A review by maseface
Blue Is the Warmest Color by Jul Maroh
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.75
This book filled me with rage and bile. I personally don't like to DNF books because I feel like I waste all the time I spent reading them if I don't finish them. So I had to put up with this terrible book.
I'd heard several criticism's of the movie adapted from this book and I found out one of the issues is present in the source material. This book presents a glamorized relationship between a minor and an adult. When Emma and Clementine's relationship starts Emma is in her senior year of art school and Clementine is 16. As someone's who's a junior in college the idea of dating a 16 year old grosses me out. I don't know much about France and I'm sorry if this is a generalization but I know this is an issue in France not just in queer relationships but also straight ones. My evidence to back up that assertion is the current first lady Brigitte Macron who's married to her former high school student. But I'm not excusing it as it's very irresponsible for Maroh to do this and I really think Emma could've been aged down.
Also Emma is just the worst aside from dating a minor. She's cheating on her girlfriend with a minor and is worried that Clementine is going to leave for a man. Emma feels kinda biphobic and I think the author might be a little do as Clementine does cheat on Emma with a man despite showing no previous interest in men (I'm spoiling this because I really hate this book and don't think you should read it).
But the think that I hate most about this book was how melodramatic and sappy it was. I'm not against Graphic Novels being serious or even sad. The last two graphic novels I read were Fun Home and Persepolis which were autobiographies also dealing with serious subjects and they can be quite sad at points. I gave both of them 5 stars. But the drama in this was hiked up to an unrealistic degree. And the romance was unbearably sappy. At first I thought maybe I was too cynical to enjoy romance but that isn't the case as out of the 5 romance books I've read since starting this account 3 of them I gave 5 stars. This just takes the sappiness up to a frankly nauseous level.
Also Emma and Clementine's relationship is the definition of co-dependent.
I honestly hate this book so much. The only nice things I can say about it was the art was sometimes nice and it was interesting to get a non-American LGBT perspective. But there are so many better books to get either of those things. Please don't read this book.
I'd heard several criticism's of the movie adapted from this book and I found out one of the issues is present in the source material. This book presents a glamorized relationship between a minor and an adult. When Emma and Clementine's relationship starts Emma is in her senior year of art school and Clementine is 16. As someone's who's a junior in college the idea of dating a 16 year old grosses me out. I don't know much about France and I'm sorry if this is a generalization but I know this is an issue in France not just in queer relationships but also straight ones. My evidence to back up that assertion is the current first lady Brigitte Macron who's married to her former high school student. But I'm not excusing it as it's very irresponsible for Maroh to do this and I really think Emma could've been aged down.
Also Emma is just the worst aside from dating a minor. She's cheating on her girlfriend with a minor and is worried that Clementine is going to leave for a man. Emma feels kinda biphobic and I think the author might be a little do as Clementine does cheat on Emma with a man despite showing no previous interest in men (I'm spoiling this because I really hate this book and don't think you should read it).
But the think that I hate most about this book was how melodramatic and sappy it was. I'm not against Graphic Novels being serious or even sad. The last two graphic novels I read were Fun Home and Persepolis which were autobiographies also dealing with serious subjects and they can be quite sad at points. I gave both of them 5 stars. But the drama in this was hiked up to an unrealistic degree. And the romance was unbearably sappy. At first I thought maybe I was too cynical to enjoy romance but that isn't the case as out of the 5 romance books I've read since starting this account 3 of them I gave 5 stars. This just takes the sappiness up to a frankly nauseous level.
Also Emma and Clementine's relationship is the definition of co-dependent.
I honestly hate this book so much. The only nice things I can say about it was the art was sometimes nice and it was interesting to get a non-American LGBT perspective. But there are so many better books to get either of those things. Please don't read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Outing, and Homophobia
Codependent Relationship