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Epileptic (L'Ascension du Haut Mal #1-6 omnibus)

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 4,860 ratings · 360 reviews

Hailed by The Comics Journal as one of Europe’s most important and innovative comics artists, David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. Epileptic gathers together and makes available in English for the first time all six volumes of the internationally acclaimed graphic wo...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published July 4th 2006 by Pantheon

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Feb 28, 2010 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

Throughout history epileptics have been maligned. Even today they are mistreated in hospitals and misunderstood by community members. A lifelong epileptic having focal seizures (a type that are not generally known by laypeople like ER admissions staff), I have developed a defensive anger that hops up and shouts, or would, if the seizures didn't make thinking and moving like wading through pea soup.

This book is an amazing work of art. The story of the artist's youth with an epileptic brother is n...more Throughout history epileptics have been maligned. Even today they are mistreated in hospitals and misunderstood by community members. A lifelong epileptic having focal seizures (a type that are not generally known by laypeople like ER admissions staff), I have developed a defensive anger that hops up and shouts, or would, if the seizures didn't make thinking and moving like wading through pea soup.

This book is an amazing work of art. The story of the artist's youth with an epileptic brother is not in and of itself compelling, but if you give the first few dozen pages a chance, you could not fail to get completely absorbed in the rich levels of meaning of each panel, in corresponding the symbolism to the tale. There were panels that I thought would make perfect tattoos. I LOVED the art.

All this wondrous ink must have appeased my inner angry epileptic, taken her off guard. By the end of the book, I was sobbing for the hardship I had imposed on my friends and family by choosing to be weak in the face of adversity, by giving in to a disorder that lets me check out of life. Do not take that as an indication that this is what I have done; this is the author's viewpoint on the cause of epilepsy, at least in his brother. After reading the book yesterday I was flooded with the illusion of control. It was a good feeling for someone whose limbs randomly move against her will. I was absorbed in the story to the point where I took on ideas that contradict my most overwhelming personal experiences.

Today I am angry again. I had a not unusual experience several hours ago: a loved one sitting next to me, looking patient, holding my hand (which was jerking against that affection), saying, "You're paralyzed from a seizure, right? You can't answer me. That's okay. I'll stay here." Was there a stressor? No. Was there any part of my life that day I did not want, choose, love? No. That !@#$% artist used his considerable talent to convey the same old lie: we choose to let this monster take over our brains; we can't deal with life and so we use our illness to hide from it. That he convinced a seizure-haver to see our illness through the eyes of the skeptical seizure-watchers is rock solid proof of his talent.

I recommend this graphic novel to anyone dealing with epilepsy or other often invisible disorders. The art gives form to all of the unique and impossible-to-describe feelings that both seizure-watchers and seizure-havers deal with. The almost Mayan snake David B uses to represent the illness looks just like the snake that writhes up my spine when I seize. When the author fantasizes about switching his brain with his brother's, because the author could fight the seizures and not let them take over, he gives validation to a nagging thought many an epileptic and friend-of-epileptic has had. I want these thoughts to come out in the open, to be talked about, so they can be either beaten to a pulp or washed with dayglo never again to sneak in to relations between seizure-watchers and seizure-havers. Seeing the monster (that is the impact of epilepsy on relationships) so clearly defined, embodied in this book, has helped me to exorcise it.

But if you do not deal with epilepsy, I am not sure you will understand the art, and I am even more afraid that you be prejudiced and never able to understand epilepsy.

(less)

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Mar 24, 2008 Fvck rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2008

Unquestionably the worst comic book I have ever read, and among the worst books (period) that I have ever had the displeasure of having suffered through. Pretentious, long-winded, uninteresting conceptually and plot-wise, excruciatingly scattered and disjointed (in the WRONG way), and completely amateurish and one-trick when it comes to the drawing style. This looks and reads like (and may actually contain?) the immature student sketches of someone who might someday perhaps maybe grow into a gre...more

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Feb 09, 2008 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-stuff, french

I haven't yet read enough graphic novel memoirs to be able to say this with any authority, but this must be one of the most intense and tragic works the genre has produced (if it isn't, I'm not sure I could handle the others). The immediate story that "Epileptic" tells is that of the effect on the author and his family of his brother's Epilepsy – the impact it has on their education, ambitions, careers; the many doctors, quacks, and fake spiritual gurus they placed their faith in over the years...more

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Sep 12, 2007 Bryan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ny-public-library

Graphic memoir, what a popular and critically successful genre for comics these days. This book belongs on a shelf with Blankets and Persepolis: A strange and exceptional childhood illustrated in a way that reveals emotional perceptions through cartooning. Though Epileptic is far worse than Thompson's and Satrapi's books.

