Name: Lindy's review of Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
Item: Blue Is the Warmest Color
Rating: 2
Author: Lindy

Julie Maroh

Blue is the Warmest Color is a tender, bittersweet, full-colour graphic novel about the elusive, reckless magic of love: a lesbian love story for the ages that bristles with the energy of youth, rebellion and the eternal light of desire. Clementine is a junior in high school who seems 'normal' enough: she has friends, family and even a boyfriend. When her openly gay best friend takes her to a gay bar, she becomes captivated by Emma, a punkish, confident girl with blue hair, an event that leads Clementine to discover new aspects of herself, both passionate and tragic.

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Chrissy

Lindy

the art is beautiful, but the characters lacked depth and the plot was one depressing trope after another. And it's not as if i necessarily mind depressing! At this point in my lesbian life, I need things that are at least creatively depressing.

overall, just disappointing.

Rowan Myers

The sadness and gut wrenching tragedy in this love story has been noted by a lot of people, so I won't carp on too much about that. But another source of tears for me was the LGBT themes: coming out and coming to terms with one's self and one's place in the community. I'm from the same time period (I'm roughly two years older than the protagonist) and while coming out as a teenager in the 90s was no doubt easier than any time period that came before it, but I remember being just as conflicted and self-loathing. My parents were okay with it (thank goodness) but I remember feeling those feelings of less than in myself and seeing them in my friends. They're masterfully captured in this.

Nelson Zagalo

Love. Loved this book. Loved the characters. Loved the movie adaptation. Read the book after having seen the movie... Different media, different stimulations, little changes in the story, but nearly the same overall sentiments... We're so complex, made of such strong feelings, we grow and we learn to manage them, but in the end we're nothing more than emotional beasts...

More, principally about the movie, in my blog: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/2...

Julie D.

Alexa Jade

Actual rating: 4.5. 
The ending was very abrupt in my opinion. 
Aside from that, what a great, heartbreaking read.

Jeff Brown 

I wish I hadn't seen the movie that was based on this GN. There was no soul to that movie -- just two actors going through the motions to reach the end of the movie.

This GN HAS soul, and heart, true feelings -- and an ending that happens far too often.

Reading this made my life better. More fulfilled. I think it will for you as well.

Grace O'Callaghan

A tragic and beautiful story about love, lust and coming out. 

There isn’t much I can say about the characters. I could definitely relate to Clem’s struggles and it was hard to see her trying to suppress who she was. I also liked Emma, but again, felt no connection with her. I think they were both very realistic characters and were by no means perfect. They were flawed and were very obsessed with each other.

This is more of a quiet story in my opinion. It’s not an overly complicated plot. It’s just about two girls falling in love and the struggles that come with that at a time when queer people weren’t widely accepted. I teared up at the end as it was so sad, but I’m so glad I read this story.

The thing that stole the show for me was the art style. It’s so detailed and impactful, but what I particularly loved was the artist’s use of colour. Blue is the warmest colour because it’s the only colour, at least when Clem was young. More colour is added when she’s older, but it’s still incredibly effective.

Overall, a sad but hopeful story about Emma and Clem. I wouldn’t recommend if you don’t like sad endings, this one definitely is that. Would recommend if you’re looking for a quick and queer story.

Amanda Wells

I very much enjoyed this story. The art was accessible, and very stylistically interesting - it actually suited the translation, in that the language was a little halting in its translation into English, but its imperfections, along with the imperfections in the art, were endearing.

The story itself was also very sweet, and moving. I definitely wanted more - wanted more episodes of their relationship - but I guess I'll have to imagine it for myself.

Olivera Mitić

Kind of hard to rate this one. 
Maybe a 3.5?
Sadly, it didn't impact me emotionally as much as I thought it would. The story was quite interesting, but I believe that it could translate better to the screen. Can't wait to watch the movie.

Jelke Lenaerts

This book has a trigger warning for homophobia.

