Sugar: Life as a Cat

Sugar #1

by Serge Baeken

Flemish cartoonist and illustrator Serge Baeken is a cat person. He has shared his life with an army of cats, starting with Sugar, who lived to the venerable age of 18. In Sugar: The life of my cat, Baeken imagines the world through the eyes of his cats. The result is a joyous, poignant, inventive collection of stories where Baeken uses his incredible skill as an illustrator to show us a world where we are the supporting cast. Which, as any cat will tell you, is the natural order of things.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Drama, Graphic Novels Comics

92 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2014

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Als ik me ooit zelf weer eens aan tekenen zou willen wagen, een passie als kind en jonge tiener van me, dan geloof ik dat de stijl van Serge Baeken me wel zou liggen. Helaas is mijn leven wellicht te kort om me daar nog opnieuw op toe te leggen, dus geniet ik maar van boeken als deze 'Sugar - Leven als kat' en laat het tekenen aan mijn vrouw, die (niet) toevallig wekelijks gaat modeltekenen in de studio van Serge Baeken. Haar niveau haal ik toch nooit.

Wat de auteur met zwart-witlijnen doet, is wonderlijk mooi. Zijn lijnen zijn strak en raak en hij varieert van intens en complex tot de eenvoud van de pure lijnvoering. Het sterkste en meest originele van deze graphic novel is echter de grafische vormgeving: elke pagina bevat vierentwintig afgeba(e)kende vierkanten, telkens zes kolommen van vier rijen. Met die beperking speelt Boeken meesterlijk, o.a. door binnen een groter geheel van meerdere vakken in te zoomen op een detail.

De auteur is, net als zijn kat Sugar, een speelvogel die graag met herhaling van een beeld of een detail speelt, waar je gaandeweg meer oog voor krijgt en al snel overtuigd raakt dat je het allemaal nog weleens opnieuw wil gaan lezen en bestuderen.

Ergens aan het einde wordt de grafische beperking van vierentwintig vakjes even doorbroken door een kinderverhaal in het verhaal. Dat vond ik zowel tekstueel als visueel een minder geslaagde ingreep. De veel te gezochte rijmzinnen stoorden en de tekeningen zorgden niet voor een meerwaarde. Maar voor de rest heerlijk genoten van letterlijk en figuurlijk soms duizelingwekkende kat-perspectieven en een herkenbaar kastenleven (want ook wij hebben een nogal levendige zwarte kater in huis).

[Jéssica Bonson · Rating 1 out of 5]

[language: PT-BR]

O que eu esperava quando comprei essa comic:
- arte bonita de gatos e suas brincadeiras

O que certamente foi atendido.

Porém, o que eu não esperava:

- com exceção de um, todos os gatos da história morrem por algum motivo tolo por falha dos donos, e são muitos gatos, é de dar raiva
- duas cenas de sexo (não é explícito, mas eu com certeza não fazia questão de ver os seios da esposa do autor)


Só não foi dinheiro jogado fora porque a arte é muito bonita, e é uma boa referência para desenhar felinos.

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really like this. It’s blurbed as being for cat lovers but there are far too many feline deaths for this cat lover. Too many cats meet nasty and preventable deaths because, frankly, the owners are far too careless and neglectful. They get through more cats in about 10 years than I’ve lost in nearly 50 years. It left me feeling sad and angry.

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A semi-biographical story of author's cats, with a special attention to our title character. Estethically beautiful, in a kind of a minimalistic but realistic style with a strong attention of detail. Narration is unique, and sometimes to chaotic, breaking up the usual pattern with which you fallow panels. It expresses nicely the dynamic nature of cat's daily activities but my it's non sequitur structure might distract some readers and threw them out of the story. That was the game-changer for my girlfriend, who, while being a hopeless cat lover, couldn't get emotionally involved in the story. Didn't have that much of a o problem myself, which is a bit unfortunate because many of those cats meet untimely end. That brings bad memories for any cat afficionado who lost a dear pupil. Still, the narrative is full of those cute, wacky moments from cat's life for which we adore those egotistical beasts no matter what new terrible catastrophe (sic!) they would wroughrsyrn zffzbsbbdc Why you little -, Miau Miau!!!!

[Isabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vale a arte.

[Florence Franssens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik HAAT het idee dat mijn kat ooit dood zal gaan

[Rafaela Martinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amei. Vi o Olaf, meu gato, em cada página!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leitura rápida sobre gatos. Tem umas ilustrações muito fofinhas e estórias curtinhas mas interessantes.

[Dina Rahajaharison · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Sacré cadeau... Je ne suis pas sûre d'être prête pour un autre chat..."

[Sebastien Plante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Des dessins magnifiques, une mise en page impressionnante. Dommage que le tout soit mis au service d'une histoire quelque peu futile.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nice touch with the black and white drawings, but they are not expressive. Far from it. The drawings are just ugly. And the stories are unable to make the volume bearable.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

240×315 ¦ Benelux ed. ¦ D.L. d/2014/0086/1 ¦ prix DA08 = eo(noté)

Narrative: **
I thought it was basically wordless, just like 1-4 words here-›and‹-there, but there was plenty of camera-translating for me. Had I known, I wouldn't have gotten this because I don't like cats- I just wanted that wonderful art to help me dislike them less. It did though- but I'm still a dog dude who finds 9/10 of them condescending or outright anti-social.

