The Librarian Is In

Literatures & Cultures Librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Center, the Arabic Department, the Comparative Literature Program, the Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS) Program, the Language Schools, the Linguistics Program, and the Department of Spanish & Portuguese.

“Fluffy” by Simone Lia, 2007

186 pages

Call Number: Browsing Graphic-Davis Family PN6737.L53 F59 2007

“Fluffy” is the most absurd book I have ever read. It is also one of the most endearing and nakedly vulnerable. It follows a brief window of time in an Italian man’s life. He is ambivalent about his job, his family and definitely his romantic relationship with Suzanna. Through it all, his talking bunny, Fluffy, who thinks he is his son, expresses his unwavering affinity for him. I don’t know what author Simone Lia was going for with this. How did she decide that protagonist Michael would live in London? That he’d be a graphic designer? That he’d own and care for a talking bunny? It seems so random and fantastic. Aside from the talking animal who thinks he’s human, the struggles Michael encounters ring true and real. He settles for a relationship because it’s available. He tolerates his family’s uncomfortable idiosyncrasies because they are his family. And he wonders to what extent he is realizing his potential and worth as a human being.

I would recommend this work to the wistful, the doubtful, the traveler and anyone with a queer sense of humor. For something similar, check out Lucy Knisley’s “French Milk” (Browsing Graphic-Davis Family Library DC707 .K65 2008), another graphic novel that touches on travels in Europe. David Sedaris’ “Theft By Finding” (General Browsing-Davis Family Library PS3569.E314 A6 2017) carries something similar in it as the memoir examines the limits of the writer’s familial relationships and both the doubt and tumult it takes to become who you will be.