"Sunday," by Olivier Schrauwen Explores the Intriguing Within the Tedious

I've got some friends (stop laughing, I do have friends) who work over in the comic biz and know what kinds of odd comics I like. Hence, when one emailed me and said there was a new book by Olivier Schrauwen titled, "Sunday," that they thought I would dig, I found myself intrigued. I'd previously read, "Arsène Schrauwen," by the same author some years ago and enjoyed that surrealist tale of a man visiting a colonist jungle in the 1940s, so I had supplied to me for the purposes of review a copy of, "Sunday."

Published by Fantagraphics, the book arrived a couple weeks ago and it took me a bit to read it because, "Sunday," is a thick publication. It is large in overall page size and a hefty read. It makes sense, though, because a lot is going on within, "Sunday," while at the same time, very little of consequence occurs too. If that sounds confusing, bear with me and I'll explain. You see, "Sunday," follows the day of a (fictional) cousin of the author. Thibault is his name, and we see/"Hear," his stream-of-consciousness thoughts as he goes about wasting much of his day. Very little happens for much of the story, but that is the point. If I had to compare, "Sunday," to any other form of media then the play, "Our Town," oddly enough springs to mind. I say that as a big compliment.

While we witness Thibaults thoughts, the visuals/camera-of-sorts moves around and we see a lot of other things. A cat chasing a rat, friends of Thibault planning a surprise birthday party for him, Thibault's partner making her way back home after a long trip, and a man getting into a fight at the bar. As I said, there is a lot going on while at the same time, nothing much happens for a good chunk of the book. Thibault's thoughts are quite random too, often not syncing up to what's going on in other places--but why should his assorted musings do so? It is all very quirky and looks gorgeous as Olivier's illustrations have a fascinating mix of pencils, pens, and watercolor-style beauty. It makes it so that even when we're just staring at Thibault in the tub, its exciting as the panels shift and break down with the beautiful colorations.

With, "Sunday," a lot of the enjoyment from the book comes from when it meanders whilst looking beautiful. I would recommend, "Sunday," to any readers after something a bit different and very experimental. I had a good time and would rate, "Sunday," as being 5 out of 5 stars.