Book Club: Gente by BlexBolex

I was just trying to waste time in a book store when I curiously picked up Gente (People) by the French illustrator BlexBolex, it happened to be in the children's section. After looking at maybe 6 pages of it and a quick glance at the price tag (15 euros) I immediately had to buy it. No I don't have a kid and no it's not easy to make me buy a book. If you were me you would probably do the same, check out why.

Although it might be intended as a children's book you can tell from simply flipping through that BlexBolex goes way beyond that. It's packed with nearly 200 illustrations (1 to a page) dedicated to more types of people than you can imagine. Immediately you can see the colors and the chromatic illustrations are gorgeous and done with perfect simplicity. Then you realize there are 200 of them, 200 different illustrated people. The book explores our different personalities and the characters we become in a light and fun way, but not without a bit of criticism creeping in.

Homeless. Camper.

The comparisons formed on each spread are what really makes it, whether they're simply visual or deeper than that. The author's personality, sense of humor, sarcasm, and thoughtfulness to each character he illustrates comes through. Some are obvious, some are intelligent, some are funny, some are deep, some are dumb, but with every one you see you're going to want more. This book looks so simple but has so much more hidden in front of your face.

I've only found it in Spanish and French. If the illustrations don't tell you enough on their own and you can't read one of those two languages well you're already in a bookstore so get a dictionary. It's worth it.

Gente available in French at amazon.fr
And in Spanish at laislalibros.com

And check out the rest of Kokinos' catalog at:
www.editorialkokinos.com