Comments on: Paris

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Jan. 5, 2009: Endless parade of worry

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:56:26 +0000

[...] [Review] Paris Link: Johanna Draper Carlson [...]

By: Hsifeng

Hsifeng — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:35:15 +0000

Johanna Says:

“…since none of them are resolved on the page. (Did Deborah marry? What happened to her relationship with her brother? How did Juliet’s family react? What do the two live on?)”

This review reminds me of another novel about an artist moving to France to seek her fortune, Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood – except that one’s set in 1986, the artist’s art is writing, and the ending does get resolved very well on the page. :)

Johanna Says:

“I see that! I think our biggest point of disagreement is that you think Juliet giving up, going home, and painting hardware store signs would be an ok ending. That’s only if you assume that she doesn’t really want to be an artist, that it’s some kind of lark or time-killer for who until she finally ’settles down’.”

I see that too. Hmm…what if Juliet wouldn’t really want to be a sign painter, and sign painting is a day job until she finally “settles down” as an established artist?

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:58:03 +0000

I agree it would have been soul killing, I just felt it would have been a better ending–at least that way, we’re not stuck in a Hollywood B movie nearly so much as the actual ending. And since Juliet isn’t given much of a personality beyond “gay artist” I did’t have a lot of sympathy to lend her. :(

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:52:49 +0000

I see that! I think our biggest point of disagreement is that you think Juliet giving up, going home, and painting hardware store signs would be an ok ending. That’s only if you assume that she doesn’t really want to be an artist, that it’s some kind of lark or time-killer for who until she finally “settles down”. On the other hand, if you assume that she really is meant to be a painter, then settling for store signs would be soul-killing.

I agree that this is certainly a weak example of Watson, as are most of his script-only books. And thank you for the compliment!

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:30:53 +0000

You did a better job of reviewing this than I did–since I didn’t like it much at all, I was a lot harsher in my comments.

I think my strong disappointment came from reading and loving about 4 or 5 other Watson books when I got to this one.