The story is profoundly interesting, a family deals with the epilepsy of their oldest childest by diving into various fringe New Age practices in France from the late 60's and...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Matthew Gilboy rated it 5 of 5 stars

the only prior experience i brought to this reading of a graphic novel was 'jimmy corrigan: the smartest boy in the world,' which is why amazon recommended it to me. ultimately, i think that the genre is all that connects them. this book is much more intimate, personal, passionate, and chilling. all things 'smartest' wanted to be but only got 4/5's of the way there.

i myself am an epileptic and there are fewer diseases that this book relates to than just ones that are 'out of control.' the effec...more the only prior experience i brought to this reading of a graphic novel was 'jimmy corrigan: the smartest boy in the world,' which is why amazon recommended it to me. ultimately, i think that the genre is all that connects them. this book is much more intimate, personal, passionate, and chilling. all things 'smartest' wanted to be but only got 4/5's of the way there.

i myself am an epileptic and there are fewer diseases that this book relates to than just ones that are 'out of control.' the effects of epilepsy are far more psychological than physical. where a cancer victim is at the mercy of the disease and body, the epileptic, like many schizophrenics is affronted by dark and sinister shadows, lurking demons. however, it's one thing for an epileptic to be able to voice this. i find it amazing that David B., the brother and author, found so many ways of accurately depicting the demons' influence and sympathetically already fighting in his own way to overcome them with the tools of a child. both graphically and through the course of the story you learn of the ways the family and David B. adapt to confront the shadow, though the epilepsy ultimately remains intractable.

another thing about this book that opened my eyes, is that for the epileptic, the story is told in first, second, and third person. for the family member, where it may always seems superficially to be a disease to which the family remains a third party, one may realize the struggles endured that were ignored. if i were to ask my mother how it felt for her to go through many of the struggles faced in this book, she might not think much of them. but upon reading and seeing the struggles afresh, she might realize that she had much more at stake than anyone, even herself, gave her credit.

this book is so moving and deep because of David B.s ability to so comprehensively annotate each of five family members struggle. the autobiographical aspect takes a backseat to the chronicling of a dark disease that is never cured, much like alcoholism, but only ever treated and hoped against. the ending is particularly potent on this point: it is a tenuous grasp that is held to consciousness, and a varying relationship any of us have to reality, but when we hold together we arent scattered below.(less)

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Dec 29, 2007 Constantine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't know why, but recently I've been gravitating towards tales (or memoirs) featuring epilepsy. I haven't really been searching it out, it just happens. This was as harrowing as it was uplifting (but not in that Disney "uplifting" way).

Since its a graphic novel, I can review the art as well. I felt the art was too "graphic-designy" at times, but always solid. The story is so engrossing that whatever problems I may or may not have had with the art are easily eclipsed by the honesty of what a...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Tony Diaz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphicnovels

David B's "Epileptic" turns out to be a frustrating read for some of us with epilepsy. I respect the author's experience, but shudder at the idea of the inexperienced forming conclusions about epileptics based on his feelings toward his brother (presented as "the" titular, as if exemplary, epileptic). More personally, B's exasperation with his brother chimes with the desperate denial I know I sometimes engage in in the face of an onrushing seizure: I can overcome it if I just fight the shocks an...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

David B. originally published Epileptic in Europe between 1996 and 2004 as a series of six comics, to great acclaim. Critics received this brilliant work as warmly here. Far more than a graphic novel, Epileptic intertwines family, cultural, and intellectual history in a brutally honest memoir. Compared to James Agee's A Death in the Family and James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Epileptic traces the author's relationship with his family, his sick brother, and himself, includin

...more

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Jun 12, 2013 Monica! rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, no-dragons-so-it-must-be-true, your-reality-alarms-me, youre-not-from-around-here, whee-pictures, i-see-dead-people, the-most-respectable-form-of-lying, this-must-be-what-pain-feels-like

Was I too stupid to appreciate this book, friends?

I ask, because it exhausted me. It exhausted me, and I didn’t like it. Much. At all.

