[Blog Tour Review] Exquisite Corpse

Guys, I am quite excited to be one of the stops on the blog tour for Pénélope Bagieu's Exquisite Corpse. Don't forget, you can follow the entire tour.

Exquisite Corpse by Pénélope Bagieu, May 5, 2015. 128 pages. Published by First Second. Source: publisher.

Zoe isn't exactly the intellectual type, which is why she doesn't recognize world-famous author Thomas Rocher when she stumbles into his apartment...and into his life. It's also why she doesn't know that Rocher is supposed to be dead. Turns out, Rocher faked his death years ago to escape his critics, and has been making a killing releasing his new work as "lost manuscripts," in cahoots with his editor/ex-wife Agathe. Neither of them would have invited a crass party girl like Zoe into their literary conspiracy of two, but now that she's there anyway. . . . Zoe doesn't know Balzac from Batman, but she's going to have to wise up fast... because she's sitting on the literary scandal of the century!

First Sentence:

Great! One last One!

Going into Exquisite Corpse I really had no idea what to expect from the story, writing, or art style. With Pénélope Bagieu being a new, to me, graphic novel writer/illustrator I was somewhat nervous going in because my humor is...well, its' persnickety to say the least.

First off, what I enjoyed about Exquisite Corpse would have to be that it was different and fun. I really enjoyed how things played out concerning the writer and his crazy scheme/delusions. I admit that the whole faked death aspect was quite funny since Rocher was completely crazy with his antics. Really, Pénélope Bagieu did a great job of capturing the feel of the craziness that was the whole book. It was definitely different in a good way.

Humor and craziness aside, I found the characters overall to be interesting. While I may not have agreed with some of the things they did, I did enjoy their character arcs.

Story-wise, there were only two things that I really didn't care for (and did not expect). I was a little unprepared for some of the content contained within this one (highlight to see: there is some nudity, sex, and some dropping of the f-word). Everything highlighted is scattered throughout the book, yet, does not completely overshadow the story. I will tell you this, it is NOT a young adult title and most definitely not suitable for middle grade readers.

Art-wise:

I actually really liked the way she drew Zoe as it perfectly captured her awkwardness; also, pretty much all of the character depictions were pretty spot-on and made their personalities really noticeable.

The best way to sum up the art style would be that it almost seems that it and the writing/story were meant for each other. While simple, the design really compliments the story and does a wonderful job of bringing everything to life.

Final Verdict: Exquisite Corpse- Madness, simple madness within these pages.

Exquisite Corpse earns

this book was received in exchange for an honest review.