Review - Paul Goes Fishing
“Paul Goes Fishing” is a sweet slice of Quebecois life that covers an existence not extraordinary necessarily, but honest in its presentation and likable in its demeanor. Creator Michel Rabagliati invites readers into some very personal space via his apparent alter ego, dealing with that most awkward of spaces — the one where you grow up, the one where you know nothing — without any posturing.
Paul is a graphic designer who takes a couple weeks off with his pregnant wife to stay at a fishing camp with his sister-in-law and her angling obsessed husband. With a baby on the way, Paul finds that all reflection and conversation points to the reality of impending fatherhood — but not in a cliched, fearful way. Paul, rather than shaking at the prospect, is using his experiences and those of others to qualify what it all means.
The pregnancy works as a leveler in the relationship with his more successful old friend Peter — finally something good is happening to Paul even as it does Peter. It becomes a more complicated happening in contrast to his sister-in-law, who tells a harrowing tale of almost-adoption, and from Paul’s own memory of an abused kid he meets on an ill-fated attempt to run away from home.
Through all the the trauma presented, Rabagliati’s tale is never overwrought, but rather charming, even at the saddest moments. It also stands as a nice little testament to the great Canadian road trip as a journey of discovery and marriages as a delightful in-joke that two people are lucky enough to share.
This is just one book in a series — Rabagliati has apparently devoted his creative life to have Paul’s unfold in graphic novel form. It’s filled with the kind of gentle earnestness that you don’t often see and I can’t wait to read more about Paul’s entirely normal life.
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