Just a real nothing burger of a story. One that goes on for 175 pages. It's about a guy who returns from military service and then drifts through this city for 100 pages before he meets a girl and they drift through life together for awhile. There's just nothing to it, even as a slice of life story. And it's real dour and depressing too.

This beautiful novel takes the ennui of early adulthood, that malaise of trying to figure out who one is and who one wants to be, and transports it to post-war Yugoslavia. This book combines beautiful, painterly art with the abject desolation of Yugoslavia at this time. Like life, the book oscillates between highs and lows for a story grounded in reality.

This comic book is marked by a raw depiction of reality, where even the female characters are masculine. It's the story of an ex-soldier and a dancer, but to my great regret, there was very little on the dancing. Rather, we are following our gentleman's life as an artist. We do see him briefly in the army, but much of the book deals with the difficulties of making a new start. Their lives are pretty chaotic and lacking money, but at least they are happy. It focuses more on internal reflections than plot. This neglect is reflected in the littered depiction of the environment as well. I was hoping to learn more about post-civil war Yugoslavia, but unfortunately I didn't get that.

Reading this was like watching an art house film. The vibe of melancholy, aimlessness, near-depression translates well. This story manages to be both bleak and depressing yet lively and colorful. The art itself is the real prize. The illustrations are gorgeous and packed with so many details. I'd zoom in to see the little writing on the walls or the trash on the bedroom floor. I didn't follow the plot entirely, but this is still a worthwhile read.

Requested from Netgalley just for that cover, really; I was curious about a story from the former Yugoslavia whose look suggested two such English influences as LS Lowry and Beryl Cook, though at times the art does drift closer to George Grosz or Dave McKean. And drifting is the order of the day here; as a protagonist, the directionless and self-destructive Petar even frustrates himself, never mind the reader. Supposedly he's a talented writer, but we see little evidence of that, whereas at least Liza's dancing comes alive on the page. There are wonderful moments, as when a beggar's list of requests begins with the classic "coupla coins", then carries on across a whole page until he's asking for "a sea-side vacation home, a passport, a rich cousin in the U.S...." And in places the art is beautiful, most often in glimpses of rural or coastal escape, but sometimes just from the way the light catches a city street. Overall, though, I think this is one for people whose patience with slice of life stories and in particular blank lead characters is considerably greater than mine.

This really wasn’t for me, sadly. Too alienating. I don’t think I have the context to understand a story like this. Halfway through I considered giving up, but I’m glad I kept reading, I did enjoy the second half more. Still, the crazy parties, the aimlessness and (war) trauma - I had quite a lot of trouble making some kind of sense of this graphic novel. Petar and Liza together were the highlight and art is beautiful.
2,5 stars.

Petar & Liza is a nicely illustrated graphic novel.

Though I understood the plot fairly well, the story did not translate as such. I was confused about the flow in which the story took as Petar moved throughout his story. There were several moments where I believed that all of what Petar experienced was simply a figment of his imagination, but the story would switch yet again and I'd be confused.

Some of themes in this book were to be relatable, but overall.. the book was pretty scattered. I absolutely loved the art style though!