AfterEllen.com Book Club discussion

The official pick for this month. What are your thoughts? Interested if anyone read it in the original French, or if anyone has also seen the film?

I read this in one sitting. I don't know much about graphic novels (this is my first one), so I'm not sure about the typical length, but I wanted this one to be so much longer. I'm certain it was a function of the genre, but there were so many gaps I wanted fill in... I wanted more about the characters, more about their story, more, more, more!

Because I feel like there is so much more story to tell about these characters, I think it will lend itself well to a film. Although, I've not heard good things about the movie version. Thoughts on this?

About the book itself... I loved the use of color. Much of the story takes place in flashback/the past, which is totally in grays... except for Emma's blue hair. I thought this was a genius move on the part of Maroh to show how Emma was the one source of life, the one source of beauty, for Clementine.

I don't think that anything I'm going to say plot related is a spoiler since we pretty much know what's going to happen since page 2, and I also assume that if someone is reading this thread either they're done with the book or don't care about spoiling it.

That said, I really liked this story. It was a sad story, with a sad ending, but for some reason I didn't cry my eyes out like I do with sad stories. Maybe it's because we didn't get enough time with the characters. I also wanted it to be longer. We only get a glimpse into their lives after the incident with Clementine's parents, would have been nice to know more.

I would have preferred that we didn't know about Clementine's death right at the start, which I think it's part of why I didn't get too sentimental about this story. I had 140 or so pages to prepare for Clementine's death, so by the time she did die all I could feel was "she's dead now, I guess the story is now over".

I hadn't read a graphic novel/comic in a while, so this one was a very nice "welcome back". I'm very picky about the art style for graphic novels and comics and I really liked this one. I just wish that they would've gone with a different choice of font for the narrations, they were hard to read sometimes, which I only managed to do so zooming in and out, since I read it in digital form.

This book also reminded me that I haven't finished Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, with this month's book club selection being all graphic novels, this could be a good time to do it.

This is a very beautiful story, I was very impressed, it was a really nice intermission from the mystery/thriller/horror I'm reading at the moment.

SPOILER WARNING

I also read it in one sitting. It was... okay. I'm a big fan of many graphic novelists (Bechdel, Georges, Forney, Schrag, Spiegelman, O'Malley...), but they need to be good writers in addition to good artists. This story didn't do much for me, probably because I've seen every facet of it a dozen times before. Coming out, older woman, kicked out of home, cheating with guy, drug addiction, sudden death. When I was 17, I likely would have found this moving. Now? Eh... next.

I have read the Spanish edition of this comic. I liked it as the author uses the color blue to explain the story. But I think the story lacks substance and the end is too melodramatic. Even so, I think is not a bad comic.

I agree with pretty much everything that was said before. The book finally came in yesterday, and I read it in one sitting as well. For some reason, I just couldn't stop, I had to know how the story continues, even though it was clear how it would end.

The use of color was exceptional. I haven't read many graphic novels, but the ones I read were all black and white. Emma's hair is truly the only source of beauty in her life, like Ali said.

I too agree that the story was too short. Especially the time after she got kicked out, that's the part where the story would have become really interesting, but it is barely touched upon, and suddenly she's 30, and then she's dead. It wasn't perfect, but I really liked reading it and I will read it again.

I'm not sure about the movie. It's almost infamous now, and I really wanted to watch it, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe it would be better to keep the novel in mind and not have it ruined. That happened with quite a few books turned into movies.

for Yoly: I loved Fun Home, you should definitely finish it. It's worth it.

It's been a while since I last participated - and Goodreads just ate my first comment, thanks so much for that! - but I had to pick this one up.

I both adore the art style and find it a bit weird, but mostly I love it. The colouring is gorgeous. I love the use of blue as the only colour through the flashbacks. It really does become the warmest colour, since it signifies so much love in this book.

I agree with most things that have been said. It's a little too short and the pacing is off because of it. The parts that took place in the past felt mostly okay, but the ending is horribly rushed. I also didn't immediately associate to drug addiction when I saw that pill bottle, but rather thought that she was suffering from some terminal illness that she was hiding from Emma.

