'Other People: Days of the Bagnold Summer and Driving Short Distances' with story and art by Joff Winterhart is a collection of two slice of life graphic novels.

In the first half, mother and son Bagnold recall their summer together. She is disappointed in his lack of motivation. He sees in her a life unfulfilled. It's a long, slow look at a mother and son living together.

The second story, Driving Short Distances, is about a young man names Sam who gets a job driving around with a man named Keith Nutt. It's not completely clear what Keith does, and Sam does less, but it follows the tow of them as they interact with people in a small town filled with various characters.

I liked both of these stories, with a preference for the second one. The stories seem kind of dreary and deal with the disappointments in life. The art is really great, and the characters are almost garish caricatures of real people.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Published by Simon & Schuster/Gallery 13 on September 4, 2018

Other People is a graphic novel that Joff Winterhart wrote as two separate but related stories. The stories take place in England. The first chronicles a summer in the life of a middle-aged woman named Sue and her teenage son Daniel, whose father has gone to live in America. Sue and Daniel argue quite a bit, to the family dog’s dismay. Daniel spends his time listening to heavy metal. Sue spends her time crying.

The first story is told from a third person perspective in snippets, a few panels per page encapsulating a slice of a day. The second story is told from Daniel’s perspective. The format is similar, although the story is longer and the panels that relate each snippet generally cover two pages.

The second story follows the first by about ten years. Daniel has cut his hair, moved back home, and dedicated himself to the uncertain task of finding something to do at which he will not fail. Apart from spending sleepless nights plagued by dread and regret, he gets a job with Keith Nutt. He hopes to use the job to find himself, maybe to spark a career, but his primary duties consist of listening to Keith’s stories and walking Keith’s dog. Even at those duties, Daniel does not excel, at least in Keith's view.

The illustrations are simple drawings (black ink in the first story, blue and brown in the second). The drawings capture the essence of the characters, portraying none of them in a flattering light. The simplicity of the art enhances the honesty of the story. There are no frills here, no illusions. What you see is all there is.

Other People is a close, nuanced look at ordinary people living drab lives. Daniel at least knows his life is empty. Keith and most of the other characters cover their hollowness with a façade of meaning that Daniel comes to appreciate. Daniel even finds himself appreciating Keith as he realizes that their fundamental similarities outweigh their vast differences. His job gives him little to do, but it opens his eyes to a world full of other people, all the people he never noticed before. At the same time, nearly everyone he encounters knows that Daniel can make more of his life than he will ever manage with Keith.

The stories immerse the reader in Daniel’s ennui and anxiety. They are, at times, a painful reading experience, particularly when Daniel’s relationship with his mother (in the first story) and with Keith (in the second) is at its worst. At the same time, the poignant stories encourage the reader to root not just for the primary characters but for all individuals who are searching for a way to give their lives purpose.

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Joff Winterhart’s Other People brings together two self-contained stories in the same volume, joined by common themes and similar characters, and also Winterhart’s mastery of intimate moments and the outward expression of personal and sometimes indefinable feelings. When it comes to full portrayals of realistically-rendered human beings, with all the subtleties and awkwardness contained in that, it seems we have a new master of the form in our midst.

The first part of the book, “Days of the Bagnold Summer,” is devoted to the low key and lovely little story of Daniel and his mom Sue during a summer vacation during high school. Daniel is a pretty typical kid well into his teen years, awkward and self-aware and practicing seizing distance from his mother, while still not realizing that she’s an important component to his daily existence.

Daniel likes metal and part of the story has to do with not only his interest in metal but his discovery of a band of kids much younger than him seeking a vocalist for their metal band. Not a lot of time is spent on this, but rather it pops up within the depiction of Daniel’s life in general as he tries to make the best of the boredom at home, negotiates slight issues with his only friend Ky, and interacts with Sue, who constantly embarrasses him with her affection.

It’s not just entirely about Daniel, though. Sue is given equal time and we see the relationship from both sides, as well as learn about Sue’s background — her childhood and her former marriage to Daniel’s father. It’s through these segments that we learn a lot about what is behind Sue and Daniel’s relationship, where we discover their commonalities through Sue’s own childhood memories, and examine her behavior toward Daniel through information about her time with his father.

This is an incredibly sweet comic, but not because it maximizes the sweet syrup in its depiction — actually quite the opposite. It’s a truthful, affectionate rendering that captures parenting from a full view — that of the parent’s relationship with the child, but also the parent as a child. Most importantly there’s affection for both the lead characters and dignity given to each regardless of their shortcomings. It’s this lack of pettiness and accepting the characters on their own terms that really lends the genuine quality to the story, and brings forth an aspect of kindness within the storytelling that isn’t often enough displayed.

The book’s second story “Driving Short Distances” could easily be a sequel except that mother and son have different names. In this case, the son is named Sam, fresh from the self-destruction of his attempt at a creative work life and holed-up in his mother’s house in his hometown with no clue what to do next.

Opportunity knocks in the form of Keith Nutt, who claims to be an old friend of the family, though Sam’s mother has no memory of him. Keith offers Sam a job without ever having met him, though it turns out that Keith’s business of “distribution and delivery” of “specialist services and sales supplying the Business Park and Logistics network” is a pretty mysterious vocation. Sam’s job mostly involves driving around with Keith and listening to his stories.

Part of the story involves Sam getting to know Keith — or rather, reading between the curated lines of the stories he chooses to tell about his life and his past. Slowly Sam is invited to certain aspects of Keith’s private life, though other parts remain mysterious and Keith is intentionally dismissive of attempts by Sam to pierce those aspects.

