Reviews tagging 'Grief'
Blau ist eine warme Farbe: Das preisgekrönte Werk um ein Coming-Out by Jul Maroh
7 reviews
midnightmarauder's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Blue is the Warmest Color follows the story of Emma and Clementine, two women living in France who start a relationship with one another that lasts from the late 90s to the late 2000s. The story is told through a series of diary entries made by Clementine before her death.
Throughout the book, Clementine writes about her experiences in life from the ages of 17 to 30. Early on, she talks about her struggle to come to terms with her sexuality. She nearly sleeps with a guy that expresses interest in her at her school, and wonders why she can't reciprocate the feelings that he has for her. It isn't until she meets Emma that she realizes that she is more interested in the same sex.
Emma and Clementine have a whirlwind of a relationship that could be toxic at times. For starters, although Emma likes Clementine and expresses attraction to her, she simultaneously pushes her away and says that Clementine doesn't really like her and that she's simply having fun with her until she meets a guy that she'll leave her for. Which, ends up beingsomewhat true towards the end, as the end of her and Clementine's relationship is ended due to Clementine sleeping with a male colleague. Not to mention, Emma is also cheating on her girlfriend, Sabine, with Clementine. Clementine is also troublesome, with her main issue being her inability to accept her sexuality and proving Emma's point by sleeping with her male coworker.
I watched the film before seeing this book at work and deciding to check it out. Quite frankly, this graphic novel is immensely better than the film. Although the original story is much sadder than the novel, the writing is better, it isn't overly focused on Emma and Clementine's sex lives, and it portrays the love the women have for one another ten times better than the film ever did.
Throughout the book, Clementine writes about her experiences in life from the ages of 17 to 30. Early on, she talks about her struggle to come to terms with her sexuality. She nearly sleeps with a guy that expresses interest in her at her school, and wonders why she can't reciprocate the feelings that he has for her. It isn't until she meets Emma that she realizes that she is more interested in the same sex.
Emma and Clementine have a whirlwind of a relationship that could be toxic at times. For starters, although Emma likes Clementine and expresses attraction to her, she simultaneously pushes her away and says that Clementine doesn't really like her and that she's simply having fun with her until she meets a guy that she'll leave her for. Which, ends up being
I watched the film before seeing this book at work and deciding to check it out. Quite frankly, this graphic novel is immensely better than the film. Although the original story is much sadder than the novel, the writing is better, it isn't overly focused on Emma and Clementine's sex lives, and it portrays the love the women have for one another ten times better than the film ever did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Abandonment, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Toxic relationship
cheye13's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Honestly, I didn't expect to like this, but I felt like it was one of the queer staples of my generation that I had to experience. Learning it was originally French (I thought it was Dutch for some reason) made everything make sense.
In summary, it's too simple to be such a shared story. There's nothing unique or moving in this story that separates it not just from other queer stories, but from real life. It was both simpler and sadder than I had expected.
In summary, it's too simple to be such a shared story. There's nothing unique or moving in this story that separates it not just from other queer stories, but from real life. It was both simpler and sadder than I had expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Death, and Grief
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Homophobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Cursing and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, Addiction, and Violence
gayelfboi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
gewaechshausgeist's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical content and Outing
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Stalking
meepelous's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Today is my inaugural Translation Tuesday and we are kicking things off with a kind of unpopular opinion on Blue is the warmest Color by Julie Maroh.
Warnings for homophobia, chronic illness, character death, cheating, high school/college age gap romance, and nudity - both sexual and non sexual.
According to wikipedia, Julie Maroh is a nonbinary lesbian from northern France. And according to Goodreads they live in Brussels.
Most surprisingly, in doing research for this review, I discovered that among other things they are responsible for the art in my upcoming and anticipated read You Brought Me the Ocean by Alex Sanchez.
But yeah, Blue Is The Warmest Colour. It's been out for a minute so I'm not even going to think about not being spoilerful. What happens?
Before jumping to the main story, we start with a brief but tense vignette centered around a woman dealing with the death of her partner. Partner's mother appears to be trying to make nice, but partner's father blames women for the death of his daughter.
Moving onto the main story line, Clementine is a sophomore in high school who is failing to have sex with her boyfriend. He seems like a nice enough guy, but something doesn't feel right. One day she goes out with a friend who has just come out to her as gay and Clementine ends up at a lesbian bar where she runs into a woman who inspired sexual dreams in her at the start of the book. Romantic interest Emma is an art student dating a woman named Sabine - a short while later Emma gets Clementine in trouble with all her very homophobic friends at school by showing up and giving everyone the distinct feeling that Clem is a lesbian.
Time goes on. Clementine finds a new equilibrium friends wise but still isn't sure about her sexuality. Shows up randomly at Emma's apartment asking why Emma never brings her home, they have sex. Time goes on. Emma does actually break up with Sabine, ends up at Clem's parent's house with her for a sleepover. Emma gets caught wandering around Clementine's parent's house naked by said parents and both women are kicked out immediately for partaking in such sinful behavior. Clem finds new family with Emma's more accepting parents.
Jump in time until Clem is 30 and she cheats on Emma for the last time and gets kicked out of her apartment. Clementine's health is clearly not going well. Eventually Clem's gay best friend of yore convinces Emma to take her back. The two women have sex at the beach and Clementine collapses. Homophobic doctors will only convey medical information at Clementine's still estranged and homophobic parents. Clementine slowly fades away and dies. Leading to the events depicted at the start of the book.