Visual: ****
It's visually dazzling- he's an excellent draftsman with architectural grade precision. The cat's point·of·view thing was often confusing and sometimes even annoying though.

[Richard Tremblay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce n'est pas un roman graphique, juste une série de réminiscences sur quelques-uns des chats de l'auteur et de sa petite famille. On y voit Tim, Jeff, Cassonade, Sugar et Milk. Le dessin (minimaliste) est extrêmement beau et la mise en page, disons, un rien déconcertante.

Les histoires sont touchantes dans la mesure où le destin des chats est mené à terme pour chacun d'entre-eux, y compris celui de Sugar qui vivra 18 ans aux côtés de l'auteur.

À la BaNQ, le livre est affublé d'un Tome 1. C'est pas vrai, il n'y a pas de tome 2.

[Popkulturalna kociara · Rating 2 out of 5]

W moich oczach ratują tę powieść graficzną ładne rysunki kotów, ale myślę, że bardziej usatysfakcjonowałoby mnie oglądanie tych czworonogów na Youtubie niż lektura Sugar. O ile można to nazwać lekturą, bo tutaj bardzo mało jest jakichkolwiek tekstów, nawet jak na komiks. Było to też moje pierwsze spotkanie z takim typem powieści graficznej - na każdej stronie mamy 24 kwadraciki, część z nich tworzy większą całość, część nie i momentami naprawdę miałam problem zrozumieć o co chodzi. Spodziewałam się czegoś innego, lepszego także jestem rozczarowana.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the great cat comic, tied with Penny. It’s beautifully observed, especially the innate fluidity of a cat in flight, but more than that it’s bracingly unsentimental confronting as it does cat death several times over and head on at that. The real stroke of genius is the densely packed frames, with a grid of 24 frames per page which helps show the cat’s own scale of reference to the world. And that this only really breaks for the book within the book makes perfect sense. It’s a lovely thing

[Nathália · Rating 3 out of 5]

O traço é bem legal, alguns ângulos são surpreendentes, mas achei as histórias confusas e outras bem tristes.

Como uma pessoa que tem 4 gatos, me deu muito nervoso ver os personagens levando os gatunhos pra viajar (sem uma supervisão atenta) e deixando-os saírem por janelas, falta de tela nas casas etc.

Ter um gato é ser responsável por ele, zelar pela vida dele, e não foi oq pareceu aqui. Não pude deixar de notar.

Como contos lúdicos, foram interessantes.
Como relatos de gatinhos reais, angustiantes.

gatilho: morte de animais

[Paloma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cara, eu comprei esperando ver uma carta de amor aos gatos e encontrei um manual de como ser um péssimo dono e de como matar mais gatos em menos tempo. TODOS os gatos morrem! E só um de velho, os outros todos é pq os donos não deviam ter permissão de cuidar de um ser vivo. Meu… a cena do tubo… QUE FOI AQUILO? Passei raiva. Não vou dar o livro só por causa das artes.

[Adriana S.]

Comprei para dar de presente pra minha irmã (que ama gatos), não resisti, li e achei bem mais ou menos. Os desenhos são ótimos, é a história que não me prendeu. Um casal, após a experiência com alguns gatos e suas mortes tristes, adota Mascavo, um gato preto terrível, bem danado. Desisti de dar o livro. Vou tentar achar outro com uma história melhor para dar de presente.

[Andre Landgraf]

usually not a fan of these graphic novels with loads of panels in each page (30 in this case), but the drawings are very precise, and some of the pages have a really cool exploration of the panels, i liked it more as an experience than the short stories themselves

my favorite part was actually the second page of the tim story. the one in which mascavo brings a pidgeon back is also quite cool

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mimo, że to całkiem sympatyczne kocie-opowieści, momentami ciekawe formalnie, prawdopodobnie zapomnicie o nich zaraz po odłożeniu komiksu na półkę

[Dosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technicznie i rysunkowo świetne. Gorzej z pomysłem. Brakowało fabuły 😛

[Larça · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ilustrações não me agradaram e a história é sem substância (além de os donos serem péssimos donos).

[Ana Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

amei o livro, a história e as artes

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muito fofo. Apesar de não ser uma obra infantil, li com minha filha de 7 anos, ela está na alfabetização e lia as falas dos gatos.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely and largely, though not completely, wordless.
Too sad then pets die, though.

[Roeliox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Een strip vanuit het perspectief van een kat. Origineel, maar het wordt al snel wat saai. Gewaagde tekenstijl/composities wel. 2,5 ⭐

[Bianca Boscaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

leitura bem rápida, as ilustrações são fofas mas as histórias não muito. gostei de alguns pontos mas o tutor negligente me deixou meio incomodada

[Karina · Rating 1 out of 5]

*pokazuje paluchem* nieodpowiedzialni właściciele

[Aster]

This is just too sad. Real, but … meh.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short comic, but a pleasing read for any cat lover.