Blue Is the Warmest Color
Ratings39
Average rating3.6
‘'Only love will save the world. Why would I be ashamed to love?''
Simply mesmerizing....
This was so beautiful, oh my god. I do think I prefer the graphic novel to the movie. I related to Clementine much more as a character and overall it felt so much more emotional. I'm not sure what this could've done to get a five star, but I truly do love it with all my heart.
I think that this is one of those important books that someone should read once in their life.
Just once.
It is too heart-rending to read more than once. This is a story of the hardness and softness of first love. How it can both shred your soul like tissue paper and leave you like a piece of hardened steel.
Le bleu est une couleur chaude Also known as Blue is the Warmest Color is about Clementine. A young girl at the start of the story, a 16-year-old junior and her fascination with Emma. Emma is everything that Clementine is not at the beginning: outgoing, sure of herself, and most importantly... out. They have instant electricity and start a sweet love affair that challenges Clementines preconceptions of herself and helps her become the person she wants to be.
Blue is the Warmest Color talks openly about the challenges of being a homosexual, and finding that love sends chills through your body. What I enjoyed and laud the author over is how she wrote the love story so openly and honestly. Oftentimes when reading about a gay or queer character it can get unauthentic and tropey. This isn't.
“I can not feel anymore. I feel like I'm carrying light in my veins. All that happens to me has a name ... Emma, her name is Emma. ”
Aside from the gorgeous writing, it is stunningly drawn. The scenes are crafted carefully with a limited color palette of grays and the single color blue. Most often found in Emma's hair. Emma's hair is almost a blue flame burning through each scene. You can tell why Clementine is so attracted to her. She lights up every room. There are quite a bit of sex scenes dealt with very honestly in this story. I appreciated it and I thought that it enhanced the love story between the two of them without detracting from the overall story. Some readers might not be comfortable with that level of open sex between two consenting adults. Just know that, unlike the movie, this isn't pornlike. This is a loving depiction of a romantic couple expressing their passion for each other.
I don't know how long I sat on the floor of Barnes and Noble reading this but I'm glad I did. First piece of reading for 2018 and so far it was amazing. Another story about raw love that makes you want to cry. I related to Clem so much, this hit me in the feels.
I didn't even know that the film was based on a graphic novel. That's so cool! It felt just a bit disjointed at times and for the first time I felt that having watched the film helped me to understand the progression of the story a little bit better. It's a moving story that is fundamentally different from the film. Well worth a read as it's a wholly different experience, really. I think I might try reading it in the original French.
I am taking on Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge, with the intention of reading 24 books in categories I don't ordinarily gravitate towards. Does Blue Is the Warmest Color qualify for the “all-ages comic” category? Maybe not. Clearly I am not a big reader of graphic novels, or comics, but I really liked this one–touching story and lovely images.
Stunning. Absolutely, positively beautiful.
My attention was drawn to this graphic novel by one of the podcasts that I listen to. They raved about how gorgeous and important this story was. Of course, that meant I had to know what all the hype was about. Luckily my library had a digital copy of this for loan, and I snatched it up. I am so glad that I did. Blue Is the Warmest Color deserves all the accolades it has garnered, and more. Much more.
Julie Maroh expertly crafts a story about a teenage girl named Clementine. We follow her through a series of drab, grayscale panels to begin with. I thought this was utterly brilliant on Maroh's part. See, Clementine's life lacks color. She moves through each day, without any passion for anything in particular. That is, until she sees the girl with blue hair, and blue eyes.
Clementine's initial reaction to Emma, the girl with blue hair, undid me. The art in this book is perfection, but it's never more perfect than when Maroh is crafting the facial expression of one of the characters. Clementine's face when she sees Emma for the first time says it all. Attraction, jealousy, and above all else complete confusion as to why she'd even feel that way in the first place. I can't imagine what it's like to realize that you're attracted to the same sex, and based on the panels that follow Clementine's first glimpse of Emma, neither can she.
What builds from there is one of the most heartbreaking and wonderful stories I've ever read. There's this mid-point where, once these two are together, everything starts to show in color. It was such a subtle change that I almost didn't catch it, but that's also why it's so fitting. Clementine's world fills with passion, and Emma is the center of that. Which, of course, makes the ending all the more devastating. Trust me, you'll need tissues for this.
I feel it necessary to warn any potential readers that there are panels in this book that might bother some. There is nudity, and love making between two women. If you have an issue with those things, this probably isn't for you. If you don't, prepare to be enchanted. I can't express enough how much I agree that this is not only a lovely, but very important book. Blue Is the Warmest Color shows that love crosses all boundaries, no matter how solid we might think they are.
I don't get it.
I did like it better than the film, which isn't saying much because I did not like the film at all. Only got the GN out of the mistaken belief that since the film was getting such rave reviews and was based on a GN that got great reviews that I'd just missed something in the film. I don't think I did.
There was nothing ‘special' about this story to me; nothing about it that stood out. Yes it's a first love story, but nothing about the characters made me care about them and major plot points happened really quickly without any importance really being given to them. The drug addiction came out of nowhere for me - I'll admit it's possible that I missed signs of it because I struggle with reading too quickly, particularly GNs, but I actually spent the whole book thinking she'd committed suicide.
I struggled with the font of Clementine's ‘handwriting', having to pause to figure out what the word was. It amuses me that in French ‘boohoo' is apparently ‘bou hou' :)