Review -Black Water Lilies

 

Title Black Water Lilies

Authors/Illustrators: Frederic Duval, Michael Bussi, and Didier Cassegrain

Release Date (US) - Oct 11, 2022

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

               I’m finding writing this review without spoilers to be very difficult.  I will try to keep them as vague as I can.

               The plot of Black Water Lilies is a murder that occurs in the town of Givenry.   While the victim is a man, the focus of the story is on three women – crone, mother, and maiden.   The crone is the “witch” of the village, the mother is a teacher (the stereotype of a sexy teacher is used) , and the maiden is a young girl of almost elven who aspires to be an art student.

               To be honest, it is at this point that I almost put down the book.  That young girl of almost eleven is described as a woman. The graphic novel starts with the phrase “Three woman lived in Givenry”.  The almost eleven year old is at various point in the opening panels drawn as an adult, in adult stylized, slightly sexualized poses.  We are told that all boys wanted her to be their girlfriend.

               Look, I get France is different and we Americans are supposedly prudish, but there are French women pushing back on the sexualization of young girls -read Consent by Vanessa Springora.  And to be fair, the revel of graphic novel – which is clever but doesn’t quite work – makes the comment a little less icky.  It also excuses some of the very sexist comments and behavior by the detectives which is very off putting. 

SPOILER BELOW

The reveal is that all three women are in fact one woman at the different stages of her life.  She is now the crone and is telling the majority of the story.  Clever, and it does work because you don’t see the three “women” together.  There is a problem however, because if we are seeing the story though her and one detective that still doesn’t explain everything that we see.  Additionally, while we might say all the boys wanted to date use back in high school, would we really sexualize ourselves that much?  The boys are drawn as around ten, the girls not so much. And the positioning of the boys and girls when together is that of teens not that of most pre-teens.  Honesty in one panel if the boy hadn’t been wearing clothes that are normally only wore by pre-teen boys, it would have looked like two teens hanging out.  Also the detective’s conclusion, though correct, seems to come about simply because of the romantic rival aspect, and I am tired of that trope.

The use of the young girl is also execrated because there is little interaction between any women at all in the book  - wouldn’t there be female friends?  There is a woman associated with the police but she disappears shortly afterwards and is only there for the men to talk about each other. 

But the reveal was clever, and the mystery is interesting.  The artwork is wonderful.  This graphic novel is based on a best selling French novel.