Susceptible by Geneviève Castrée

 

               

              

                "Susceptible" is a graphic-novel written by multi-talented artist Geneviève Castrée. The book is an autobiographical graphic novel which Castree is depicted in through the main character named Goglu. "Susceptible" is based on Castrée's own experiences growing up in Quebec with a single mother whose drinking and drug use took a negative toll on her life and forced her to grow up fast. Goglu lives with her young mother and stepfather while her father lives 5,000 miles away. 

                Castrée recounts her life through simple, yet beautiful illustrations drawn by the self-taught author, who never officially studied art. The book goes in chronological order all the way until Goglu is an 18-year-old woman and is free to leave her house and do what she wants. Although Susceptible is frequently described as an autobiographical graphic novel Castrée admits that the more people read this book the more she feels wary of calling it an "autobiography." In an interview with Comic book Resources Castrée says "I tried as hard as I could to stick to the truth, but it seems that as soon as the ink hits the page, the story is compromised, and then as soon as it is read by another person, it is distorted. A book can be read a million different ways by a million different people, so I am glad I changed the names of the people involved."

                 My favorite part of the book was the beautiful illustrations. You really see the emotion and feelings behind the expression that the characters make. Goglu's mother especially was illustrated very well. The bags under her eyes, unkempt appearance and bad posture brings the young mother with substance abuse problems to life. One thing that I didn't like about the book was the tiny handwritten cursive that it was written in, I felt that it was really hard to read at times and sometimes not even legible to me.

                Geneviève Castrée's talent doesn't stop at just writing and illustrations, the young artist also is working on her own solo music project were she goes by the name "Ô Paon".  Below is a performance by Castrée at a festival that she organizes with her husband called "What the Heck"