Each short story in The Two of Us explores aspects of a specific interpersonal relationship. Page analyzes, for instance, the relationship between a mother and her gay son, a hairdresser and his ill client, two teenagers in love, a teacher and her student, and a girl and a fox. Each relationship exhibits different psychological and emotional characteristics. Throughout the stories, Page keeps a consistent style of writing in order to achieve a sense of cohesion. However, she also manages to hop from one story to the next without neglecting nuance.

[Her] stories embolden us to focus on the human desire for intimacy and connection.

Page is capable of putting herself in other people’s shoes. When you read these short stories, you forget they’re even fiction. The author also knows how to avoid stereotypes, which makes The Two of Us both refreshing and true to life. Instead, the stories embolden us to focus on the human desire for intimacy and connection – an underlying element that ties the book together and makes it ultimately relatable on a thematic level.

The Two of Us has been longlisted for the 2016 Giller Prize. Here are some highlights from the book.

“The Last Cut”

It’s sometimes hard to imagine that you can open up to a stranger. Your hairdresser might not be a complete stranger, especially if you see them regularly, but you wouldn’t necessarily open up to them about your long battle against cancer. Or would you? In “The Last Cut,” Page presents the story of Eric, a professional hairdresser who can’t wait to go home from work every day, until one of his clients, Mrs. Swenson, insists on taking a last minute appointment. Eric is at first irritated, but when he sees how tired and sick Mrs.Swenson looks, he senses that something must be wrong. Later, when Mrs. Swenson opens up about her condition, Eric realizes that this would be her last hair cut. He stops looking forward to going home early and comes face to face with the precarity of life.

“Sweet Agony”

“Sweet Agony” is one of the shortest stories from the collection. Page proves that you sometimes don’t need to write a very detailed and long story to describe a loving relationship and evoke an emotional response. It describes two lovebirds making love on a hot day of summer while no one’s home. The story evokes the feeling of nervousness, confusion and awkwardness surrounding being intimate with one’s childhood crush.

“The House on Manor Close”

The interesting element of this story is that the author presents three different point of views. Three sisters describe their relationships with each other and with their parents, allowing Page to work with different voices and to analyze different personalities and emotions within one household. Every sister relates to her parents in a unique way that at times incites conflict, but the sisters all recognize the need to move past those differences due to the shared bond of familial love.

The Two of Us is $19.95 and available for purchase at Biblioasis’s website.

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The two neighbours, Simon and Bernie, meet for the first time on their way home during a power outage. Their love story is typical: Simon uses ridiculous pick-up lines to flirt with Bernie, they discover they like the same kind of music, and the romance follows just as we’d expect. But the comic is not only centred on the couple’s story. It crafts a social world for Bernie as a young woman in Montreal, featuring supporting characters like Bernie’s friend Josie, a divorced lesbian mother. In depicting daily life in Montreal, Beaulieu’s story gains added relatability.

The main characters themselves are lacking in emotional or psychological depth, but in a way this is what makes their love story so universal. Instead of focusing on developing his characters, Beaulieu makes them as realistic as possible on the surface. He creates diverse characters with diverse appearances.

Beaulieu is known for his uniquely simple drawing style, a characteristic that particularly comes through in Bikini. The images are not exactly ‘well-drawn’ in the traditional sense – appearing more as black and white sketches – but this in no way detracts from the reading. In fact, the images grab the reader’s attention from the first page. Moreover, the book is not overflowing with dialogue, letting the visuals speak for themselves. Instead of acting as a simple backdrop for the story, the images enhance the text by conveying a visual understanding beyond words. The simplicity of the drawings nicely complements the simplicity of the story itself, allowing the reader to absorb and appreciate both without being overwhelmed by either.

Contrasting the story’s simple charm, but ultimately giving the book its value and authenticity, are Beaulieu’s explicit images and scenes. He doesn’t shy away from drawing social taboos that one would be hard-pressed to find in most graphic novels – for example take his vivid depictions of cunnilingus between an interracial lesbian couple, or Simon and Bernie having casual sex. That said, there is a kind of off-putting sexualization of women in the book, particularly in the way Beaulieu draws curvy women and plain men.

However, for all of Bikini’s beauty and charm, the story might be better suited to a different medium. The book is almost too short, and remains too much on the surface. At times, it feels like there is something missing – there is a lack of obstacles, a lack of conflict. Beaulieu states in his prologue that he would like the story to be made into a short film, noting that he would add some songs for specific scenes of the story, like “Fantomas” by Michel Magne and “Wives and Lovers” by Bacharach. Beaulieu is right: the story would likely translate better as a short film, particularly due to its focus on images and the feelings they evoke, rather than an in-depth story.

My Neighbour’s Bikini won’t take you more than half an hour to read, but it will be a half hour well-spent. Though light in content, the novella is a perfect introduction to Beaulieu’s oeuvre – a quick read that will make you feel warmth even in a Montreal winter.

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