{"id":22141,"date":"2020-05-18T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=22141"},"modified":"2020-05-18T14:55:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T14:55:34","slug":"clara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2020\/05\/18\/clara\/","title":{"rendered":"Clara"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy C\u00c3\u00a9cile<\/strong> & Christophe Lemoine<\/strong>, translated by Kevin Sullivan<\/strong> (Europe Comics)
\nNo ISBN: digital only<\/p>\n

It’s a truly horrific realisation that 2020 has brought the concept of imminent mortality back to the forefront of societal consciousness in way we in the west thought gone with gaslight, horse-brasses and Victorian ornaments. Now you’re truly lucky indeed if death hasn’t touched you, your family or circle of friends.<\/p>\n

So, with the subject now truly unavoidable, how do you explain it to those who most need to understand what as much as why things have suddenly changed?<\/p>\n

Originally released in Europe in May 2012, Clara<\/strong> is a children’s comic book tackling exactly that thorny issue in a potent – but ultimately uplifting – fantasy splendidly reminiscent of kindergarten classic The Velveteen Rabbit<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Written by actor, novelist and script doctor Christophe Lemoine and illustrated by artist, cartoonist and designer C\u00c3\u00a9cile Brosseau, the tale reveals how the idyllic life of a bright, imaginative seven-year old changes forever when her devoted mother receives some terrifying news from her doctors.<\/p>\n

In the days before and after her mother’s death, little Clara experiences a wave of unwelcome and uncontrollable emotions, barely held in check by the attentions of her equally-shattered dad and grandmother and centred around the scruffy old doll mummy gave her before everything changed\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

However, at her lowest point, a journey into a bleak and terrifying fantasy world offers Clara revelation and perspective to balance the loss and grief and provides a chance of working out for herself the mystery of being left behind\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Balancing the largely unformed emotions of a child suffering bereavement with the escapist fantasy of saving a cherished toy is not a new concept, but it’s done here with style, aplomb and scrupulous sensitivity. Lemoine & C\u00c3\u00a9cile focus clearly and efficiently on their message that death is not abandonment: accepting that kids do not process reality the same way adults do, but never sugar-coating or downplaying the tragedy.<\/p>\n

Clara is a powerful tale impeccably told and one many adults would be well-advised to add to their armoury of learning aids to life\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 2016 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c LE LOMBRD \u00e2\u20ac\u201c C\u00c3\u2030CILE & LEMOINE. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By C\u00c3\u00a9cile & Christophe Lemoine, translated by Kevin Sullivan (Europe Comics) No ISBN: digital only It’s a truly horrific realisation that 2020 has brought the concept of imminent mortality back to the forefront of societal consciousness in way we in the west thought gone with gaslight, horse-brasses and Victorian ornaments. Now you’re truly lucky indeed … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Clara”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[239,63,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-european-classics","category-kids-all-ages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4AFj-clara","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}