Nos corps alchimiques

by Thomas Gilbert

Camille, Aniss, Sarah. Ils se sont aimés, déchirés, haïs, séparés.

Aujourd'hui, à l'appel de Camille, des années plus tard, ils se retrouvent pour tenter une expérience folle, parvenir à dépasser leurs propres réalités psychiques et physiques, leurs freins, leurs complexes, à révolutionner le monde et la vie elle-même. Pour se réunir, pour fusionner. Pour trouver l'essence de leurs corps alchimiques.

Genres: Comics, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels, LGBT

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2021

About the author

Born in 1983, Thomas Gilbert spent a year studying the fine arts in Paris and three more at the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels, specializing in comics, before beginning his career as an author with two series, Oklahoma Boy (Manolosanctis) and the long-running heroic fantasy series Bjorn le Morphir (Casterman). His primary influences came from L'Association, which taught him the importance of the author's perspective in developing a narrative. In the years since, Gilbert has done books for children (such as Nordics with Sarbacane) and other works skewed more toward adults, including Sauvage ou la sagesse des pierres, with Vide Cocagne). In 2018, Gilbert completed Les Filles de Salem (Dargaud; The Daughters of Salem, Europe Comics), plunging himself and the reader into the oppressive world of Salem, in 17th-century New England. His extensive research of the Salem witch trials led to the creation of this work that goes beyond the facts of the case to explore the place of persecution and even hatred in the judicial

Reviews

[Diglee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poésie, poésie!
Haletante logorrhée alchimique dans laquelle les chairs, le cosmos et l’océan sont de mèche.
Une Bd délirante, parfois insoutenable et parfois sublime, emplie de matins de magiciens.
C’est rare d’être face à une œuvre si entière et si complexe, sans concessions.

Poète, Thomas Gibert !

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars (published July 21)

**Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
#OurAlchemicalBodies #NetGalley

Pros
+ French translation
+ rep: trans man, depression, bisexual/pansexual
+ Camille: trans man (underwent top surgery and has scars, both of which are illustrated on-page) who is leading an alchemical/body experiment
+ Aniss: ex-boyfriend of Camille, who suffers from depression and rage
+ Sarah: ex-girlfriend of Camille, who is the glue/empathetic one of the group
+ some truly terrifying body horror illustrations

Neutral
/ the art style wasn't particularly to my taste, but that's massively subjective

Cons
- the alchemical premise was more of a threesome/manipulation of the exes by Camille, which was seriously NOT it (urging the two exes who are suffering deep depression to "transform" which leads them to drowning and blinding themselves...NOT FINE)
- deliberate misgendering of Camille by Aniss THE ENTIRE WAY THROUGH
- the theme of coming together/unity/physical intertwinement is undermined by Camille's mental manipulation to serve his experimental purposes

TW: general partner abuse, mental abuse by a partner, attempted murder by a partner, depression, suicide attempts, attempted drowning, self-blinding, gore, body horror, deliberate misgendering, top surgery

[Mollie Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have absolutely no idea how to review this.
This graphic novel was somehow everything and nothing at the same time.

I'll start by saying that the art work was beautiful. Some of the illustrations in here are haunting and it might be some of my favourite art work to date.

The characters themselves were very well written and you did get to know quite a bit about all of them considering how short the novel itself is. It's a beautiful story of self acceptance and inner journeys and the journey of human and nature together. It had some amazing points to make and I honestly think I will be thinking about this for a long time.

However it felt somehow rushed yet slow at the same time? I wanted more information, more insight into the people themselves. I realise this is a graphic novel and not a full book and that there isn't as much time to fully 'flesh out' a story and it's characters as there usually would be but I was left wanting a bit more. I think the meaning and the journey the characters take would have resignated with me more if I was more invested in the people involved.
For example, during the moment of 'unity' both Camille and Sarah delved deep into their back stories and their trauma, but we didn't get to see Aniss'? He is constantly describes as this flame and fire and I wanted to see where that had come from. He was the character I was the most invested in but I just feel like he was left behind in the writing.

I finished reading this 24 hours ago and I still haven't fully managed to figure out my thoughts on it. It could be my favourite thing ever or I could hate it. My mind keeps flipping between the 2 and that's all I ever want from a story.

