The Coolest Autobiography Ever Drawn

As my followers know well, I don't blog too much on nofiction. Sure, I have my Non-fiction Saturdays and a few Memoir Mondays, but moslt this is a fiction blog. But, I feel that reading some non-fiction and memoir stuff is essential to becoming a fluent reader and a well-rounded writer. So, I'm just going to throw a great non-fiction book out there, one that has a setting different from most books.

Epileptic by David B. is a graphic autobiography, which basically means that it's written like a comic, except that it's an entire book. Here's a few samples of the comic-like drawings.



 


David B. is not the author's real name; it is Pierre-François Beauchard, boy who lived near Orléans, France. He recalls about his childhood growing up with his extremely epileptic brother, Jean-Christophe, and his moving around France with his family on a desperate search to find a cure.

Jean-Christophe and Pierre-François grew up in a normal neighborhood, with a gang of mischevious kids who pulled pranks and got in trouble and had battle scenes with homemade swords. Jean-christophe wasn't epileptic then, he was a normal kid, if you caount normal as being war-obsessed. But, nevertheless, It wasn't until one day where Jean-Christophe collapsed that Pierre-François's life started to revolve around his brother.

The family went around from hospital to therapist to try and find something to ease Jean-Christophe's now constant seizures. The only help they found was at a hosptial where a crackpot surgeon wanted to try a new operation to try and relieve Jean-Christophe's seizures. But, one slip of the hand and he could be dead, or worse, so the family went to seek help elsewhere. They found the solution in Master N, who is depicted in the book as a giant cat-like man.

Trough Master N's radical treatments, Jean-Christophe finds himself going from three seizures a day, down to one and then he is completely seizure free. The family, during the summer, goes to live on a commune for people being treated with the same methods. Jean-Christophe, Pierre-François, and their younger sister, Florence, would go out after finishing their meals and play with the neighbor kids. They loved being on the commune, until the worst thing imaginable happened.

One day, after returning home from the commune, Pierre-François's mother found out that Master N. has left the country and gone to America. He can no longer do the treatment to Jean-Christophe, and soon, his seizures return. But the seizures are getting worse, and he has to be hospitalizedat times. Pierre-François and his family are stuck and need to find a way to stop Jean-Christophe's seizures before they end up killing him.

RED'ALL STAR REVIEW: 3 out of 5. The drawings are excellent, and the story is interesting, but sometimes the author gets away from the immediate story for a while.


Click here! to buy this book on Amazon! But, be careful! Make sure you buy it in English.