But people I trust (Mariel!) have given it high ratings, and it makes me worried that what I mistook for endless pages of hubris and heavy-handed pretentious asshattery and an inability to tell a story in any sort of sensical (is this a word?) order is actually depth and skill and poetry and I was just too dumb to see it.

Because for me, the reading experience cons...more

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Jun 10, 2013 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, non-fiction-general-stuff

You know there are ba-zillions of books out there about various illnesses and all the things that the families of those with them have to suffer through... Often, it really makes you angry that the person is focusing on themselves and not the person with such a devastating illness. Other times, it makes you feel so badly for the ill person you lose all intimacy with them in the reading- they become their illness.

This is a RARE book, as it does NEITHER. You get to know the whole family, and how E...more

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May 28, 2013 Socialbookshelves.com rated it 5 of 5 stars

Epileptic is the seminal work by David Beauchard, the French writer better known as ‘David B.’ Described as a ‘six-volume autobiographical epic’, Epileptic tells the story of David’s relationship with his brother, and of his brother’s struggles with epilepsy.

Originally split in to six volumes that were published in France between 1996 and 2003, Epileptic was originally titled ‘L’Ascension du Haut Mal’ and was quickly published in English, going on to receive critical acclaim and winning David th...more Epileptic is the seminal work by David Beauchard, the French writer better known as ‘David B.’ Described as a ‘six-volume autobiographical epic’, Epileptic tells the story of David’s relationship with his brother, and of his brother’s struggles with epilepsy.

Originally split in to six volumes that were published in France between 1996 and 2003, Epileptic was originally titled ‘L’Ascension du Haut Mal’ and was quickly published in English, going on to receive critical acclaim and winning David the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist. Publishers Weekly called it“one of the greatest graphic novels ever published.”

And it’s easy to see why – David’s black and white drawings are instantly haunting, from the moment you first inspect the cover. There’s surrealism throughout, twisted faces looming from the shadows in his memory and demons that symbolise his brother’s epilepsy.

The narrative is heart-warming but tragic, focused on David’s childhood and adolescence as he watches his brother’s condition deteriorate. Their parents try everything, even moving to a macrobiotic commune, but nothing seems to help.

Epileptic has survived translation remarkably well, and that transition enabled the book to gain transatlantic appeal. Ironically, the title itself was the only thing lost in translation – confused? Let me explain…

The original title, ‘L’Ascension du Haut Mal’, literally means ‘The Rise of the High Evil’. The thing is, it has multiple meanings in French – ‘haut mal’ is an out-dated term for epilepsy that literally means ‘high evil’ or ‘great sickness’, and ‘ascension’ can either mean ‘rise’ or ‘climb’. This second meaning is reflected throughout the story in the images of the family climbing steep slopes in search of a cure that doesn't exist.

At its simplest, Epileptic is about the bond between brothers. You really feel for Beauchard and his family – this is a novel that’s written as well as it’s illustrated. Epileptic might not be perfect if you’re looking for something to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, but if you want something to grab at the heartstrings and pull them, get a copy now.(less)

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May 12, 2013 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, graphic-novels

This autobiographical graphic novel saddened me on a number of levels. First, the story itself--of the author's brother's battles with epilepsy--is tragic, even more so because it is a tragedy played out on so many stages. The disease hopelessly skews the life of each family member--mother, father, sister, brother--as well as the life of the family unit itself. Epilepsy launches the trajectory of the whole family into a frustrating, fey search for a cure that reads more like an unfulfilling meta...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Mike Schwartz rated it 5 of 5 stars

David B.’s amazingly imaginative graphic novel really pushes the boundaries of the form. David B. has borrowed from many non-comic sources for this work: 19th Century woodcuts, surrealism, the collages of Max Ernst and Hieronymus Bosch, pre-Columbian art (all those totemic animal-human figures), and Gothic carvings and illuminations to tell the tale of his brother’s epilepsy and its effect on his family. There is a surprising amount of humor here as the young David B. is shown doing battle with...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

My favorite parts:

Pg. 21 Hitler fantasies. As far as kid fantasies go, that one's kinda effed up.

Pg. 26, 1st Panel: That's no way to treat a book. Plus, that's gross.

Pg. 27: Soldier blown in two, but somehow lives through the night. If that ever happens to me, I grant permission to anyone who happens to be nearby to kill me.

