The White Lady - Quentin Zuttion

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AUTHOR: Quentin Zuttion

GENRE: Graphic Novel
RATING: 3.25 Stars.

A pretty good graphic novel, quite emotional in places, but its style left me from feeling more fondness for it.

Estelle is a nurse at an assisted living centre. Her patients are senior citizens who are unable to care for themselves. Estelle cares for them, plays with them, and makes sure that their final days are comfortable. But once they pass away, she finds herself feeling overwhelmed by the loss. The book covers many stories of such residents who end up impacting Estelle more than she anticipated.

The story is quite impactful in its poignancy. Estelle’s emotional upheaval and the loneliness of the residents is well-depicted. While the story feels a bit repetitive after a while, the ending provides the perfect finale and hence makes it worthwhile.

However, I didn’t like the artwork. It is in watercolour style and painted mostly in faded blues and greys. While this adds to the melancholic feel of the story, it also creates a flatness in the reading experience. A couple of the faces are drawn very similar to each other. Some of the human figures are sketched quite vaguely. The font in my digital copy was also quite light and hazy, which made reading this a troublesome experience.

Overall, not a bad bande dessinée but definitely not one of my favourites. I might have enjoyed it more with a different artistic style. All the same, this is a could-be-read, not a must-be-read.

My thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the ARC of “The White Lady”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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