…I failed my inner child”

Samuel is feeling blue, and for good reason! He's single, lives in a tiny Paris apartment, and is languishing in a job he hates. Alone on his birthday, he decides to amuse himself by calling the only phone number he knows by heart: the one for his childhood home. To his surprise, someone picks up... His past self! All 10-year-old Sam wants to do is play soccer, travel the world, and write books to impress girls. How will Samuel ever be able to tell him the truth without crushing his dreams? It's time he got his life back on track.

If you could call your younger self, what would you say? In this graphic novel, the protagonist, Samuel, reconnects with his past self on his birthday. Phoning 10 year old Sam motivates him to correct and protect his childhood self, despite the loneliness and dissatisfaction he feels in the present. This had a real emotional depth to it, and captured the monotony of adulthood so well, especially through its artwork. Through beautiful illustrations, and several pages of wordless panels, Panaccione epitomises how a picture can paint a thousand words. My favourite panels were those depicting the phone calls between the two Sams- so creative and transportive.
Thank you to NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

(I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Samuel is a 35-year-old man working and living in Paris, but his life is far from perfect: he's single, he has no other friends than an old couple that lives in his building and he isn't fulfilled with his job. On his birthday, he decides to call the number of his childhood home... and his past self picks up! After some conversations, Samuel realizes how dissatisfied he really is with his life and tries to do better. Will he be able to change his life to make his younger self proud?

I looooooved this! The message of the story (aka doing something with your life that your 10-year-old self would be proud of) may be a little on the nose, but I feel like this was so well made. The illustrations were beautiful, witty and added A LOT to the story. I definitely recommend giving this book a chance!

I liked the blend of realism and cartoonish quality in the art. This was a clever story made all the better by the comics form.

I received a copy of this graphic novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is a story about a man who gets a chance to talk to his younger self and as he sees that the kid he was is disappointed in him he starts to change things in his life for the better. 🙂
I liked this graphic novel a lot. It has a sweet and positive vibe and you start to really cheer the main character on. A warm story!😊

A 35 yo Sam , who has hit rock bottom , tries his old home number and connects to 10 yo version of himself. And while he tries to answer the kiddo Sam's question about his life , he realises he has missed so much because he did not take the initiative. The way the kid is upset to know his future version is funny and also a reminder to us all. Have ve lost the child in us ? The art work is pretty good and the side characters are lovely. The romance is bit rushed but is epic in its own way. I enjoyed this one.

4.5 rounded to 5.

Samuel is 35, and he hates his boss and job. He has no wife, no children, not even a girlfriend. His only friends are two neighbors, an elderly couple. On his birthday, he is alone again. He calls the only number he knows by heart: his old home number. Someone answers, and it turns out it’s his younger version of himself.

A very good graphic novel about dreams, goals, and life achievements. The illustrations are great, very creative. I like the author used more styles. There’s another style for Samuel’s dreams and emotions. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Europe Comics for the ARC and the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.

The premise and the art grabbed me right away. Samuel is an aging young adult in a dead-end job with no friends, no partner, and no prospects. Alone and drunk on his birthday, he calls his childhood phone number....and his childhood self picks up the phone. That's the premise. The art is gloriously expressive and endlessly creative, and it effectively gets you inside Samuel's head as he experiences both the drudgery of everyday, workaday life and the extraordinary time-bending phone calls he makes regularly.

A beautifully narrated novel about reconnecting with childhood. Growing up, every person has a picture or goal of who they want to be as adults. Some follow through and some divert their paths while others gets delayed getting there.

This story talks about rekindling the directions of the protagonist by talking to his younger self.

I enjoyed it very much and recommend this everyone.

Thank you #NetGalley and #EuropeComics for giving me the opportunity to read this.

Excellent story. I appreciated the fantasy element and thought put into this work. The artwork is superb, the story moved swiftly along and captured the feelings of both childhood and adulthood. Highly recommended.

I'm not sure why this book isn't getting higher reviews, because I was captivated from beginning to end. Samuel's choice to change his life because he knew the younger him was disappointed was the beginning of some amazing character growth. I would recommend this graphic novel to any adult, but especially those who are feeling uninspired by their life.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Someone to Talk To by Gregory Panaccione is a poignant graphic novel about Samuel, an alcoholic loser, who discovers he can talk on the phone to his 10 year-old self. This concept stretches the imagination, but it's not completely unheard of. According to the description, Samuel "decides to amuse himself by calling the only phone number he knows by heart: the one for his childhood home. To his surprise, someone picks up… His past self!" What will adult Samuel learn from his past child-self? And what will adult Samuel be able to teach him?

Overall, Someone to Talk To is a philosophical graphic novel that speaks to time, childhood memories, and hopes and dreams. The concept of this book is interesting, and it was what hooked me into this book. I wanted to learn more about the two people's connection and see what kinds of things they would talk about. I took off 2 stars, because I unfortunately just didn't enjoy the art. At times, it's cartoonish, and at times, it's hard to look at. There was also a short sex scene with nudity that I thought was unnecessary. If you're intrigued by the description, or if you're a fan of graphic novels, you can check out this book, which is available now!