Pg. 38: David B. tries to trigger one of his brother's seizures. This reminds me when my younger brother and I were alone at home one night and I pretended to be dead, and he...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, nonfiction, comic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Living with someone who (at the time) has a chronic disease wears on you in ways you never knew you could experience. This is a real, confessional account of living with someone who essentially dies several times a day. I really don't know why some people criticize David B's art. It's imaginative, detailed, and incredible. That being said, I really enjoyed this autobiographical account of his family's struggle with his brother's illness.

The cognitive processes and functions aren't discussed, li...more Living with someone who (at the time) has a chronic disease wears on you in ways you never knew you could experience. This is a real, confessional account of living with someone who essentially dies several times a day. I really don't know why some people criticize David B's art. It's imaginative, detailed, and incredible. That being said, I really enjoyed this autobiographical account of his family's struggle with his brother's illness.

The cognitive processes and functions aren't discussed, likely because this was before a broader understanding of epilepsy, and his family entreats a variety of holistic (and non-holistic, before that) healers to provide his brother some kind of relief, only to fail time after time. This wears on the family, and each reacts differently to his failed treatments, and his brother becomes increasingly dissonant and at times, violent. David B's honest depiction of this through his love of drawing wars, battles, and dark fictional creatures reflects the ominous character this illness shed on the family. One interesting totem that he chooses for his grandfather is a dark bird with a grand beak, and I have yet to figure out what that represents, although it is reflected throughout in a way that makes me feel like I missed something.

I've heard words like "pretentious" thrown around about this book, but honestly, David B is essentially coming from a different cultural perspective that could be misread that way. The tone is honest and not apologetic, and I love non apologetic authors that aren't always in the right. He makes some shocking confessions about his mental state and his relation with his brother that are presented quite matter-of-factually. No apologies. Just the truth.

I also found the discussion of this experience on his art revelatory. I could progressively see the pages become darker as the disease wore on. His issues with fertility intertwined with his brother's tale was reminiscent of how, one year later in _Fun Home_, Alison Bechdel would deftly weave in small events from her life to illustrate a bigger experience. Actually, in terms of families struggling, both books would be great companions, although Bechdel's reads quite faster.

It is a dense book, heavy. I encourage anyone wanting to tackle reading it to allot large chunks of time to be immersed in the narrative and read within a week or so.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Mmathi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, crazy

*You might consider this a spoiler, but it really isn't*

This. is. amazing. This book was hard to start for me, yet it completely engrossed me. It is insane. David B (or Pierre-François) has lived such an interesting life, his experiences appeal to the darker, more abstract areas of my mind.

The book focuses on his brother's epilepsy and the vast impact it has had on his life. The entire family goes through ordeals to help treat his brother, Jean-Cristophe, from macrobiotics to spiritualism. As F...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Graphic autobiographical novels are some of the most emotionally potent artifacts in the world. To view an author's life through their drawings, their forms and their words, is to gain deep insight into their psyche. David B.'s style is not terribly beautiful, not considerably elegant, but it is incredibly real. His figures are awkwardly contorted, abstracted, and visibly embody the ugliness they attempt to navigate. The prose is brutal, honest, some times hesitant, elusive, and other times star...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Jowel Uddin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2011-2012

Epileptic Review

Memoirs and graphic novels are becoming quite apparent nowadays, and “Epileptic” follows this suit of a literary mash up. “Epileptic” is an invigorating memoir depicted through the wonderful artistry of David B., the author.

“Epileptic” is a memoir of Pierre Francois or David B. Pierre Francois and his family live in a small town near Orleans, France. His family consists of Florence, his sister, his mother and father, and his brother Jean Christophe. Jean Christophe has epileps...more Epileptic Review

Memoirs and graphic novels are becoming quite apparent nowadays, and “Epileptic” follows this suit of a literary mash up. “Epileptic” is an invigorating memoir depicted through the wonderful artistry of David B., the author.

“Epileptic” is a memoir of Pierre Francois or David B. Pierre Francois and his family live in a small town near Orleans, France. His family consists of Florence, his sister, his mother and father, and his brother Jean Christophe. Jean Christophe has epilepsy and this affects his brother's childhood and his life in general. Pierre and his family journey throughout France looking for a cure for his brother's epilepsy. From macrobiotic communities to acupuncture, nothing seems to work. False hope motivates the family as they search for a cure. Meanwhile, Pierre Francois continues his drawings of war, along with his brother. The drawings slowly become a way of coping for Pierre and his drawings become lifelike. His fears and his drawings come to life, as he interacts with them. The reader sees Pierre Francois developing throughout life, whereas Jean Christophe declines.

