Aya of Yop City

Aya of Yop City

Jonathan Cape

This is the second book in this series, the first came out via Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly and suitably won an award. This latest edition finds itself at home with the prestigious UK publisher Jonathan Cape, where abide only the best in the graphic novel talent like Bryan Talbot and Posy Simmonds.

And, while not a groundbreaking story it is a revealing and most entertaining one and Aya of Yop City deserves to reside there.

The story is set on Africa's Ivory Coast during the 1970s when there was prosperity and peace, but society's macrocosm doesn't always react with its microcosm in quite the same way; it's far too quirky a world when it gets down to you and me and not us.

So, we see a developing middle class develop, its ties to the old world and its ways pulling to and fro as aspiration shows both its price and value too. And it's the people on a one to one level who count; how they react to friends and family, and where they think they'll see themselves in maybe a year's time. That's what this book is about.

It revolves around the fact that one of the young girls has had a baby out of wedlock, and while part of the story follows the discovery of who the absent father is, and how she copes dealing with motherhood so young, the tale reaches out further and is really about those around her.
There are her friends, each growing and changing as they take their own chances in life, revealing not only their own brushes with love but the genuine joys and frustrations of their daily lives.

For these friends and their family the world is not filled with wonder, but an intangible fear - they have come so far, should they stumble and fall, could they cope returning back to a more humble village life?

This is the kind of stuff soap operas are based on. But it's also the reason millions watch such programmes on TV every day. It's about real life, and how the mundane can be exciting when looked from the outside in.

There is much humour, a little bit of tragedy, and a whole cast of engrossing characters in this highly readable book.

Abouet weaves her characters well while Oubrerie's art evokes charm, being vaguely similar to Frank (Foolbert Sturgeon) Stack.

The only things that grate are the back cover is the Independent on Sunday's promotional blurb that refers to the setting as "the Cote d'Ivoire" and sounds a tad pretentious, an interview with Abouet where it feels more about the interviewer's agendas (valid as they might be) rather than the writer, and some visual advice on how to lift a baby that makes me feel I'm part of the health & safety mafia for noticing it being incorrect.

Still, you can't have everything in this life, and I think, all in all, the world's a better place for Aya of Yop City being published.