This second volume in the three-volume Essex County set, is significantly more satisfying than the first volume. Unlike the first volume, which failed to stand on its own, Ghost Stories has depth and poignancy. Moreover, it does an extremely credible job of following the shifting mindset of a character suffering from dementia, but without leaving the reader in confusion. While Volume 2 seems to connect with Volume 1 in only the most broad strokes, there is the slightest hint toward the end that there may be more connection revealed in the last volume. I eagerly await the answer. ( )

Who knew that a graphic novel with so much hockey could also be so sad and poignant (and not because of game losses)? Lemire's pictures lead the story's themes, including isolation, loneliness, paths...

Lou LeBoeuf is an old man slipping into old memories and ghosts. We see that he and his brother Vince were inseparable as boys on the farm and as young men, when they took their love of hockey onto the ice in Toronto. But soon they are separated. Lou relives his choices, isolation, longings.

I loved most of this, especially the treatment of loneliness and the confusion that can come with old age.

4.5 stars (Beware: not everyone will appreciate so much hockey). Now that I've read through once, I want to go back and reread it for all the hints and details that I missed the first time. ( )

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )

An amazing Canadian graphic novel series. ( )

Much like the first part of Lemire’s Essex County trilogy, this is a measured and sure-handed realistic novella, told without big gestures. It deals with two hockey playing brothers in the fifties, their love for the same woman and how this tears them apart. The story is told by the older brother, or thought rather, as he is falling into dementia in a retirement home. The story telling is straight and simple, and even if the story doesn’t feel that original this time around either, it’s sparse and effective.

Lemire does a great job of sliding between times here, especially in his artwork. And like in the first book, his crude, grotesque drawings, unusual for the genre, create a great ambience. The only beef I have with them is that they never quite capture the feeling of speed and movement in the hockey rink. But for the density of a lonely, heavy body, they are just right. ( )