I read this book because memoirs have a certain taste to them. The vivid pictures of someone's life is amazing, when captured in a book. Especially a book that dwells past words and incorporates fantastic pictures. The book was a bit confusing at times, especially in the early stages. In the beginning, the plot is a bit bewildering, as the author tries to include too much. Yet, the author might have done this to depict a sense of melancholy in his life. I saw confusion in Pierre Francois life, in all stages of the book. He was in a world were his brother was unstable and too much was going on at the same time. The characters developed rather quickly at times and slowly at other times. At first the book was bit slow and hard to understand, yet as the book went on, and as the plot become more apparent, the book was deemed enjoyable.

“Epileptic” reveals to us that at times we wished our lives would be quite different. The theme of perception and hardship is evident in “Epileptic”. At times Pierre wants to be like his epileptic brother Jean. At times Jean wants to have the freedom that Pierre has. Perception is key here, as David B. illustrates the fact that at times, we want to be someone else. Sometimes we don't feel good in our own skin, or whatever the problem may be. One time or another, we may want to be our neighbor or our brother because they have what seems to be an easier life. Pierre thinks Jean's life is easy, as everyone looks after him, especially his mother. Jean wants to be Pierre so he can play music as loud as he wants or so that he isn't arrested or taken to the hospital after an epileptic moment. Pierre wants to become Jean and Jean wants to be like Pierre, yet the grass isn't always green on the other side. David clearly shows what Jean has to deal with and what Pierre has to deal with. What we perceive at times, isn't always true and David B.'s dark yet fruitful memoir incorporates this message. (less)

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Jul 31, 2011 Dominick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, autobiography

Pierre-Francois Beauchard took the name "David" as a teen and publishes his comics under the name David B. Epileptic is an autobiographical narrative about the devastatign effects of his brother's epilepsy on their family--the increasingly desperate attempts to treat it via one crackpot scheme after another, the psychological scars it cost, and so on. Drawn in an elaborate and expressionistic style, the work comes across more like dark fantasy than realism, as David B chooses to manifest disease...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Lillian Collier rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel-memoir

This is a beautiful and disturbing book- the kind whose imagery from both pictures and words seeps into your dreams. But it also speaks to the brutal unfairness that so often occurs in life. This is an autobiography by David B. and also the memoir, the epic battle, his brother couldn't write. In addition it details so much French and European history I was unaware of, describes many 'un-conventional' religions and healing techniques which came in and out of vogue in the last century. This memoir...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Seth Hahne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

I’ve known several people over the years who’ve suffered on and off (usually more off than on) from seizures of one sort or another. Fortune favouring me over them, I’ve never witnessed an episode and have only heard tales secondhand. I have however witnessed several faintings. The two are not really at all comparable save for the definitive theft of control from their victims. So while I’ve never witnessed an epileptic event, I am suitably horrified by the possibility.

Every person values contro...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Malbadeen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels, memoir-ish

One of the self imposed criterea I use for deciding how many starts I'm going to give something is how often I think of the content, the characters, the art etc after I've read it.
This one has come to mind a lot. While the story is mainly about David B's epileptic brother it is also very much about siblings and family roles, it's also about how people try, desperately to impose control and order in life.

I felt alternately sorry for and irritated with the parents and worried endlessly about both...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Kirstie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

People who think graphic novels aren't serious novels are probably also in the same category as those who haven't read novels like Epileptic by David B. (birthname: Pierre-François Bouchard) Though it is very different in context than Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it is no less vivid and piercingly autobiographical. This novel focuses on the author's own story of himself as a little boy growing up in France in the 1960s with a brother who is an epileptic and all the various alternative medicines...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, from-the-library, wishlist

This book is worth picking up if only to look at the art, but the story certainly isn't weak, either. It does fall into the Fun Home/Stitches category of "my difficult childhood" graphic novels, which is sometimes too much, but David B. tells his story with so much detail and with such great artistic depictions of an interior life his family never even guessed at that it steers well clear of self-pity. The family he depicts is fascinating and their quest for a cure for his epileptic brother goes...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Peacegal rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author tells the story of his distressed childhood growing up with a brother whose severe and frequent epileptic seizures haunt the rest of the family. As his brother grows, he becomes more and more difficult to handle, often lapsing into frightful and violent rages. In desperation to heal their son, the parents turn to every sort of quackery one could imagine. (Who could have known France was so full of bizarre "healing" cults?)

