Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Originally published in French as Le bleu est une couleur chaude, Blue is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel about growing up, falling in love, and coming out. Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine find herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity.

First published in French by Belgium's Glénat, the book has won several awards, including the Audience Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Europe's largest. The film Blue Is the Warmest Color won the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Julie Maroh is an author and illustrator originally from northern France. (blurb from Goodreads)

Rating: R; 5 stars
Trigger warnings: homophobia, romantic age difference

This book was an absolute beauty, and I am so excited to hear that it’s a movie, too. Not to sound cliché, but it is incredibly French--it differs from American comic books and graphic novels in the same ways that French films differ from American films. In fact, I really want to read it in the original language, because I suspect I’d like it even more in French.

I was a little weirded out at first by the age difference between Clementine and Emma. Clementine is still in high school, and Emma is very clearly an adult. Once they actually had a relationship and weren’t just meeting in a bar, the weirdness factor did go down a bit, but I imagine the age difference between them could be uncomfortable and/or triggering for some readers. Just a word of warning.

The art is beautiful in this book, very detailed, but not overdone. In many places, the dialogue is sparse, allowing the story to continue solely through the artwork. This is one of the ways in which I feel it parallels French film.

Without giving anything away, this isn’t exactly a happy book. I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you’re already sad, because you’ll probably finish it in one sitting, and then you’ll be sadder.

Another word of warning: this book does contain a few sex scenes, and because it’s a graphic novel, they’re, well, graphic. That is pretty much the sole reason I rated Blue is the Warmest Color as R.

Maturity aside, this really is an excellent book. The story is emotionally engaging, the characters are complex, and the art is breathtaking. I wholeheartedly recommend it. As for myself, I will be watching the movie as soon as I can get ahold of it.

Bizenghast 6 by M. Alice LeGrow

Bizenghast 6 by M. Alice LeGrow

Rating: PG-13; 4 1/2 stars

Summary: I don't read a lot of manga. I figured I'd make that clear from the start. I'm not a Naruto fan (sorry to those who are); I wasn't into Sailor Moon back in the 90s. There have only been a few manga series I've really gotten into; Bizenghast is one of them.

Bizenghast 6 is, quite obviously, the 6th book in a 7 book series. The series follows the protagonist, Dinah, as she helps traps spirits move onto the Afterlife. Along the way she encounters many helpers, including the outrageously funny Edaniel. By the time book six rolls around, Dinah has developed from a troubled and frightened girl to a confident young woman who will no longer let the ghosts of her past keep her in a life of fear. As this is the penultimate book in the series, I won't say much more, lest I give anything away. And perhaps this review is a bit biased; I've been following the series since it first came out. Still, I don't think too many non-manga readers even know of its existence. Score one for the shameless plug department.

Opinions: For starters, this book was definitely a page-turner. This is unsurprising, considering (in my mind anyway) the vast majority of this book was the climax of the whole series. There was plenty of action to satisfy me, without the sacrifice of witty dialogue that is part of what makes Bizenghast so memorable.

One of the things that drew me to Bizenghast in the first place was the elegant costuming LeGrow has always incorporated into her work. This volume was no exception. The front cover features Dinah in a rather steam-punkish dress. Her clothing in the book is no less fabulous. I will note that this is the first book in which I noticed Dinah had only one hairstyle (this may have been present in other books; I just noticed it in this book).

Bizenghast isn't for everyone. While I wouldn't classify it as a horror series per se, the style the series is drawn in can include some frightening and/or grotesque images. There is also mild language (PG rating where language is concerned). I based my PG-13 rating on the whole series, not just this one book. Book 6 was actually a bit milder for the series.

I gave this book a 4 1/2 star rating as opposed to a five star rating mostly because of the hanging ending. I realize it's a marketing technique to keep people reading and blah blah blah. I don't care. It always bugs the crap out of me, especially when there's no word on when the next book is coming out. Still, aside from that one flaw, I would recommend this book (really, the whole series) to anyone who likes dark fantasy books, manga fan or not. I'm really looking forward to the final book in this series.