Page 45 Review by Stephen
Just like YUKIKO'S SPINACH and MARIKO PARADE, this is a eulogy on the intoxicating beauty of a young Japanese woman and her relationship with a French man. It's sensual and dreamy, utterly charming and just a little bit dippy, as Kimie and David (or "Dabido") stay on after a picnic with their friends and, arm in arm, gaze up at the star-lit sky, and Kimie exclaims in wonder, "...It's like a planetarium!"
It's also about the quirks of living in Tokyo, like the arcade game of Mah Jong which David has mastered: "If you win, the girl takes her clothes off." This he shows to his boss, the owner of Heurault Cognac, who's flown in from France to see how David's doing after months of trying to introduce a reluctant Japanese market to his brand: not a single bottle sold so far. To be fair, David doesn't appear to have tried too hard, spending his time absorbing Japanese culture, but it may be this expertise that endears him enough to Monsieur Heurault to let him stay on. If it doesn't, his Visa will expire and he'll have to leave Kimie behind.
I should have known better, but I was anticipating some sort of pantomime with David having to juggle his relationship with trying to keep his boss distracted from reality and the fact that David's prepared absolutely no business meetings with non-existent contacts for his sojourn. Instead it's a fully rounded romance about living - about being alive to the world and each other. Boilet's figures are delicately poised, their postures pictured with perfect weight on the page. He doesn't waste ink, yet doesn't skimp on the scenery, and I'm reminded of Steve Yeowell with softer greys and slimmer lines. Then when a storm hits the city, you feel its power as the shops, streets and steps are obscured under the blasting sheets of rain.
Like the books mentioned earlier, it's a work you can easily fall in love with, or fall in love to, delighting you all along the way.