In order to escape the chaos at home, the author became absorbe...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Holy shit.

I just sat down and read this in one sitting. I couldn't stop before I had finished it, because I was scared that the drawings were going to give me nightmares. I also needed to know what was going to happen.

The book starts by telling about the author's obsession with wars and drawing battles, and his childhood games. Then, at age 11, his brother Jean-Christophe has his first epileptic seizure. Soon, he is having 3 major seizures a day, falling to the ground in the streets, injuring hi...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Thurston Hunger rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's funny, I remember on reading Alison Bechdel, Charles Burns and also "Therefore, Repent", having to tell myself to slow down and savor the graphic novels over days. Not an issue with this tome. It is heavy, and it is also David B's brother.

I think I first heard about epilepsy in a science fiction story, where a blinking red light set off a scientist on a fit. Either there or shortly there after I remember learning how you try and help the person not choke on their tongue. That feels like may...more It's funny, I remember on reading Alison Bechdel, Charles Burns and also "Therefore, Repent", having to tell myself to slow down and savor the graphic novels over days. Not an issue with this tome. It is heavy, and it is also David B's brother.

I think I first heard about epilepsy in a science fiction story, where a blinking red light set off a scientist on a fit. Either there or shortly there after I remember learning how you try and help the person not choke on their tongue. That feels like maybe in middle school there was a kid who had it, and we were warned up front about it, but I don't recall ever seeing a real seizure. I guess my point is that I thought it was something that was manageable to a degree and not exactly life-thwarting (the person became a scientist, at least in fiction, not sure about my junior high classmate).

This story however paints it as a much more accursed affliction, that threatens civil war between brothers and is so heavy it weighs down a family that sounds like they should have been lighter than air. Or maybe that is just the focus on macrobiotics and other mystical paths here? Anyways, they come across as free thinkers and free livers, trying out communes, but sort of enslaved to their other son's epilepsy.

The idea that I took here, that in some small dose, the author David too takes these demons and communes with them and draws his art out of them, I like. I do think a sliding scale applies on everything from tourettes to autism to who knows what other brain hyper/malfunctions? Having recently read the aforementions "Therefore, Repent" with its sort charcoal-y sketches, I can say I prefer this sort of more stark contrast, black and white art style for whatever brain malfunction I'm toting around. The art reminded me of Perseopolis, but in that story I found there was a lot more movement of theme and conflict, where this seemed to center for 360 pages pretty close to one crises, and the evolution of the narrator's character perhaps was more limited by the inability for the altered ego of his brother to achieve lasting change.

Still I'd read a follow-up on the parents. (less)

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Sep 13, 2010 Eli rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, fiction-general

Probably the strangest and most memorable approach to autobiographical comics I've seen, this is a story about the author, his older brother and younger sister and parents, and how they were affected by the brother's incurable epilepsy. David B. tells it and tells it, using everything at his disposal: childhood obsessions and dream images, long tangents about every other branch of the family, the history of macrobiotics and spiritualism, his present-day family's reaction to the ongoing book... e...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

What i liked about this book is the narrator. I felt like he was determinedly French. Now, don't get me wrong in that assertion. i know it's not justifiable to start acclaiming or disclaiming nationalities, for the most part. However, i felt it was a defining feature of his character. The younger brother with a pugnacious attitude, brazen in confidence and yet still susceptible to the mystical apprehension of mytholigical deities and new-age cures. French people bullshit with seriousness, to the...more What i liked about this book is the narrator. I felt like he was determinedly French. Now, don't get me wrong in that assertion. i know it's not justifiable to start acclaiming or disclaiming nationalities, for the most part. However, i felt it was a defining feature of his character. The younger brother with a pugnacious attitude, brazen in confidence and yet still susceptible to the mystical apprehension of mytholigical deities and new-age cures. French people bullshit with seriousness, to the death. And in this case, death is epilepsy. He is seriously battling demons.

This book was so strange to me. The father always looked pissed off but his actions were comforting. The brother attacks the family with a knife threatening their death and they just muse him to calm down, though he is exceedingly dangerous. The family kept buying into this very apparantely nonsensical new-age health bullshit, every time legitimately believing in its potential until it was proven not to work. I couldn't believe how gullible they were, buying back into this shit. But that's the brilliance of this novel, what it has to offer that's new.

