*huff* I'm disappointed. It was goodish. It felt so dramatic though and in a contrived way. God, I really wanted to like this more.
I didn't feel a connection between the main characters. Even the way they meet had a hint of instalove. However, I can understand and appreciate being inexplicably drawn to a person and even feeling like they're going to be meaningful to your life before you really know them. Their relationship needed fleshing out though. We barely got to know them and all the absurd obstacles they ecountered (created) didn't help the story.
BUT Valentin was sweet and genuine. His friendship with Clementine was weightier than the romance imo. They had some beautiful moments.
The art is lovely. Most of the book is done in a sepia tone with flashes of blue accents. When the artist does use her full pallete of colors it's beautiful, but the simplicity of the sepia is very appealing. Paperback ‘’Only love will save the world. Why would I be ashamed to love?’’
Wow this graphic novel, it’s a crazy hit!!.... on so many aspects I saw myself when I was also that' age.. ; I don’t want to go into details, but in a particular period of my life I have lived Clem's patemas. ( who knows why at that time the great desire to become a psychiatrist was born in me) however it presents itself as a very strong story, perhaps extreme..... I have not seen there the classic tenderness of adolescent love.
The graphic exposition was not always very clear, I do not deny to have worked hard to understand who was the one and who was the other character ( at the beginning they all seemed the same!) I was very impressed by the rejection of Clem’s friends, Perhaps it is the only aspect a little pulled, but I can understand that in 1993 many young boys and girls were still suspicious of homosexuality.
A Book not to be missed! ( , many years ago i watched the movie but i was not very impressed, the book is outstanding)
Caspita che Graphic novel, è un colpo pazzesco!!....su tantissimi aspetti mi sono rivista quando avevo anch' io quell' età..; non voglio scendere nei particolari, ma in un breve periodo della mia vita ho vissuto molti dei patemi di Emma. ( chissà perchè proprio in quel periodo è nata in me il grande desiderio di diventare psichiatra) comunque si presenta come una storia molto forte, forse estrema.....non ci ho visto la classica tenerezza dell' innamoramento adolescenziale.
L' esposizione grafica non sempre era chiarissima, non nego di aver faticato non poco a capire chi era l'una e chi era l' altro personaggio ( all' inizio mi sembravano tutti uguali!) Mi ha colpito molto il rifiuto delle amiche di Clem, forse è l'unico aspetto un filino tirato, ma posso capire che nel 1993 tanti ragazzi fossero ancora sospettosi nei confronti dell' omosessualità.
Da non perdere! Paperback Love may not be eternal, but it can make us eternal. Paperback I opened to the first page while on my lunch break at my brand new job, and abruptly closed it on page 3. I can't cry in front of these people, I barely know them, I thought, while chowing on my sub, holding my tears in my lower lid. Sometimes you open up a book and say ah, fuck cause you know it's gonna be like that.
The first half of this book is perfect, and I never call anything perfect. The artwork is stellar, Clementine's pain, confusion and excitement is so real and palpable. I saw myself in her when I was 15 in every page. Furthermore, it was perfectly timed. From the size of this book, you'd think there would be a sequel.
Midway through the book, it feels like Maroh got bored with this story and rushed it. We don't really get into Emma's head at all, which is a fatal flaw in so many love stories. I understand Clementine, I have no idea what drew Emma to her. One page Clementine is 17, and then the next she is 30. Literally. The story ends shortly after that. Blink and you miss the intended climax, downward spiral, the whole end.
3.5 stars. Hopefully Maroh will pull a Kill Bill and put all of the substance she missed into a second volume. Paperback Blue is the Warmest Color was one of my favorite graphic novels of last year. It was a quiet story that crept up on me. It doesn't use a lot of words or flash to get the message across. What starts out as a coming of age story centered around a young girl finding herself and falling in love, turns into a realistic and at times heartbreaking story of love and hardship. I really enjoyed this story, and it is one of the only graphic novels that brought me to tears. This story is best when it's gone into blind. I can completely understand all of the acclaim and praise that it gets.This review was originally posted on Thoughts on Tomes Paperback
characters Ê PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB ´ Jul Maroh
La vie de Clémentine bascule le jour où elle rencontre Emma, une jeune fille aux cheveux bleus, qui lui fait découvrir toutes les facettes du désir et lui permettra d'affronter le regard des autres. Un récit tendre et sensible. Le bleu est une couleur chaude
Love, as an indefinable gender-free miracle.
