Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Parallel

je pense que c'est important d'avoir ce genre d'histoires, parce que vivre en faisant partie des LGBT+ dans les années 50 et après c'était loin d'être facile (euphémisme), donc montrer ça c'est essentiel.

mais j'ai trouvé Karl vraiment horrible comme personnage, heureusement qu'il a des regrets au bout du compte. c'est un mauvais père et un mauvais mari mais tout est "excusé" par le fait que c'est dur pour lui d'être gay à cette époque, et nan déso ça prend pas avec moi, ça complique effectivement sa vie mais la façon de traiter sa femme et sa fille you could have done better quand même.

bref à part ça les dessins sont chouettes et ça se lit vite.

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indeedithappens's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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raix's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked the pacing created by the alternating timelines of past and present.

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stitchbooks22's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book was a heartbreaking tale of a closeted gay man in Germany following the end of WWII. Such a powerful story.

However, it was hard to connect with the characters in the story. Also at times the art style made it difficult to know who the characters were and on occasion, when it had switched from a flashback to the present.

The concept for this story appealed to me, and the cover looks amazing. I really wanted to like it. But, I’m just not sure the story was executed as well as it could have been so it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, ONI Press and Matthias Lehmann for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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shaipanda's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Even knowing the plot and general subject matter beforehand, I was surprised by just how difficult this was to get through. This is an incredibly sad and and at times frustrating story of a man making terrible choices and never seeming to learn from his mistakes, effectively alienating almost everyone in his life. Additionally, this is a very long graphic novel relative to most others which added to my difficulty finishing it. Although I generally finish graphic novels in one or two sittings, this took me at least 3 or 4 sittings and due to the content, was not something I necessarily looked forward to continuing.
Another thing I wanted to note was the art style. Because of how the novel is drawn, it is very hard to keep track of the characters and tell them apart from each other, especially as it switches between the different timelines. However, despite this difficulty the art style was absolutely beautiful and does a good job of accompanying the writing in telling this complicated story.

That is all not to say that it was not good necessarily. Telling the stories of queer history is important and often not happy, but because of the subject matter and the way it was told this was not personally something I enjoyed or particularly liked. However, because I appreciated the story and heart behind seeing more queer historical characters, I am in two minds over the rating and think I'm going to settle on 3 stars.

If you do not mind frustrating characters and sad stories and are looking to read a graphic novel pertaining to queer characters in history, I would recommend this!

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hanyentreletras's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

• english below • rating with CAWPILE •

Parallel es una historia cruda sobre el ser homosexual en la Alemania del siglo XX. Karl, nuestro protagonista, siempre quiso una familia, su mayor miedo era llegar a estar solo cuando estuviera viejo. Sin embargo, durante la guerra, crea un lazo con un compañero y desde entonces su vida se divide entre: querer una familia o ser él (con todos los peligros que eso conllevaba).

Como todo humano, es egoísta y, aunque le hace mucho daño a otras personas, sigue allí tratando de obtener ambas cosas. Sin darse cuenta que no pueden coexistir la una con la otra.

Karl no es un protagonista que vayas a querer pero, sí lo entenderás (aunque no estés de acuerdo a sus decisiones).

Y si bien él sufrió por su sexualidad, la historia nos muestra a personas que la pasaron peor. Como esa sociedad los repudiaba, los perseguía, les hacían la vida imposible hasta cansarse.

Tuvo sus momentos tristes.

Con el final entendemos que puede haber un futuro donde Karl sea libre, tal vez con ello logre ser mejor persona.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Parallel is a gritty story about being gay in 20th century Germany. Karl, our protagonist, always wanted a family, his biggest fear was to be alone when he was old. However, during the war, he creates a bond with a partner and since then his life is divided between: wanting a family or being him (with all the dangers that entailed).

Like every human, he is selfish and even though he hurts other people a lot, he is still there trying to get both. Without realizing that they cannot coexist with each other.

Karl is not a protagonist that you are going to love, but you will understand him (even if you do not agree with his decisions).

And while he suffered for his sexuality, the novel shows us people who had it worse. Since that society repudiated them, persecuted them, made their lives miserable until they got tired.

The book had some sad moments.

With the end we understand that there may be a future where Karl is free, maybe with it he will be a better person.

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curiousmadra's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thanks Matthias and Netgalley for providing this graphic novel. It really was eye opener of what Karl had been through when same sex was illegal and was pretty much spat into peoples faces based on who they “should” love. I like the fact it gave the time for us to indulge on what he been through in his two marriages up until he became an old man. At first I would’ve liked to have seen exactly when the time skips are set but I think Matthias gave us enough rundown of what’s happening with Karl.

I feel so sad for those who have been affected by ignorance back then, especially when you had to hide it from people for the sake of hiding it from people. It’s just awful and I applaud Matthia for creating this kind of novel that everyone should definitely check out! That includes the older generation!

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