Thank you to NET GALLEY for an ARC of The Many Lives of Charlie for an honest review.

Charlie works for a company that recycles the dead. For example, when you die you can become a tree, a piece furniture, etc. When Charlie gets a call from a customer who wants to know where his mom’s soul went, Charlie’s world changes and takes the reader on an adventure to the what happens after you die.

A different take on what happens after you die. When I first saw it, I thought it was for kids, I was wrong. I would not recommend this graphic novel for children. However, I did enjoy this and would recommend to teens and up.

very unique worldbuilding. The art was stunning and the use of color to tell the story was well done. I think the translation was done well, which is not always the case. Their were some twist and turns when I thought it would be rather straight forward so that was a pleasant surprise.

— 4 ⚝

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc of this graphic novel. all thoughts and opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.

this was a very insightful and unique graphic novel. originally published in French, it is being republished in English on 27th December 2023.

the story follows charlie, who works at a corporate organisation called eternal recycling where they recycle parts of people once they pass away to make something for their loved ones as a memento. we get to go along with him on his journey as he navigates his work life as well as his quest for answers about where souls go after they die. i think this was a wonderful premise and a very whimsical representation of it as well. the art style is absolutely stunning. its initial impression is that of a modern newspaper comic but as the story progresses the illustrator uses various different color palettes that wonderfully depict the mood and atmosphere of the situations.

the themes that we witness being discussed are also very profound and thoughtful. being a slave to not only the corporate culture but also to time itself as an entity was represented in a very simple yet sophisticated way.

charlie as a character was a delight, so earnest and curious. the side characters also added a little magic to their story with their strange behaviors and their relationships with Charlie. however, a lot of characters were not fully developed because we follow a lot of charlie's colleagues at his office but we don't rlly end the graphic novel comprehending their characters as a whole and what makes them do what they do.

i do think the pacing of the story suffered a little bit because at times, it felt extremely rushed. a certain plot point towards the latter half of the story, particularly that of the romance was not well developed and executed well enough.

that said, i still did enjoy the story immensely and recommend it to both younger and older readers purely for the unique plotline and the whimsical execution. it is also worth it for the illustrations and Charlie as a character. i genuinely also feel like this would make a great disney pixar movie!

Thank you Europe Comics for a copy of The Many Lives of Charlie.

"What happens to our loved ones when they die? No more funerals, because now we recycle! In an exuberant and swarming big city, Charlie, an employee at Eternal Recycle, is the best in his field: finding a use for your body after you die. But one day, a boy calls and asks him what has happened to his mother’s soul. Charlie is used to handling the bodies, but who takes care of the souls? To answer that question, he sets out on an investigation into the very heart of death and love..."

REVIEW:

This had a mix of SOUL (2020 film) with a touch of reincarnation and soulmates. I love the dystopian world the artist and author created, especially the insane work culture. I do wish they focused more on recycling bodies and finding where souls go rather than diving into the soulmates/romance plot. I wanted more world building and dystopian story -- hopefully they release another volume. :)

Thank you netgalley for an advanced ARC of this graphic novel.

While reading this I found it very enjoyable about a guy trying to find out about where do souls go when u die, see in his job he focuses on the recycling of the body/Ashes and what u want to turn it into.... but his never thought of the soul until now due to a grieving child. He becomes focus minded on this and it haunts him. Throughout the book you see Charlie slowly question everything around him and starts to see things differently, by doing this tho he breaks the rules and puts his job at risk where really no one wants to know him but he doesn't care and only cares about finding the answers leading him to work in the lower departments dealing with souls and in the end finding out what he wanted to know and also to get some carlity on his own life/past

I loved how in this book we get information about how good expertise, laughing, crying and so much more is for health and its great for children to learn that information.

Highly enjoyed the story 👌

This was a cute story about reincarnation and what happens to souls in the hereafter. I liked the main character Charlie as we follow his journey to enlightenment, even if it means falling into a well of souls first. It was a quick and easy read, and even with the tension of the story, the narrative feels cute and cosy.

In a Nutshell: A whimsical story that begins with a simple exploration of what happens to a soul after death, but develops into an intricate explanation. Imaginative in plot. Tricky to understand at times, but overall, a good read.