In all the graphic novels i've read, the protagonist is pathetic (save Persepolis). They are resigned and pathetic and that's the reason why they live vicariously through their creatively animated imagination. in this one we have a well-educated protagonist, who is pugnacious, bourgeouis without excuses, existential, violent, confident, cynical, insulting and free! He is a frenchman! And he divulges in his graphic imagination, not because he is afraid of the real world, but because the gigantic aliens of the Id are very real to him, and it is his odyssey to quest against the defilers of his calm. He is the anti-Jimmy Corrigan.

I was impressed with the massive battle scenes, the amount of death and demons and travesty without a macabre turn. There is hardly an ounce of pathetic nature (except one scene where the mother abandons the family). It's beautiful to read a book where no one is self-deprecating. It's refreshing. (less)

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Oct 11, 2010 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is bogged down with visual mayhem. What could have been a powerful memoir is instead a monster-laced trudge through the lives of a family dealing with epilepsy. The detailed battle scenes - yes, I know that they are core to the symbolism of the story - are boring and tiresome. The story lacks fluidity and movement. Less is more, and this book has so much more that it becomes less.

A final comment - while the family tries countless metaphysical cures, they are never described as having m...more

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About David B.

David Beauchard, who uses the pen name David B., was one of the initiators of the French alternative editorial house L'Association, and is now well-known among the French comics audience. After his Applied Arts studies, David B. had his first publications in magazines such as Chic, Circus, Okapi and A Suivre. Among his early creations are 'Le Timbre Maudit', a story published in Okapi, and 'the mi...more David Beauchard, who uses the pen name David B., was one of the initiators of the French alternative editorial house L'Association, and is now well-known among the French comics audience. After his Applied Arts studies, David B. had his first publications in magazines such as Chic, Circus, Okapi and A Suivre. Among his early creations are 'Le Timbre Maudit', a story published in Okapi, and 'the mini-series 'Zèbre' in Chic. As a scenarist, he cooperated with Olivier Legan on 'Pas de Samba pour Capitaine Tonnerre', an album published by Glénat in 1985.

After he co-founded L'Association in 1990, he began using the pseudonym David B. and specialized in short black-and-white stories, detailing nightmarish dreams, collected in the album 'Le Cheval Blême' in 1992. As powerful as his dream imagery is in itself, it is amplified by his masterful use of black and white drawings. In the Association's magazine Lapin, he published series like 'Le Prophète Voilé', 'Le Jardin Armé' and 'Le Voyage de l'Est'. From 1996, Beauchard has concentrated on the autobiographical series 'L'Ascension du Haut-Mal', which earned him the highest praise from comics critics.

In addition to his work for L'Association, David B. cooperated with the publishing house Cornélius, where he published the quarterly comic book Le Nain Jaune from 1993 to 1994, as well as 'Les Quatre Savants' from 1996 to 1998. He was also present in the reviews Fusée and Le Cheval sans Tête (with 'Les Incidents de la Nuit'). Also present at Dargaud, he made 'Le Tengû Carré', an allegory of Japanese legends, and the scenarios of 'La Révolte d'Hop Frog' and 'Les Ogres', which were illustrated by Christophe Blain. For the publisher's collection Poisson Pilote, he made 'Urani - la Ville des Mauvais Rêves' (script by Joann Sfar) and 'Les Chercheurs de Trésor'.

After May 2000 David B's work would reach a wider public when his artwork was featured in the collection Aire Libre by the popular publisher Dupuis. After 'Le Capitaine Écarlate' (with artwork by Emmanuel Guibert) in 2000, David wrote and drew the album 'La Lecture des Ruines' in 2001. David B has also been active as an illustrator for Le Seuil, Automne 67, Albin Michel and Coconino Press.(less)

More about David B....

Books by David B.

Nocturnal Conspiracies: Nineteen Dreams From December 1979 to September 1994

Epileptic 1 [L'Ascension du Haut Mal, 1-3]

Epileptik 2 [L'Ascencion du Haut Mal, Omnibus 4-6]

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Quotes from Epileptic

“You can't sit next to me doing nothing while I'm trying desperately to save myself by doing something.” — 4 people liked it

“There is a rage inside me that I mitigate with my constant drawing.” — 2 people liked it

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title link	preview: Epileptic
avg rating	preview: Epileptic Goodreads rating: 3.90 (4860 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39916.Epileptic?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320392935l/39916.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39916.Epileptic?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Epileptic by David B.[/url]

Epileptic (L'Ascension du Haut Mal #1-6 omnibus)

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