Ethel & Ernest is a graphic memoir by well regarded, multi-awarded Raymond Briggs. It tells the story of his parents marriage and lives from the time they meet in 1928 to their deaths in 1971. I've read a few of Raymond Briggs' books now. Probably my favourite so far has been When the Wind Blows, which I read for the first time just a few months ago and I feel the need to reread it, think about it some more and do a post about it. I have also read Burglar Bill, Fungus the Bogeyman and Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age. I must say that I have a bit of a hit and miss relationship with Raymond Briggs. Sadly Ethel & Ernest was more of a miss for me. I wanted to like it. I expected to like it more. Lauren from Lauren and the Books recently included it in her Mid Year Best Books of 2017, it was a reread for her, and she feels so kindly towards it that she wants everyone to love it too. I wish I had.
Ethel was a ladies maid when she caught Ernest's eye as he rode past on his bike. Certainly Ethel & Ernest has the gentle charm of Raymond Briggs' rather distinctive cartoon strip artwork. And there are a few moments of wry humour, but I just didn't get a great feeling for the characters of Ethel or Ernest. The book felt more like a vehicle for the historical facts- which I did particularly enjoy. Ernest was a milkman, he was a Labour voter true to his working class roots, and he was always reading the paper and commenting on the news of the day. There were quite a few fascinating details about life in London especially during the war. Of course young Raymond was evacuated to the countryside to escape the Blitz, but it was the small details that were especially intriguing to me. Scrap metal such as gates and saucepans were collected for the war effort, said to be turned into Spitfires. (What became of the gates and railings is even worse that that) Baths were allowed to be 5 inches deep. Even the baths at Buckingham Palace had the 5 inch lines on them! I also learnt about the Beveridge Report (1942) which was instrumental in setting up essential social welfare still in existence in the UK. Sick pay, unemployment benefits, government pensions and free, universal health care were all thought up during the rationing and hardships of World War II!
I'm going to seek out the 2016 movie, with Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent voicing Ethel and Ernest, it looks lovely.
I think I've heard of this book before. But I'm not really quite sure where. Maybe one of my friends on Goodreads at some stage, but I've recently been watching quite a bit of Booktube- a little corner of Youtube where people blog about the books they read, the books they love, the books they buy- it's very entertaining, but not good at all for cutting down on your TBR, or getting much reading done to be honest. One of my favourite book tubers that I've discovered recently is Russell from Ink and Paper Blog. I've gone back and watched most of his videos, which isn't as difficult as it sounds as Russell is relatively new to Booktube. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? featured in a video from March 11 2017 Meeting Baxter & 5 Books I Think You Should Know About! and it prompted me to get the book from my library and pick it up. I'm so glad that I did because I really loved it. Roz Chast is an American cartoonist, and staff cartoonist at The New Yorker. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is a graphic memoir largely dealing with her parents in the later stages of their lives. Roz grew up in Brooklyn, an only child, her parents born in America of Russian Jewish emigres. Her mother was a force of nature, an assistant principal in an elementary school, her father, an anxious man had been a high school language teacher who spoke five languages.
My father chain-worried the way others might chain-smoke. He never learned to drive, swim, ride a bicycle, or change a lightbulb.
My mother was a different thing. She was a perfectionist who saw things in black and white. Where my father was tentative and gentle, she was critical and uncompromising.
Roz had a somewhat protected, cosseted childhood, and felt closer to her father than her mother.
Naturally of course her parents begin to age, to need help to stay in their own home, to have falls. Of course, as with many older people they are fiercely independent, and want to stay in their own home no matter what.
More so her parents don't want to openly discuss their situation, their aging, and their inevitable final illnesses and death.
I don't think I've ever mentioned my day job here before, but it is one that involves end of life discussions on a very regular, and at times daily basis. These are such important discussions for any family to have, and can ease the way both for the older person and for other family members who will be left behind. It is so important for everyone to be on the same page, and have realistic expectations of what is to come. I particularly enjoyed Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Both in terms of the subject matter, Roz's family, her parents, their personalities and relationships, their progressive decline and also the actual book- the graphic memoir style, the look and feel of the artwork, but also the prose sections, the photos, the language and the humour. It's wonderful. I'm so glad Russell recommended it.
