Word: la
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...Spanish language and Latin American cultures continue their slow creep into the American mainstream, it should come as no surprise that comics have begun to reflect that change. But where lesser comix have settled for throwing a token Latino into the story, La Perdida ($20; 275 pages), Jessica Abel's intense new graphic novel from Pantheon, goes deeper. In fact, it goes "native." Featuring a story about an idealistic American living in Mexico and written in Spanglish dialogue, La Perdida examines what is increasingly becoming a major cultural shift in the U.S. by looking at it from the other side...
Abel has made a name for herself by writing short fiction that mostly features loquacious urban hipsters. (Also a tireless supporter of the medium, she was one of the organizers of a short-lived series of slide-show comix "happenings" in 2001.) Her first novel-length work, La Perdida has an unusual style for comix: Unlike most of her fellow North American graphic novelists, Abel doesn't use humor, irony or traditional comic book genres. Instead, she has created something all too rare in the medium: a realistic drama for adults told in a straightforward manner. The approach makes sense...
...Carla under the jacaranda tree in 'La Perdida...
...until this not-entirely convincing last act, Abel's focus on relationships and Carla's changing sense of self makes La Perdida one of the strongest and most challenging works of character study in the medium. Why challenging? Because Abel makes a gutsy move of creating characters that you can't automatically like, and to whom you never warm up in the course of the story. Even Carla, the most sympathetic of the cast, seems na?ve at best and stupidly unaware at worst. She keeps company with a spoiled snob, an arrogant blowhard and a fantasy-filled...
...James Graff, Paris bureau chief, TIME Stroll around the hip Canal St. Martin, pictured, and drop in at Le Verre Vol? (67 Rue de Lancry) for artisanal wine and whatever simple, wondrous dish is on the blackboard. To sample Paris' jazz scene, walk to La Fontaine (20 Rue de la Grange aux Belles), where the music is free. For a safer bet, there are the Rue des Lombards clubs near Chatelet, where one can catch Paris originals like Emmanuel Bex, who takes the Hammond organ to unknown registers...