The Strange

by Jérôme Ruillier

Overview

The Strange follows an unnamed, undocumented immigrant who tries to forge a new life in a Western country where he doesn’t speak the language. Jérôme Ruillier’s story is deftly told through myriad viewpoints, as each narrator recounts a situation in which they crossed paths with the newly-arrived foreigner. Many of the people he meets are suspicious of his unfamiliar background, or of the unusual language they do not understand. By employing this third-person narrative structure, Ruillier masterfully portrays the complex plight of immigrants and the vulnerability of being undocumented. The Strange shows one person’s struggle to adapt while dealing with the often brutal and unforgiving attitudes of the employers, neighbors, and strangers who populate this new land. Ruillier employs a bold visual approach of colored pencil drawings complemented by a stark, limited palette of red, orange and green backgrounds. Its beautiful simplicity represents the almost child-like hope and promise that is often associated with new beginnings. But as Ruillier implicitly suggests, it’s a promise that can shatter at a moment’s notice when the threat of being deported is a daily and terrifying reality. The Strange has been translated from the French by Helge Dascher. Dascher has been translating graphic novels from French and German to English for over twenty years. A contributor to Drawn&Quarterly since the early days, her translations include acclaimed titles such as the Aya series by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, Hostage by Guy Delisle, and Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët. With a background in art history and history, she also translates books and exhibitions for museums in North America and Europe. She lives in Montreal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770465848
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	06/10/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	100
File size:	44 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	15 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jérôme Ruilier was born in 1966 in Madagascar and has lived much of his adult life in France. After spending the first dozen years of his career as a children’s book illustrator, in 2009 he wrote and drew his first graphic novel, Le Coeur-enclume, a deeply personal account of the first six days following the birth of a child with disabilities. His next graphic novel, Les Mohamed, was based on interviews with immigrants from North Africa conducted by the writer Yamina Benguigui, which explored the challenges that many immigrants in France face as they attempt to integrate in a new society. The Strange is Ruillier’s first graphic novel translated into English.

Editorial Reviews

07/09/2018
The protagonist in this gutting story of undocumented immigration is an anthropomorphic dog with an oversized body and a sad, round face, named “the Strange.” This is a universe inhabited by animals whose species are assigned based on character personality traits and authorial whim. The Strange’s attempt to find work and escape deportation from an unnamed European city is chronicled by a series of narrators, among them a taxi driver, a police officer, and several members of an aid network. The observer-driven form underscores the disenfranchising nature of life on society’s margins. Even the fish in the aquarium at the Strange’s apartment get more of a voice than he does. He is perceived as dangerous when in fact he is the one in peril from law enforcement and exploitative landlords and employers. Ruillier’s crosshatched pencil drawings and large blocks of single colors create a lonely world in which the backdrop is constantly changing. The narrative echoes the surrealism and disorientation of contemporary prose portrayals such as Moshin Hamid’s Exit West. Ruillier’s portrayal of a literal underdog and an increasingly ruthless state forces readers to acknowledge harsh treatment of immigrants. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"This is what it was like. For many who still live with the threat of deportation and whose delicate and uncertain future waits on the desks of others, this is what it is still like."—The Atlantic

"The simple colours and economically drawn animals might suggest innocence, but threats lurk on every page in a compelling account of life of societies edge."—The Guardian

"In The Strange, we experience the manner in which each new interaction for an undocumented immigrant can be a matter of jeopardy. The art throughout this graphic novel is haunting, stressful, and beautiful."—Lit Hub

"A moving portrait of one refugee's journey rendered in bold strokes, The Strrange is a powerful reminder that we are all part of the frightening system that displaced people move through, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not."—Sarah Glidden, Rolling Blackouts

"A beautifully realized condensation of difficult real-world problems as deceptively simple lines and words, floating somewhere between fiction and non-fiction as so many great stories do. Honest and timely, a must-read."—Shaun Tan, The Arrival

From the Publisher