Epileptic (2005)

The lifeblood of any successful memoir is detail. Cartoonist David B. (born Pierre-François Beauchard) remembers it all: the sudden shock of watching his brother, Jean-Christophe, fall to his first epileptic seizure; the aggressiveness of his parents, who exhausted themselves seeking a cure; and the frustration of a would-be artist, who sought refuge in tales of horrific war and in drawing scenes of bloodletting. Epileptic is honest, sometimes to a fault, and perceptive, especially about a kid's view of disease (on sensing an impending seizure: ''a foolish grin spreads across his face, and his eyes seek us out, as if to cling to us''). It illuminates the idea that, to a child, even adversity can become adventure.