Story Synopsis:
In some dystopian future, happy-go-lucky Charlie works at Eternal Recycling, a company that specialises in recycling the physical remains of loved ones after their passing. As the customer care associate, Charlie has to answer calls and help customers with their recycling plans. But everything changes when he receives a call from a little boy one day, wanting to know what happened to his mother’s soul after her death. Charlie has never thought about souls, so the boy’s query leaves him befuddled. He soon begins his own investigation into the matter, with unforeseen consequences.


This graphic novel was originally published in French as ‘Les Vies de Charlie’ in 2023. This English translation will be published in December 2023.

The highlight of this book has to be its quirky storyline. It starts with a straightforward premise: that of an employee doing his best to bring satisfaction to customers and helping them in their time of grief. However, once the investigation into a soul’s fate begins, the story takes a completely different route. While I enjoyed both sections, I think the transition was too sudden and the tone also was too disparate.
For once, the blurb restricts itself only to the initial section. So the path taken by the second half of the story came as a complete surprise. I did not expect romance to play a dominant role in this section. It is handled well enough; it just caught me unawares and so, was a mild downer for me. (On second thought, I should have expected romance because of that cover art!)
Charlie is a great choice as the central character. I loved his exuberance and his sincerity. He carries the story on his shoulders with aplomb. There are a few other interesting characters, but they don’t get this much page space, so their development is only to the extent necessary. We don’t get to see their motivations or the reason behind certain behavioural traits. Like, why does Luc always avoid Charlie? No idea.
Eternal Recycling can effectively be called the second lead of this story. Their business itself is enough to make them stand out. But even beyond this unusual “service”, their policy towards employees is excellently depicted. From mandatory walking time to laughing time, Eternal Recycling is very concerned about the health of its employees, or so it seems. The business is futuristic but the corporate culture is the same as in our real world.
The storyline is impeccable and imaginative, though it does take a while to make sense of it. The start is smooth, but Charlie’s investigation and its results are quite tricky to understand initially. If you have patience, the picture starts becoming clear soon enough, though not all of the plots gaps are filled up even by the end. Still, the ending is a beautiful one, and left me satisfied.
The artwork is stunning. The illustrator employs varies colour palettes across the story, though the art style remains the same throughout. There are monochrome pages at the start, light pastel pages in between (with the dominant colour constantly changing as per the situation), black & white pages for a flashback and a few panels with the full burst of colour. I love how the art offered hidden clues about the characters, though these become evident only retrospectively. The watercolour-style graphics suit the mood of the book.
All in all, this is a sweet story not to be overanalysed but to be enjoyed as is. It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of life coming a full circle and offers plenty to ponder over. Though it is a story about death and grief, the implementation is more hopeful than depressing.

4 stars.

My thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Many Lives of Charlie”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Note: There are many pages with nudity, though the graphics are not sexually provocative. However, there are implied sex scenes, including orgies. Official target age: 15+.

This was an interesting concept, although at times a little hard to follow. The world building felt very unique and I really enjoyed the main character. The pictures were imaginative and beautiful!

A delightfully heartwarming read about the value of life and the connections we form. The story follows a man named Charlie, who works at Eternal Recycle that "recycles" people's bodies once they pass (essentially, they provide alternatives to traditional burials). But what about people's souls? Do they get recycled? Where do they go? Once he is asked that, Charlie decides to find the answer as the best employee, only to discover that the answer is one he didn't realise he needed.

With the discussions of soul, the story also touches on corporate culture and religion. The way they are approached and included is quite nice. Not too deeply to draw too much focus away from the main story, but enough to help develop the world TMLOC is set in and expand the conversation. At the end of the day, people want connection and self-satisfaction.

The illustrations are gorgeous to look at. The watercolour colouring is perfect for lending itself to the light-hearted, slice of life with a touch of whimsy parts of the story. The scratchy lineart adds more humanity to such moments, giving them more warmth, while being adaptable to angstier scenes that wound you.

Thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for providing the e-ARC/DRC.

Beautifully illustrated sweet story,

We meet Charlie, an employee at a sort of weirdo dystopian company that helps people figure out how best to recycle the bodies of their loved ones (while also mandating laughing and crying breaks??) until one day a boy keeps asking about the fate of a soul after the body dies. From there it's an adventure into a job switch and the beauty of "recycling" (basically reincarnation) and how intertwined we all are to each other. Lovely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the eARC in exchange for review.