Read this!
(Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this)

[Patrícia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Generally speaking I neither loved this or hated it. The art style was the first thing that caught my eye and it's definitely a strong positive for me, I caught myself several times just admiring the amazing shapes of the panels/characters. In terms of the characters I am actually very pleased with how they are presented individually and how much we get to know about them. The characters own journey into self discovery, dealing with their traumas and who they truly are fills most of the story. I personaly took most of the plot metaphorically and that is probably the best way to look at it. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in a more philosophical aproach about oneself, however be aware of a very fair amount sexual content and body horror.

[Olivier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un trait original, un univers à part explorant la notion d être, de complementarité... mais dans lequel je ne suis pas entré.

[Tayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an e-copy of this graphic novel on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Relationship abuse, mental illness, attempted murder/drowning, suicide attempt, gore, body horror, surgery, scars from top surgery, body dysmorphia, deliberate misgendering, transphobia, very heavy on sexual themes, pregnancy loss/baby having defects, grief and loss, broken family and challenging childhoods.

I'm honestly so confused having finished this. I really didn't understand what was going on throughout most of this but kept going in the hopes everything would become clear but no. I think the best way to review this is to list some things I liked and disliked...

Liked:
- The trans/bi/pan rep
- Polyamory rep
- Discussion surrouding gender/body dysmorphia
- Seeing the top surgery be discussed and that Camille was seen throughout the story topless with his scars showing
- The use of flames/fire being used to show Aniss' anger

Disliked:
- The manipulation/uncomfortable feeling I got seeing this relationship. It didn't ever really feel like it was for anything other than to explore sex (not a problem if everyone consents to that but I personally don't really like to see it)
- The murder attempts - as I was already struggling to follow the story, these just seemed to come out of nowhere and not really make any sense
- The constant deliberate misgendering of Camille by Aniss who had the attitude that Camille was a girl when I knew them so they remain a girl forever regardless of their identity and feelings
- The characters in general. I never felt connected to any of them and didn't see how they ever really could work together as a group/relationship as they all differed so much and there didn't seem to be chemistry between them
- During the scene where Aniss tears out his eyeballs, he starts to follow the entity blindly, and says "wait for me. I'm crippled. Wait for me. I'm weak". Could just be more over-reading this, but this just didn't sit well with me in relation to being blind and I feel like it sends a negative message out.

Neutral:
- The body horror/gore. For me personally I don't mind more gruesome/dark imagery in graphic novels, but I don't really see why it was needed and why it was a a part of the plot (e.g. Aniss tearing his eyes out as part of their unity).
- At times I felt like this was going too much into the science around the binding of them in a way that didn't make sense (at least to me). This just ended up pulling me further out of the story
- I didn't really like the art style (this is completely just a personal preference but just wanted to mention it in my review). I feel like the cover artwork seems a lot different (especially the people) in comparison to the art of the story.

[Graisi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks Thomas Gilbert, Europe Comics and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a story of madness and obsession between three lovers who re-unite for an experiment in...I'm not sure. Immortality or unity or both. That by itself is fine, if the story felt like it were going somewhere.

I'm not a hipster so maybe I'm just not in the right demographic for this. I'm sure that many people enjoy this type of story. This book includes attempted murder, attempted suicide, sex, and for some creepy reason, is rated as ages 12 and up on Amazon. That's the biggest reason to not want to finish it.

So I stopped about halfway through. Sorry. I always try to finish ARC's, but there are sometimes reasons when I refuse. I skimmed to the end and it doesn't seem like I'm missing much.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

TW: Body horror, sexual content, blood, toxic relationship, infertility, miscarriage, abortion, mental illness, transphobia (and possibly more).

I had an incredibly hard time starting this book, initially when I tried to read it the document was empty and honestly by the end I wish I hadn't ever gone back and looked to see if it had been updated.

This starts out weird, and goes into a level of... Insanity(?) that I had pegged only for Junji Ito. But this book holds none of the grace I've found in Ito's works. Where some of the horror can be found in the things that we aren't shown, but what's implied.

I have a specific panel saved to my desktop from before I found out where this would go, when I thought that this was going to be some commentary on a Toxic Relationship. Oh I was so naieve then.

I am honestly hardpressed to find a positive quality to this book, and in the end all I can come up with is that it had a trans nonbinary character with representation. But they are constantly misgendered throughout this book.

