Reviews

The Adoption by Zidrou, Arno Monin

emeelee's review against another edition

3.0

A grumpy 75-year-old French man struggles to adjust to his new role as grandpa when his son and daughter-in-law adopt a young Peruvian earthquake survivor. The synopsis buries the lede as there is a twist to the story. A couple hints led me to suspect the nature of the twist, but it happened sooner and more dramatically than I anticipated. This story wasn't what I expected, but I did quite enjoy the ride. The artwork is nice, if a little cartoony. Some of the humor was off-putting.

TW: deadly earthquake, racist comments, nudity, references to prostitution, references to infertility,

Spoiler

kidnapping/illegal adoption

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this eARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!

nataliya_x's review against another edition

5.0

“Sometimes I wonder … What happens to the love we don’t give? I mean… Has nobody ever thought to set up a recycling program? You know? Like for batteries or cardboard…”

This was simply wonderful. Sweet, lovely, and so beautifully sad but yet strangely hopeful. That’s Zidrou in a nutshell, it seems. And I loved it so much, even if it still makes me a bit sad thinking about it. Zidrou just knows how to hit you right in the emotions, but not manipulatively so, somehow keeping it real and fresh and sweet while never venturing anywhere near sentimentality territory.

This story starts sweet and warm with an adoption of a small Peruvian girl by a family in France, and little Qinaya quickly wins over everyone, even the grumpy grandfather Gabriel whose grumpiness hides a beautiful heart full of love he needs to share.

And then the second part of the story comes along, going into the direction I would have never predicted from the start, and there is pain and heartbreak and a journey to find meaning in life and love. And it was just so brilliant and lovely and heartwarming and devastating at the same time, pulling the rug from under me at the halfway point and building to something very different and bittersweet from there.

“You speak Aymaran?”
“No… just two words: “Qinaya” and “Achachi”. Sometimes, two words are all you need to tell a whole story.”

And look at that artwork by Arno Monin! It’s beautiful and is so perfect for this story.

5 stars. Simply wonderful.
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Buddy read with Dennis (his review) and Cathy (her review) .

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Also posted on my blog.

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Recommended by: Dennis

villyidol's review against another edition

4.0

Qinaya is a 4-year-old Peruvian girl that, after her hometown was devastated by an earthquake, gets adopted into a French family.



She’s such a sweet little girl and Arno Monin’s artwork makes it hard not to immediately fall in love with her. Grandpa Gabriel, though, hasn’t asked for a granddaughter at this point in his life and his grumpy old self needs some time to adjust to the new situation.

With that set-up I expected something akin to Fredrik Backman’s [b: A Man Called Ove|18774964|A Man Called Ove|Fredrik Backman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405259930l/18774964._SY75_.jpg|21619954] and it does indeed strike that same wonderful balance between sweet, funny moments and the underlying sadness of the whole situation. And then around the halfway mark it surprised and devastated me in ways I did not see coming and won’t spoil here.

It ended up being a heartbreaking story that had just the right amount of hopefulness to not leave me completely numb in the end. But it surely wasn’t what I was expecting.



After quite some deliberation I decided to settle on four stars for this book. I didn’t like how some of the character-arcs developed throughout the story. But it’s not because they were badly written (they are not), I was just disappointed in some of the character’s choices. But that’s life, no? People make mistakes and people will disappoint you. You just have to figure out for yourself how to deal with it.

A deeply affecting book. Not always in the ways I wanted it to be. But that’s how it goes.

Buddy read with Cathy and Nataliya.

Note: I read this in two separate volumes but decided to rate the story as a whole. The first book ends on one of the meanest cliffhangers I have ever seen. So, consider yourself warned.

brizreading's review against another edition

4.0

A surprising graphic novel about the bond between a French grandfather and his adopted, Peruvian granddaughter.

Honestly, this comix was like a French film - it was a naturalist story which started one way (grumpy grandfather slowly warms to his adorable newly-adopted granddaughter) but then veered off into a suspenseful, psychologically unexpected place. I really admired the gorgeous art, as well as the rich setting and diversity of perspectives: we see a modern France, with immigrants elbowing next to old xenophobes. The plot took a very unexpected turn about halfway through, and then resolved in yet another unexpected place. In a way, my American brain just wanted to hear about the adorable bond; I want a tidy ending! While this comix definitely ENDED, it did so in a much more complicated emotional place. Really interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

kayymwil's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

cathepsut's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is alternatively funny and sad. Grandpa is grumpy and gnarly. And Qinaya is too cute for words. She is a little girl from Peru, that has been adopted into a French family. Mostly this first issue is about the developing relationship between her and her new grandfather. Nice artwork, good story, well-done character development. Very surprising ending of Issue #1. It threw me for a very unexpected loop.

So I went into Issue #2 with some apprehension… The story was a little scattered and rambly. Very situational and reflective. I didn‘t like it as much as Issue #1. It didn‘t really shed much light on the cliffhanger of Issue #1 for a long time either and only had a light connection to it. However, the art was still very good. And the ending made me happy. A feel-good finale.

tiph's review

emotional funny fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

honguan's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ellie_m's review against another edition

3.0

Due to technical difficulties I had with this book, I am unable to read this book. The pages that I did read had really nice artwork and I liked where the start of the story was going. I really like reading stories about adoption as I am myself and I like seeing other people's stories, which was why I chose to pick this one up. It is just unfortunate that the format of the graphic novel would not work on my devices.

nessas_lair's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you @netgalley for the eARC! This was such a great graphic novel and so heartwarming. I loved the relationship Gabriel the grandpa developed with his adopted granddaughter. Even though he was extremely skeptical in the beginning, he eventually grew to love her as his own. There was a plot twist in this book that I was not expecting at all so that put me on a little emotional rollercoaster but the ending was satisfying