The House Review: The Graphic Novel With Great Life Lessons
Sometimes you read a book and it doesn’t let you go until you say something about it, write something down.
Because when you turn the last page, what you leave behind is no longer an ordinary book, but a life story, a great experience that has managed to fit in between two cardboards.
You have gained an experience that you have not experienced personally, and you have been a guest of dozens of lives in a short time.
“The House” that got my attention on a library shelf and I bought it without knowing anything about it was just one of these type of books. With it’s warm story, great illustrations and the emotional thoughts it left behind, it has become one of the most enjoyable comics I’ve read recently. That’s why I want to write about “The House”.
So that I hope I can put the book on the shelf with peace of mind.
Based on the real life story of Spanish writer/artist Paco Roca, “The House” was first published in 2005. The warm story of the book, which is both very personal and universal, impresses the readers so much that “The House” has been translated into many languages over the years and won important awards.
It was translated into English in 2019.
The book centers on a family that meets under the same roof.
“The House” carries the story of a small family living at the other end of the world. Three siblings, who now have different lives in different houses and rarely see each other, have to come together at their vocation home after their father passed away.
The siblings start cleaning up the house and the garden where no one lives anymore. They try to get it in shape so they can sell it. In the meantime, as a reader, we get a chance to witness the memories that once lived in this house.
After the unexpected death of their father, the middle son of the family became the first to come home. This man, whom we learn is a writer, is greeted by a dusty house, leaves all around and newspaper pages caught in tree branches. We learn that these pages, dangling from the branches of the tree, were articles about the achievements of the writer son, and were therefore once sent to their father by him.
While he and his wife are doing the little chores at home, we realize that he comes from a busy schedule and a completely different life from the one in The Home. He wants to get things done there as soon as possible and return to his own life.
Indeed, after doing some of the chores at home, he leaves, only to come back again soon.
After the middle sibling left, this time the eldest child of the family, the elder brother, comes to the house. This character, whose childhood we have seen a few times in the previous pages, now has a child as tall as he is.
Unlike the middle brother, the older brother likes to do housework and fix things.
So he and his son roll up their sleeves and begins repairing the house, starting with the window that is no longer open. The last one to come home is the little sister of the house. With a husband and a little girl, this sister also helps with the cleaning.
These 3 siblings embark on a journey through a house full of old memories.
The line between the past and the present fades as the three siblings spend their first and last time in the house where they once had a family vacations, without their father.
Leaves are swept, broken places are repaired, garbage is thrown away…
Besides all these boring and daily tasks, time stops and the three siblings embark on an inner journey where they get lost in hundreds of memories.
One is grappling with regrets and resentments that he cannot leave behind. One regrets not being able to spend a little more time with his father, and his grandson not having the opportunity to get to know his grandfather.
Another is trying to understand why his father, who never stopped for a moment and never gave up, suddenly gave up on life, and why he spent his last days in deep silence and mental breakdown.
So what makes this story special?
After the death of their father, the story of the siblings who came together to take care of the work that needed to be done at home may not seem very different and interesting at first glance.
However, Paco Roca manages to reflect his story on the page in such a warm and impressive way that you cannot help immersing yourself in the story.
First of all, from the first page you know you are reading a powerful story.
Paco Roca invites you to a story worth reading with both magnificent visuals and deep and real dialogues. The author combines lines and words such a beautiful way that you get a wonderful narrative.
For example, as I mentioned above, the book often uses the flashback technique. It instantly takes the reader back decades. In one scene, you read that one of the brothers is watching TV with his father in the garden, while in another page, you see the whole family laying the bricks of the house together.
I think these little flashbacks play a very important role of showing the background story. And it touchs the heart of reader.
The characters dive into these memories happens so naturally and smoothly that you find yourself wandering through the memories with them.
For example, the sister watches her little daughter trying to pick a fruit from the trees in the garden. In this scene, we see the little girl suddenly turn into a sister ( a younger version of her mother).
Memories are poured into the pages with small associations, just like in real life. I think this adds a lot to the narrative power of the book.
The House by Paco Roca
The House is a book where everyone can find something from their own life.
When a book is taken from a true life story, it may be pointless to talk about how realistic it is. Indeed, The House is based on what the author lived with his own father.
However, I think the success of a story in terms of realism is not how real it is, but how real it feels.
I think The House succeeds with great effectiveness in doing what a good story would do, taking the reader on a journey through their own memories, their own life. One reader described the experience of reading The House as “like wandering through your own memories”. I think this is a good comment that most readers would agree with.
Even if you don’t have a summer house/holiday home that you spend every holiday building at your father’s request, the garden house at the center of the book may remind you of your garden, village, summer house or terrace where you once (or maybe still) gathered with your loved ones and enjoyed pleasant conversations in the fresh air.
You find something about you and your loved ones in these characters, the three siblings who are inseparable despite resentments and anger. I think this makes you, as a reader, embrace the story and connect with the characters.
For a few hours, The House becomes a door through which you will think deeply about the past, regrets, resentments, decisions made, your family, your loved ones.
Throughout the book, as a reader you do not leave the house, but you witness the story of a big family. The House successfully shows how many lives and stories can fit in one house. It makes you think long and hard about life, family, regrets and the past.
And it does so with a simple yet effective narrative power that I want to emphasize once again. For example, the book reflects so well the moment when a person gives up on life, when he turns into a living dead.
When you look at these huge emotions packed into 3 small frames, you admire the author’s power of using lines.
I think the universal story of this family is something that you will enjoy and learn something from…
The House manages to provide both an enjoyable reading experience and to leave behind small and important life lessons as you turn the pages. Therefore, I believe that especially those who love warm and full stories should read this comic book.
In this short life, each of us lives immersed in our own life, thoughts and dreams.
Our little heads hold worlds so big that we can get lost in them. Sometimes we get really lost in these worlds, and when we find our way or have a chance to stop to look around, sometimes it’s too late for everything.
That’s why I wish everyone a life without regrets, unfinished conversations, and late enlightenment.
Thank you for reading my article. And since English is not my native language, sorry for all the grammatical errors I have made.
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