This story creeps up on you and before you know it you're in love and your heart is in pieces. So yeah, I wasn't expecting to love this but I did. This story is so beautiful. It deals with feelings of coming to terms with your sexuality, dealing with people you're close with not accepting that and in the end it's just a beautiful story of love and loss. I was completely captivated by this story from beginning till end. It was also a really quick read. Partly because it's a graphic novel but also because I just didn't want to put it down. I would HIGHLY recomend this story to everyone.

b.andherbooks

Spare colors, beautiful art. I just felt the ending was a bit rushed, but maybe I just wanted more :)

A New York Times bestseller The original graphic novel adapted into the film Blue Is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival In this tender, bittersweet, full-color graphic novel, a young woman named Clementine discovers herself and the elusive magic of love when she meets a confident blue-haired girl named Emma: a lesbian love story for the ages that bristles with the energy of youth and rebellion and the eternal light of desire. First published in France by Glénat, the book has won several awards, including the Audience Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Europe's largest. The live-action, French-language film version of the book, entitled Blue Is the Warmest Color, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013. Directed by director Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos, the film generated both wide praise and controversy. It will be released in the US through Sundance Selects/IFC Films. Julie Maroh is an author and illustrator originally from northern France. "Julie Maroh, who was just 19 when she started the comic, manages to convey the excitement, terror, and obsession of young love—and to show how wildly teenagers swing from one extreme emotion to the next ... Ultimately, Blue Is the Warmest Color is a sad story about loss and heartbreak, but while Emma and Clementine’s love lasts, it’s exhilarating and sustaining." —Slate.com "A beautiful, moving graphic novel." —Wall Street Journal "Blue Is the Warmest Color captures the entire life of a relationship in affecting and honest style." —Comics Worth Reading "Delicate linework conveys wordless longing in this graphic novel about a lesbian relationship." —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) "A tragic yet beautifully wrought graphic novel." —Salon.com "Love is a beautiful punishment in Maroh’s paean to confusion, passion, and discovery ... An elegantly impassioned love story." —Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW) "A lovely and wholehearted coming-out story ... the illustrations are infused with genuine, raw feeling. Wide-eyed Clementine wears every emotion on her sleeve, and teens will understand her journey perfectly." —Kirkus Reviews "The electric emotions of falling in love and the difficult process of self-acceptance will resonate with all readers ... Maroh’s use of color is deliberate enough to be eye-catching in a world of grey tones, with Emma’s bright blue hair capturing Clementine’s imagination, but is used sparingly enough that it supports and blends naturally with the story." —Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW) "It's not just the French who have a better handle on sexy material than Americans -- Canadians do, too ... Who's publishing it? Not an American publishing house but by Arsenal Pulp Press, a Canadian independent." —Los Angeles Times

Nia C

4 Stars and a B for the book hangover this will cause.

What a great one to pick as my first graphic novel. Utterly poignant, touching and beautiful - the artwork is hauntingly beautiful - it pierces your heart and leaves you speechless.

Jessica Nottingham

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.

Jess Houston

Very bittersweet. I loved the art and the story. I found myself also drawn to the mysterious blue haired Emma. :) The ending killed me.

Gretchen Gomez

https://chicnerdreads.wordpress.com/2...

See the full review on my blog but here you go:

This story was so beautifully done. I can’t say written because it didn’t have a lot of words but the pictures/artwork spoke for itself and said the story. It’s a story about two girls: Emma with the blue hair who knows very well that she is lesbian and is outright about it, and Clementine, who is still figuring herself out but falls for the girl with the blue hair.

Clementine has such a hard time accepting her own sexuality because of what was taught to her. Her parents being both homophobe and teaching her that love between gays is wrong so it’s embedded in her head. She thinks that what she feels for Emma is wrong and not correct. We see the battle she faces internally and socially amongst peers in school.

In the beginning Clementine has a hard time vocalizing her feelings towards Emma. I loved that nothing was fast paced in this graphic novel, although it is short but I saw time pass. I saw how both characters grew and matured. We followed the time frame from teenager to adulthood.

This graphic novel was packed with raw emotions and I was so hooked from page 1. I would highly recommend this book. Not only do we see someone who is on the road of discovering herself. We see what is going on around Clementine when it comes to school and home. Some politics are even including. We also see cheating and how that may affect a person.

Chrissy &
Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

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Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh