Hm. Well. This is a graphic novel love story between a professor’s daughter and that same professor’s ancient mummy. One day, the woman, Lillian, lets the mummy, Imhotep IV, out of his case, and the two go off for a scroll together. Their walk ends in an adventure including kidnap, poisoning, family problems, identity switches, love, and travel to exotic lands. It was a bit strange, to say the least.

I opened the readathon with this book, which was a random grab from my library’s graphic novel section. I knew nothing about it except the book jacket’s description, and that the art looked wonderful. I did really enjoy the artwork. The story, on the other hand, was just a little beyond me. The book is like 75 pages long, very short, and tons of stuff was crammed into it. Within a couple days, I basically forgot most of what happened. Maybe that’s because I was reading fast, and maybe that’s because the story was forgettable, I don’t know.

Paging back through it, though, I don’t see much to add. The whole thing is surreal, dreamlike, but without the Kafkaesque tones that make surrealism so special. I mean, don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t dislike it, but I don’t think I really got it, you know? Maybe someone else would do better with it.

Actually, in looking for other reviews of this (which I sadly didn’t find), I discovered this book was originally in French. I wonder now if some of the meaning behind the text was lost in translation. Having read books in French before, I know that oftentimes there is a huge gap between the two languages, especially when it comes to humor. For instance, I remember laughing hysterically at a Moliere play in high school, but the English version just wasn’t very funny. That makes me want to get a hold of this book in the original language. I have a feeling I’d understand it better then.