On the Coffee Table: French Milk

Title: French Milk
Writer and Artist: Lucy Knisley

via Amazon

French Milk is Knisley's self-illustrated travel diary of the six weeks she and her mother spent living in Paris.  This was my second dip into Knisley's work, having read Relish a few years ago (see here).  Interspersed with her drawings are photographs, often of the same subjects which makes for interesting side-by-side comparisons.  Knisley's art represents simplified and somewhat idealized versions of reality.

I was a little disappointed in this book.  Lots of shopping and eating - okay, I can't say I really mind the eating as I myself do plenty of writing about eating.  But I guess I was hoping for deeper cultural insights whereas most of Knisley's material is about... herself.  The blurb on the back cover promises a personal look at the mother-daughter relationship but I'm not sure we really got much of that either.  Perhaps it is honest and realistic.  It's just not what I wanted.