Finishing this book and flipping over to Goodreads I was honestly more then a little surprised by how positively reviewed this book was, although on second thought it does make more then a little sense. For one, this is a much hyped classic and as far as I can see very much a front runner in the realm of queer comic representation. It's also an own voices title that has received a lot of recognition and is generally seen as a much better version compared to the movie (which I still have yet to see) which apparently featured prosthetic vaginas?
But yeah, as I said already, this book felt like a bit of a miss for me.I think this had to do primarily with the age gap, especially since the older character was cheating on their partner, and the way Clementine dies at the end. Does that mean no one can enjoy it, by no means. I contend that queer comics were in a very different point when it was published, and especially with the age gap, fiction is fiction is fiction. But that held it back for me.
The art was also a bit of a mixed bag for me. I feel like I'm pretty open minded when it comes to styles, trying not to judge things as unskilled that are just a style not to my taste, but this definitely felt a bit rough to me.
Looking forward to their more recent work on You Brought Me The Ocean (another heavily blue title) does reveal a lot more refinement on the same style. So I'm very excited to crack that open soon.
The use of colour was very creative and interesting.
Going through my list of intersections that I try and highlight. Sexuality and gender were obviously a focus of this book and it does that to a pretty interesting effect. Both the sexual and unsexual nudity is done really well in my opinion.
Race was definitely overlooked and money and other class signifiers are also never brought up.
Disability is obviously brought up at the end of the book when it turns out the main character has a chronic disease. And while I'm certainly not a judge for this sort of thing, the inclusion of this death did feel a bit cheap and manipulative too. Like, what to do with her homophobic parents? Well if Clem dies they'll be sorry. Plus it kind of continues the binary where people are either able bodied or dead.
So yeah, that's why I'm rating this book three out of five stars. For now. I'm wondering if it should be two, but we shall see. I can see what other people take from this book, particularly since it was published back in 2013, what feels like a lifetime ago. I certainly was in a very different place, at that point, myself.
Warnings for homophobia, chronic illness, character death, cheating, high school/college age gap romance, and nudity - both sexual and non sexual.
According to wikipedia, Julie Maroh is a nonbinary lesbian from northern France. And according to Goodreads they live in Brussels.
Most surprisingly, in doing research for this review, I discovered that among other things they are responsible for the art in my upcoming and anticipated read You Brought Me the Ocean by Alex Sanchez.
But yeah, Blue Is The Warmest Colour. It's been out for a minute so I'm not even going to think about not being spoilerful. What happens?
Before jumping to the main story, we start with a brief but tense vignette centered around a woman dealing with the death of her partner. Partner's mother appears to be trying to make nice, but partner's father blames women for the death of his daughter.
Moving onto the main story line, Clementine is a sophomore in high school who is failing to have sex with her boyfriend. He seems like a nice enough guy, but something doesn't feel right. One day she goes out with a friend who has just come out to her as gay and Clementine ends up at a lesbian bar where she runs into a woman who inspired sexual dreams in her at the start of the book. Romantic interest Emma is an art student dating a woman named Sabine - a short while later Emma gets Clementine in trouble with all her very homophobic friends at school by showing up and giving everyone the distinct feeling that Clem is a lesbian.
Time goes on. Clementine finds a new equilibrium friends wise but still isn't sure about her sexuality. Shows up randomly at Emma's apartment asking why Emma never brings her home, they have sex. Time goes on. Emma does actually break up with Sabine, ends up at Clem's parent's house with her for a sleepover. Emma gets caught wandering around Clementine's parent's house naked by said parents and both women are kicked out immediately for partaking in such sinful behavior. Clem finds new family with Emma's more accepting parents.
Jump in time until Clem is 30 and she cheats on Emma for the last time and gets kicked out of her apartment. Clementine's health is clearly not going well. Eventually Clem's gay best friend of yore convinces Emma to take her back. The two women have sex at the beach and Clementine collapses. Homophobic doctors will only convey medical information at Clementine's still estranged and homophobic parents. Clementine slowly fades away and dies. Leading to the events depicted at the start of the book.
Finishing this book and flipping over to Goodreads I was honestly more then a little surprised by how positively reviewed this book was, although on second thought it does make more then a little sense. For one, this is a much hyped classic and as far as I can see very much a front runner in the realm of queer comic representation. It's also an own voices title that has received a lot of recognition and is generally seen as a much better version compared to the movie (which I still have yet to see) which apparently featured prosthetic vaginas?
But yeah, as I said already, this book felt like a bit of a miss for me.
The art was also a bit of a mixed bag for me. I feel like I'm pretty open minded when it comes to styles, trying not to judge things as unskilled that are just a style not to my taste, but this definitely felt a bit rough to me.
Looking forward to their more recent work on You Brought Me The Ocean (another heavily blue title) does reveal a lot more refinement on the same style. So I'm very excited to crack that open soon.
The use of colour was very creative and interesting.
Going through my list of intersections that I try and highlight. Sexuality and gender were obviously a focus of this book and it does that to a pretty interesting effect. Both the sexual and unsexual nudity is done really well in my opinion.
Race was definitely overlooked and money and other class signifiers are also never brought up.
Disability is obviously brought up at the end of the book when it turns out
So yeah, that's why I'm rating this book three out of five stars. For now. I'm wondering if it should be two, but we shall see. I can see what other people take from this book, particularly since it was published back in 2013, what feels like a lifetime ago. I certainly was in a very different place, at that point, myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Homophobia
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, and Infidelity
More...