In this graphic novel we learn the story of Clementine, an innocent sixteen year old schoolgirl. Clementine believes she is straight, but when she meets Emma, everything begins to change. Blue hair, blue eyes, blue aura spreading all over her life. Her heart, her body, and everything within her is shaken to a world completely unknown before. Unable to understand her new found feelings, every emotional part of her begins to fall apart. Slowly, and painfully, Clementine starts the difficult process of coming out, and come to terms with her new sexuality. But her friends and family are not really supportive, and Emma is not really single.
A beautiful short graphic novel about the painful hardships of coming out, overcoming the prejudices of the inner circle, and the ultimately acceptance of our own sexuality. Moving, tearful, enlightening; a truly unique read.
**** The movie is superb adaptation. Maybe even a major improvement on the graphic novel. Some very big changes were made to the original plot, but masterfully executed. Most of the praising goes to the outstanding heartbreaking performance of Adèle Exarchopoulos, and an exceptional Léa Seydoux. It may have been a little bit too excessive on the graphicness of the sex scenes, sure, but leaving that aside, a perfect drama in almost every way, truly deserving of the Palme d'Or.
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PERSONAL NOTE:
[2010] [156p] [Comics] [Recommendable]
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El amor, como un indefinible milagro libre de género.
En esta novela gráfica conocemos la historia de Clementine, una inocente niña de colegio de dieciséis años. Clementine cree que es heterosexual, pero cuando conoce a Emma, todo empieza a cambiar. Cabello azul, ojos azules, un aura azul que empieza a desparramarse sobre toda su vida. Su corazón, su cuerpo, y todo dentro de ella es sacudido a un mundo antes completamente desconocido. Incapaz de entender sus nuevos sentimientos, cada parte emocional de ella empieza a derrumbarse. Lenta, y dolorosamente, Clementine empieza el dificultuoso proceso de salir del clóset, y tratar de aceptar su nueva sexualidad. Pero sus amigos y familia no son realmente receptivos, y Emma no está realmente soltera.
Una hermosa corta novela gráfica sobre las dolorosas dificultades de salir del clóset, la superación de los prejuicios del círculo cercano, y la aceptación final de nuestra propia sexualidad. Conmovedora, lagrimeante, reveladora; una lectura verdaderamente única.
**** La película es una adaptación sobresaliente. Tal vez incluso una gran mejora sobre la novela gráfica. Algunos cambios muy grandes se hicieron sobre la trama original, pero magistralmente ejecutados. La mayor parte de los laureses se los lleva la extremadamente conmovedora actuación de una magnífica Adèle Exarchopoulos, y una excepcional Léa Seydoux. Tal vez haya sido un poco excesivamente explícita en las escenas de sexo, sí, pero dejando eso de lado, un drama perfecto en casi cualquier sentido, realmente merecedora del Palme d'Or.
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NOTA PERSONAL:
[2010] [156p] [Comics] [Recomendable]
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Paperback This book is a MASTERPIECE. I'm never particular about the art in graphic novels, but this is the most beautifully-illustrated graphic novel I have ever read. That, combined with the lesbian rep, the message, and this coming of age story full of angst and true love and tragedy gripped me until the very last page. I think this is the first graphic novel I've cried over. I cannot wait to track down the movie adaptation to watch it, because I'm sure it will be just as great. I cannot highly recommend this enough! Paperback This was beautiful and heartbreaking. Not only was the story incredible but the artwork was masterful. Definitely recommend to anyone, regardless if you enjoy graphic novels. Paperback Perhaps matronly women shouldn’t read graphic novels about loves at tender age. Perhaps they shouldn’t read soul-peircing stories like this. Perhaps this knocks down their finest defences, their carefully constructed barricades of cynism and despair.
Happy people have no stories. Paraphrasing Tolstoy, all happy loves are the same, each unhappy love is unhappy in its own way. And evidently, it will end in tears. Sob you will, dear reader.