Gorgeous artwork, interesting story. The rising action is a little more compelling than the falling, but overall a great read. Not for libraries where nudity is a dealbreaker though! I will be gifting this one I think.

The book was a little confusing but I think the intent gets through. Interesting concept! ...........................................................................................

overall, i went away from this feeling like the ideas around grief and burnout weren't explored deeply enough especially since the relationships the main character finds himself in aren't given enough time to breathe. however, i liked the romantic tone it took as that's simply reminiscent of life and how we are drawn towards connection.

Cute and quick to read, although I was expecting it to be more philosophical than romantic in tone (and I would have preferred this more). The art style reminds me a lot of other bande dessinee I've read.

Thx to Netgalley and Europe comics for eARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Many Lives of Charlie is a short and quirky, but also romantic and philosophical, take on the afterlife. Toissant and Guarino successfully take advantage of the graphic novel format by using color symbolically. The illustrations start out monotonously and with minimal color, but they slowly increase their use of color to convey character growth throughout the novel. Additionally, I liked how they used the same subtle shade of green to signify Eleanor's character throughout.

I really liked the last third of the book and the direction the author went there.

There are mentions of suicide and it is even depicted in one image. Additionally, there are several pages with nudity and implied sex. For these reasons I would recommend this to an adult audience, or to mature teens with their parents' permission.

A well-designed graphic novel that broaches big spiritual topics about the afterlife and grief. It has a quirkiness that makes it very fresh and original, sometimes a bit too weird and eccentric, but it's an out-of-the-box find.

I had a strange time reading this graphic novel. It tackles a lot of big ideas surrounding life and death by following Charlie, an employee at Eternal Recycle, as he tries to answer the question "what happens to a person's soul after they die?" for a little boy who's lost his mother. Eternal Recycle is a corporation responsible for recycling the bodies of people who have died into useful or sentimental items for their loved ones, and it makes for a surprisingly dystopian setting. The macabre work is undertaken with a guise of banality and eerie undertones.

The overall experience and emotional intensity left me feeling perturbed for most of the read time. Between the heaviness of the ideas, the way that they are addressed, and a bit of nudity/suggestive material, I think it's important for people (especially parents) to realize this isn't at all geared toward kids, and may not be suitable for all teens. Just a note!

The art was absolutely beautiful (and a big reason I picked it up) and I appreciate what the creators were trying to do, as well as how they chose to go about it. I didn't personally find it a very enjoyable experience for my tastes, however, so I'd give it 3.75 stars.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Europe Comics for the opportunity the read this in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this! I didn't really know what I was expecting when I decided to pick up this arc. Charlie was a very relatable character, in the sense that he went on a journey of sorts for an answer. While our journey's to find answer might not be as magical, it still happens. This graphic novel was not something I was expecting to connect with, yet here we are. It was an absolute delight to read, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The illustrations were an added bonus! I found that they really added to the story, matching the deep and meaningful vibes that were presented.

The graphic novel „The Many Lives of Charlie“ by Kid Toussaint and Aurélie Guareno follows Charlie, an employee at the Eternal Recycle - a company that transforms the remains of loved ones after they have died into objects. One day confronted with the question of what happens to the soul after death, he is catapulted into an exciting adventure that will turn his life upside down.

The illustrations by Aurélie Guareno were absolutely stunning! I especially loved the expressive use of color to convey different emotions. The panels always felt exciting and I was quickly engaged in the story.

The dystopian setting and wild imagination of the author were a great combination and often surprised me. I have to admit that not everything in this graphic novel felt coherent but I was entertained from start to finish. I felt for the main character and wanted him to succeed in his mission. I loved the message and the way abstract concepts were portrayed.

The last third of the novel escalated a bit too wildly and fast so I was confused at times. Because of this I have to deduct a star from my rating.

Overall this was a great adventure with interesting concepts and I would recommend to give it a try.

A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Europe Comics for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know what to think or say right now. This book was like a trippy episode of black mirror. It was intense. I have so many thoughts and I’m not sure how to articulate them into words, but this book is intense.