[Gretel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This comic is confusing, not only because of the story and philosophical aspect, but because I can't decide wether I liked it or not. It has a lot going for it, including the drawing style and artistic execution. There are many beautiful pages and the artist really knows how to divide the panels and tell a story just with images. The book is also filled with symbols, which is understandable since alchemy is part of the plot.
The story features queer rep with a trans fluid/masculine bisexual character, a bisexual woman and a bisexual man, all of whom where together at one point and now ultimately enter an polyamurous relationship. I use the word relationship loosely here because this book is not like an ordinary romance.

Through alchemy, the author explores how love, loneliness, trauma and society affect us and how these people seek freedom from pain and suffering. No character is without flaws and they all have charasteristics that make you dislike them: Camille (the trans man) is manipulative, Sarah is incredibly co-dependent with a martyr complex and Aniss is filled with constant rage and very violent. But they also have good aspects to them and bring up excellent points when discussing topics.
Now, if you think they're just sitting around discussing their love life and their mistakes, you'd be dead wrong because Camille's goal is to fuse their bodies into a new immortal being, which is triggered by a seemingly cataclysmic event, a solar flare. They each must unite their seperate identities into one being. Then all three must fuse their essence and bodies to become a new collective being.

The story can be read either literally or metaphorically and depending on your perspective you either have a utopia and the beginning of a happy ending at hand or the unfolding of a cosmic horror story. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
It's certainly an interesting exploration of the human psyche and the pains we carry within ourselves and honestly I liked reading how each of them confront their pain and are honest about where their trauma came from, how they are victims of things outside their control but also how in turn, they hurt others.

Somehow, this bizarre story with metaphysical elements, fusing alchemy with astronomy and magic and psychology and utopian horrors is very queer but also strangely repulsive (not because of the queerness) in its mixed messages.

This is something to read when you're in the right mindset because it's quite a long, sophisticated story with complex characters, confusing plot and a lot of philosophical conversations, sometimes bordering on convoluted and bloated. Even self-aggrandising. Not a light and quick read, so if you want to check it out, be sure to be prepared for some visual and narrative fuckery.

[Deryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

"𝘏𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪. 𝘓𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘻𝘻𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪 𝘧𝘢 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘓𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪, 𝘥𝘰𝘷𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘪 𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪 𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘭'𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦 𝘤𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘢̀ 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘦𝘨𝘰.
𝘖𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘦̀ 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘻𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦: 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘦.
𝘌 𝘥𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦."

𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘪 𝘈𝘭𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘪 è un viaggio onirico e surreale nell'inconscio e nell'intimità psichica dei tre protagonisti; il punto finale della narrazione è la ricerca di una completezza interiore, possibile solo attraverso il contatto con l'altro, che diviene in questo senso manifestazione e specchio manifesto del sé, un riflesso in cui diluirsi e riscoprirsi.
Le tavole grafiche riescono a racchiudere la potenza lirica del testo, nonostante in alcuni punti esso risulti forse fin troppo ermetico, tanto da rinchiudersi su se stesso.

Sicuramente un'opera estremamente interessante di Thomas Gilbert, di cui mi piacerebbe recuperare anche altri lavori.

[Nothing]

DNF @ 34% I requested this because i thought it sounded right up my alley. I mean three friends , getting together after many many years, in the country side to do magic stuff??? Doesn't that sound amazing?

Unfortunately i couldn't connect with the story. The dialogues were lyrical and at first i loved that but progressively it became a bit...untolerable.

The scenery art was gorgeous! I loved looking at it. The lines! They felt like they were drawn with real pencils! It was lovely. Sadly, the characters weren't as good. In the art department and charisma? I didn't fins any of them interesting at all.

Also Anill (one of the characters) keeps misgendering camille and it's becoming really annoying and uncomfortable.

[jellybean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm rather conflicted on what to rate this book....honestly, I don't really know if I like it or not? I didn't really like the art style (Although this is subjective), but I did feel like the art represented the story well? Maybe I'm just not smart enough but all the philosophy talk went over my head. I did like that there's a lot of queer rep, as well as a polyamorous relationship. I didn't really care for the characters that much though. It was like I was just reading passively and sometimes I wished things moved at a faster space. The plot was sometimes confusing. The writing itself is really lovely and poetic though.

[Elia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it through this only because I needed to complete it so I could give a review. I hated it.
All the transphobia, misogyny, violence, sexual coercion and body horror were just too much. Why is EVERY relationship I see depicted in French comics always violent? What is wrong with Europe seriously? Yeesh!