The story of Keith’s monologues to Sam is engaging, but the larger picture of what is happening is captivating. We’ve all gone through those moments where, as adults, we return to our hometowns, the ones we so desperately planned our escape from, only to discover these hidden nooks and crannies of interest and quirk, parts that could never previously be known to us because of the bubble universes that teenagers set up for themselves. But as an adult, Keith is almost literally dragging Sam outside of that old bubble and out into the streets where Sam begins to notice things about his home, begins to connect with some of the people involved and begins to learn things about himself.

Winterhart’s insightfulness, which is so on parade in the first story, bursts into your heart even more so in this second one. His talent for not only capturing people but also the interactions between them — particularly the awkward ones — is nothing short of remarkable. His depictions are maps of subtle progressions, and in “Driving Short Distances” in particular, the emotional map is mirrored by the physical one that begins to unfold in the car with Sam and Keith.

I really fell in love with all of Winterhart’s characters and walked away feeling awe for his empathy toward them. Winterhart is incredibly capable of taking normal circumstances and honing in on what makes them special and interesting, alongside the same characteristics of the people involved. These are compassionate stories rendered by a storyteller that I cannot wait to see more work from, a storyteller who understands that people are walking narratives, and some of the best tales you can tell are from the moments when those narratives intertwine.

This book was not for me. I found the drawing unattractive and the story lines rather bleak and dull. I admit, I didn't make it all the way through. If it were a movie, I'd turn it off before it was over. If it was a regular novel, no way would I finish. I am aware that some people really like Winterhart's work. I just couldn't get into it.

Other People is two beautifully told stories about family and community relationships, with spot on character studies.

The first story, Days of the Bagnold Summer, is an in depth look of a summer between a mother and her teenage son after his plans to visit his father in Florida fall through. Set in a small British town, Sue and Daniel uneasily move through their days, with Sue trying to connect with her metal-head teenager. Daniel skulks around home, not truly upset about not making the annual trip to visit his father and stepmother, but not wanting to admit it to his mother. Six weeks pass, with Daniel slowly gaining some insight and empathy towards his mother, who does her damndest in trying to prod him lovingly in the right direction. Their interactions were so true to life, and the conclusion with the two of them heading to a family wedding was sweet.

I connected with this story at many levels, as Sue is shown at the library she works at, and as a librarian myself, I laughed at some of the observations she made about patrons there. But it was a mother trying to relate to her teen that was the most poignant for me. Actually I am a mother to three teens- and believe me, there are days that are hard with them. I had so much compassion for the character of Sue and I wanted to shake clueless Daniel, although at heart he wasn’t a bad son. I look forward to the movie they are going to make of this story.

The longer second story, Driving Short Distances, was another character study, this time between Sam and his boss Keith. Sam is 27 and at a crossroads in life, as he failed out of university and had a breakdown; so Keith, who is a distant relative of the family, takes him on as a sort of an apprentice in his distribution and delivery business. That Sam truly never figures out what Keith does on his endless errands is a running gag. Keith’s false boasting and foibles become evident as Sam is stuck in the car with him for hours a day, but Sam becomes more confident as the story progresses and he knows he has to stop being carried about in the current and grapple with making himself a new life. The story is a sort of love letter to small town life, as Keith and Sam interact with the same residents day in and out, and I laughed out loud several times. By the end, you are aching for both men, as this tender story shows how toxic masculinity can prevent men from really connecting with one another.

Author Joff Winterhart really captures the frailties, oddities and connections between people especially in small communities where people have known each other and their families for generations. His sketchwork captures the essence of people, warts and all, drawn in black and white with excellent shading. His blue overwash in the second story hints towards the depression that both men exhibit, showcasing that Winterhart’s deceptively simple looking artwork is quite effective. I am thankful to NetGalley for bringing to my attention this graphic novel and it’s charming stories.

Winterhart has a skill for creating intimate portraits of everyday people and their relationships with each other. The water color and fine line illustrations match the realistic, intimate, and often the fragility and transition of the characters they bring to life. The usage of the blues and browns in Driving Short Distances connects to an element of the story itself (a found watercolor set).

Winterhart is in this book which seem evident by the intamacy, care, and detail that comes with character expressions and complexity.

I could see this in the adult graphic novel collection, but also would want teens/young adults to read it considering the ages of Daniel in Days of the Bagnold Summer and Sam in Driving Short Distances.

I really liked the artistic style of Other People by Joff Winterhart. Very clean drawing style. Really enjoyed the small scaled-ness of the stories as well.

I was unfamiliar with Joff Winterhart prior to reading this collection, but I will be on the lookout for more of his work.

Days of the Bagnold Summer examines the family dynamics of a single mother and her metalhead teenage son, who is disappointed to find that he will not be going to visit his father in America for the summer. His mother does her best to draw her son out of his shell, and her son works to discover who he really is outside of the insular bond he shares with his best friend. It's sweet, awkward, and honest - maybe one of the best portrayals of that awkward relationship between a teenager and a parent that I've seen in a graphic novel so far this year. It's sort of subdued and quietly heartfelt. Worth a read.

Driving Short Distances is the story of Sam, an aimless young man who takes on what he hopes is a temporary position working for Keith Nutt as . . . an apprentice? an assistant? an employee? It's never quite clear, even to Sam, who is dismayed to find himself primarily sitting in Keith's passenger seat as they drive around from place to place. Keith soon begins to make gestures toward including Sam in more of the business - allowing him to come inside at stops, demanding that he order their lunches, and eventually insisting that he take over the driving. As Keith's behavior becomes more inscrutable and erratic, Sam starts to find his feet.

I was sad to leave the characters when this book ended.