My second contact with the work of Frenchman Cyril Pedrosa, Portugal is, ironically, a rather unfrench story about family and identity that reminds one (or, at least, myself) of Iberoamerican works such as Gabriel García Márquez's One hundred years of solitude, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá's Daytripper or Paco Roca's The House.
The plot revolves around Simon, a cartoonist on the decline who fails to find inspiration and keep writing comics, which is taking a toll on his personal life, especially his relationship with his long-time girlfriend. To try and rekindle his artistic flame, he makes a short trip to a comics convention in Portugal, later spends a weekend at his cousin's wedding in France and finally decides to take a sabbatical at cousin’s house in Portugal. These events lead to him questioning his origins, the basis of family and how conflict is handed down through the generations, themes which, though more overtly presented, reminded me of Gabriel García Márquez’s One hundred years of solitude.
With regards to the art, it is very scratchy and abstract, considerably more than Pedrosa’s work in Three Shadows, the other comic by him I’ve read. The stand-out feature of the art is the use of color to reflect mood and location, which was done to great effect. Though not as experimental or bold as Mazzuchelli’s work in Asterios Polyp, it was employed to a similar level of success while also being more approachable and consistent throughout the entirety of the narrative.
A noteworthy aspect of the comic was the use of untranslated dialogue in Portuguese, which is something that usually I don’t like (the mixing of two languages in a story) but thought it was done very naturally and unobtrusively, especially as the main character had little to no idea of the language at first and was shown to make slow progress learning it (which was also reflected by the color palette and conversational tone). That said, as a Spaniard, I could more or less tell what was being said, so I can’t vouch for everyone liking this particular aspect of the comic.
Overall, while it took me a while to get into it (I started reading it in December but felt like it was more of a summer read), I quite enjoyed reading Portugal, which I did pretty much in one sitting. For anyone looking for a summer-flavored read, Portugal may be what you’re looking for.
Comments