A chronicle of Delisle's summers working on the floor of the factory his estranged dad spent his life at, and told with typical excellence. The mild observational humour (and, at times, tragedy) and Delisle's not unrelated ability to make seemingly any mundane anecdote or life experience memorable and engaging carried me away to a teenager's experience straddling a white collar education with a blue collar summer job in 1980s Québec. If you've read and enjoyed his travelogues, "Factory Summers" (or "Chronicles of Youth", as my very limited French understands the original title) very much reads like a stylistic and thematic prequel, an unexpected first chapter in a fractured autobiographical series. It doesn't have the outsider's perspective on a foreign culture, true, but the vibe of the fish out of water trying to keep his head down and fit in, that's very much the same. Which might perhaps be a point in its own right.

Binding the whole narrative together is Delisle's relationship (or lack thereof) with his father, a figure who, in Delisle's presentation, seems airily tragic, a man quietly longing for connection with his son and with no notion of how to create it. Or, perhaps, the reader is simply projecting it. The mystery of that is part of the tenderly mundane moments with him in the story, and provides an emotional bookend -- and with a surprising level of closure to the whole story, in its own way.

Without a backdrop of war or dictatorship, it's probably not going to blow you away like some of Delisle's earlier works, but 'Factory Summers' is warmly recommended, and well worth the read. ( )

Sensible como siempre. Fría relación con el padre ( )

Factory Summers is another great autobiography from cartoonist Guy Delisle. He has written several travelogues from following his wife to Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Shenzen and Burma while she worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres. Here, we have the story of Delisle's four summers as a teenager working for a pulp and paper factory in Quebec City where he grew up.

Factory Summers has alot of dry humor within its pages. Delisle describes his co-workers as sexist, telling dirty jokes on a daily basis. As a union employee myself, I can say they are typical union workers. LOL. If they can find a way to relax on the job, they do it. It's not that they are forgoing the hard work their jobs demand. These fellows work with huge machines that require constant cleaning up and fixing and the areas they are located in have no air conditioning. There is danger of getting hurt every day. The factory was built in 1927 and there had not been any changes to the building or the machinery over the years. This was an antiquated system that Delisle was dealing with. With 12 hours shifts required 6 days a week, I doubt that he would be allowed to work here as a youth if the factory was in the U.S. I thought it was a cruel job for a sixteen-year-old kid and cannot believe he did the work without questioning the rules. If it was me working there, I would have filed a complaint with OSHA for unsafe working conditions.

The story itself was well told. The monotony of the work days are shown by both dialogue and drawings. The only reprieve the author had was by drawing comics and making plans to attend animation school in Toronto. His relationship with his father, who got him the job, is also a part of the story. The book opens with Delisle having his annual visit with his father, divorced from his mother, and ends with his death. The relationship frames these summers working at the same plant his father worked at. ( )

Pour payer ses études, Guy va travailler à l’usine. Une papeterie (celle qui fabrique le papier sur des rouleaux de plusieurs tonnes, pas celle qui vend des stylos et des enveloppes) gigantesque, éprouvante, chaude, humide et exigeante. L’apprentissage du métier d’ouvrier et de la fatigue.

Un dessin remarquable en noir et blanc avec quelques aplats de jaune qui colle remarquablement bien avec l’usine, son architecture et sa mécanique. Des points de vues qui expriment parfaitement le gigantisme des installations qui s’impose au petit nouveau.

Pourtant, même si elle semble fidèle, l’histoire reste superficielle. La relation avec le père est bien vite balayée et celles avec les ami.e.s à peine esquissée. Certes, le sujet n’était pas là ( )