[☽｡⋆ Shells (jlreads_) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ep 7 of my reading slump series.


Trigger Warnings: Blood, Toxic relationship AND MORE.

Okay BUT WHAT IS THIS? This book seemed to have plot and somehow has an interesting premise but I WAS WRONG.

My advice, don't read this.

[Mell Martella · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so badly wanted to like it. I looove the artwork and style.

But I have no idea what I just read. I didn't understand what was happening most of the time (more like WHY) . It honestly just felt super pseudo intellectual and pretentious for no reason.

[Armoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

dessin canon texte prétentieux comme si ça voulait être tout le temps poétique mais c'est pas en mettant des adverbes et en donnant un ton solennel que ça rend l'histoire plus intense sorry

[Bill Coffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This starts off as a messy jumble of deliberate obfuscation and swiftly becomes a cauldron of bonkers that never lets up.

[Aglaé · Rating 2 out of 5]

Définitivement pas mon genre de récit, mais le style est à couper le souffle!!

[Jade Augier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pas réussi à aller jusqu'au bout...

[Ludivine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 pour le dessin car y a beaucoup de cases
Sinon le reste passez votre chemin

[Léa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bon livre mais l’histoire est pas mal fuckée
C’est assez graduel, on commence assez doucement pour avancer crescendo et ça devient pas mal intense pour ensuite redescendre

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A throuple is reunited, then manipulated by one member. Body horror and mutilation ensue. I didn't enjoy this as you can tell.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugly look at a trans-gender person who inveigles two old friends (one of who hates him/her/it) to visit a professor's Italian mansion, where some modern day John Dee waffle and a once-per-ten-thousand-years solar flare will inspire a new gender, or something. Like heck it will, or not in my reading time.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like the art, and the story went over my head. The constant misgendering of one of the main characters by one of the other main characters was also not a good look. This was just...a lot of words to say nothing and art to go along with it.

[EL BC · Rating 1 out of 5]

BD beaucoup trop perchée pour moi... mais des dessins magiques!

[Jacob Betts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, at least I liked the cover of this book. That and the art was crafted tolerably at times. This is one of the most pretentious, meaningless books I've read in a very long time. A pretentious attempt at meaning steeped in esoteric poetry and arcane imagery. I'm left confused by 'Our Alchemical Bodies'...who is this intended for? On the surface it feels like the makings of an art-house A24 film that I'd expect to hear about at a film festival. Underneath the esotericism is...an allegory for love? Pantheism? Identity?
Don't get me wrong, I love a good allegory, but this book is so reliant on the mysticism and esoteric language that it loses any value of meaning one could take away. While the art was enjoyable at times, I could not wait for this book to be over. It started out well enough, but took so many turns in various directions that I could not enjoy it. I wanted to love it, but was utterly disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an early access digital copy for review.

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our Alchemical Bodies is quite weird, like a long trip that circles around itself. It was surely interesting, but keeps repeating same patterns for loo long for my liking. Camille invites her friends and lovers to her place, Aniss and Sarah, since she wants them to see her new revelation of being in the universe and how these three need to be one in order to exist. It's a long and weird study of the self and they all need to find how they can be one both mentally and physically. The face sucking and molding were suffocating, but somehow beautiful too. In a sense the comic is very interesting and I liked the whole idea and it was nicely gross too, which was refreshing. Perhaps the whole thing was too much over the top though as the story couldn't hold ground enough.

The art looks great and works well with the weird and oddly disgusting world. The soft color theme is wonderful and the rage and suffering are smudgy as a comparison. Such an odd comic, but definitely something else. Slightly too long though as it cannot pull the idea fully through, but still.

[Bookish Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

Frankly this book needs a trigger warning
There's is a lot of sexual content, body trauma and mutilation

The story follows three people, Aniss, Camille and Sarah in a connection but Camille wants their relationship to go a step further. She decides they should enjoin and become one creation.

I didn't enjoy reading this and I struggled to finish reading it.
But in essence it's important we discover who we are internally that's what Our Alchemical Bodies really focuses on

[Thom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note: I received access to read this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Our Alchemical Bodies is difficult to follow. It's navelgazey to a fault and objectifies its characters. The artwork can be effective but the time spent in the abstract is so much that its impact is dulled.

[Cla :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wtf that was really good!
I really loved it ♡♡

And remember: people change people.