Reading this dreamy graphic novel, a flood of sad songs, poems and stories came to my mind, so many variations on the infinite theme Il n’y pas d’amour heureux. This song, so poignantly performed by Georges Brassens, and inspired by the eponymous poem by Louis Aragon could be an anthem to this moving graphic novel:
Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme Ni sa force
Ni sa faiblesse ni son coeur Et quand il croit
Ouvrir ses bras son ombre est celle d'une croix
Et quand il veut serrer son bonheur il le broie
Sa vie est un étrange et douloureux divorce
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux
Sa vie Elle ressemble à ces soldats sans armes
Qu'on avait habillés pour un autre destin
A quoi peut leur servir de se lever matin
Eux qu'on retrouve au soir désarmés incertains
Dites ces mots Ma vie Et retenez vos larmes
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux
Mon bel amour mon cher amour ma déchirure
Je te porte dans moi comme un oiseau blessé
Et ceux-là sans savoir nous regardent passer
Répétant après moi ces mots que j'ai tressés
Et qui pour tes grands yeux tout aussitôt moururent
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux
Le temps d'apprendre à vivre il est déjà trop tard
Que pleurent dans la nuit nos coeurs à l'unisson
Ce qu'il faut de regrets pour payer un frisson
Ce qu'il faut de malheur pour la moindre chanson
Ce qu'il faut de sanglots pour un air de guitare
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux.
Is blue the warmest colour? To Clémentine, the touchingly charming, puppy-eyed teenage girl who falls in love with Emma, a liberated young lesbian activist art student, blue-haired and blue-eyed, it certainly is.
With its magical title and the inventive use of a minimalistic color scheme, the novel beautifully illustrates our very individual perception of colours. Many people consider blue a cold and masculine color, while it used to be also a feminine, warm colour, representing the celestial, the venerable, during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The garments of the Virgin Mary were painted with the most expensive of all blue pigments, ultramarine blue, made from grounded lapis lazuli. Stained glass in the gothic cathedrals had to be blue. Blue flames are warmer than red flames, blue is the more passionate. Expressionist painters adored blue, using the radiant shades for the powerful expression of moods and emotions. In Picasso’s blue period blue equals melancholy. For Kandinsky, blue was the colour of spirituality: the darker the blue, the more it awakened human desire for the eternal. The French artist Yves Klein, to whom “colour is sensibility in material form, matter in its primordial state”, the colour blue was everything, even patenting the blue he invented for his Proposition Monochrome; Blue Epoch in 1957 and granting a cosmic, meditative dimension to it: “I had left the visible, physical blue at the door, outside, in the street. The real blue was inside, the blue of the profundity of space, the blue of my kingdom, of our kingdom!”
The history on the perception and significance of colours, and of blue, through the ages and in different cultures, in art, religion and literature, is fascinating. In Romanticism (Novalis), blue stands for the dream, the immenseness of longing, the remoteness of the ideal. Ideal love is blue, like Emma’s hair and eyes. So when Emma’s hair has become ‘ordinary’ blonde instead of blue at the moment she is living together for years with Clémentine, Maroh tells something about their love too.
Roses are roses. Blue is blue.”God knows I’m good but does he care? I’m sure somebody down there hates me”. She says as she…she says as she picks up a flower, for love is like a flower. It grows, blossoms and blooms. But love is just a word and words disobey. And roses are roses. (Gavin Friday, Love is Just a Word (Each man kills the thing he loves (1989)).
One person who was not a fan, though, was Julie Maroh, the author of the original comic book. She said the sex scenes in the film were ‘ridiculous’ and had been ‘turned into porn’, and she complained about the fact that the two lead actresses were not lesbians in real life – which seems a silly objection really, since it's impossible to imagine anyone on earth playing the title role better than Adèle Exarchopoulos.
This isn't a film review so I'm not going to go into that, but it did make me really want to read the BD – even though it's always complicated coming to a book after you've seen the film adaptation. With that proviso in mind, I really loved this. It's sometimes described as a coming-out story, which it kind of is, or as a lesbian romance, which it kind of is – but its qualities convince you that such categories seem petty. It's just a very moving love story.
What makes it work so well is the central character of Clémentine, who is utterly charming – wide-eyed and unsure, but also prone to making lots of silly mistakes. At the start of the book she's just 15, struggling with homework and playground cliques, fighting with her parents, slouching around dreary Lille in her hoodie. She can't seem to make things work with her boyfriend Thomas. And then, one day, she meets someone who makes her feel everything she hasn't felt with him – a girl with blue hair….
The visual style is very effective, much more artful and interesting in many ways than the film. The blue of Emma's hair becomes such a icon of Clémentine's life that other colours seem bland and washed-out, and only blue objects stand out, all of them aides-memoires for the new and overwhelming feelings rushing through her.
The comic has more Tragedy! and Melodrama! than the film, but it's still very moving – a beautiful portrait of first love in all its excitement and confusion. Since the Cannes win, an English translation has been rushed into print, so hopefully Maroh's work will be as widely read as it deserves to be. Paperback