I still liked it quite a bit. It wasn't particularly original, like Deb said - you've read this story a lot of times before. But I did cry a bit at the ending and got quite attached to the characters. The art and colouring gave a nice atmosphere to the story and moved something, that I can't really put words on, in me.

There are also parts I just don't plain get. Like, you've just had a discussion about how homophobic your girlfriend's parents are, and you decide to walk around naked in their house? Who DOES walk around naked in somebody's parents' house? Especially if they're home.

I want to see the film. It premiers in November where I live, so I might check it out then or wait until its released so I can rent it.

Tamara wrote: "for Yoly: I loved Fun Home, you should definitely finish it. It's worth it."

I had forgotten completely about Fun Home (again), thanks for reminding me! I finished it last night and really liked it. I'm looking forward to reading Are you my Mother.

Cassandra wrote: "There are also parts I just don't plain get. Like, you've just had a discussion about how homophobic your girlfriend's parents are, and you decide to walk around naked in their house? Who DOES walk around naked in somebody's parents' house? Especially if they're home."

OMG, THANK YOU. That part made me want to pull my hair out too! As soon as I saw the first panel of Emma wanting something to drink, I was like... "Yep. THAT'S going to happen..."

Yeah, it would've made a lot more sense if they'd come home unexpectedly and caught them naked. Like in Annie on My Mind... or She Loves Me Not... or South of Nowhere. Hmm. Well, at least they managed to be original in that regard?

I agree with several of the previous comments.
As a graphic novel, the artwork is stunning and especially the use of the color blue.
When I first started, knowing what eventually happened to Clementine, I thought I would be heartbroken by the end. However, the large jump in time from when Clementine was kicked out of her parents' house to when she and Emma broke up was very jarring. It really caused me to lose the momentum of the story. It was hard for me to come back to their relationship once they reconciled.
I would have liked it if we would have seen some of that time, or at least had a better understanding of the events that lead up to Clementine's cheating and hiding of her illness.

Folkpants wrote: "I would have liked it if we would have seen some of that time, or at least had a better understanding of the events that lead up to Clementine's cheating and hiding of her illness."

I agree; that bothered me too. I thought, perhaps, it was the author's way of commenting, albeit depressingly, on the nature of relationships: no matter how magical and seemingly all-encompassing things start off being, things change... people change. And we all end up in the same place. The once extraordinary ends up being ordinary... and predictably tragic. By skipping such a large chunk of the story, it was the author saying "Yeah, and life happens. Just like it does to all of us."

Oh man, this comment makes me sound so cynical and bleak! This is just one theory of why the author jumped ahead.

Ali wrote: "By skipping such a large chunk of the story, it was the author saying "Yeah, and life happens. Just like it does to all of us..."

Well, I think you may be giving the author too much credit on that one, maybe she just had the idea of a beginning and the ending of the story but didn't really know what to do in between, so she just glued them in the best she could?

We really needed more time with their relationship. I really wish she would've made me cry... I love a good cry with a story, and this one had so much potential...

I am way late in replying on this thread, but since I didn't write up all my thoughts on the AE site about this book (because we're waiting on some interview answers from Maroh herself to post), I wanted to mention a few things that are still on my mind. Mainly, I agree with a lot of the things most of you have already pointed out--the use of color was wonderful and brilliant, I thought. And yes, the jump from when they first started dating to when they separated/she got sick seemed way too sudden. But there were also a few things that annoyed me a little--like Emma walking around naked in Clementine's house, lolz. I kept thinking during that part, "Okay, this must just be a French thing? Because nothing else about their characters have implied that they're that stupid." I also was irritated about Clementine's relationship with the guy. I can't remember his name and am too lazy to look it up right now. But he was always so concerned for her, always there for her, and I don't think she asked him one thing about HIS life or HIS queer relationships like, once. Depictions of one sided relationships like that make me crazy.

But otherwise, geesh, this book was sad, but I'm still glad I read it.

(Also, I know you guys already complained about the naked in the house thing, but I just felt the need to complain about it again.)

Just wanted to add that I just read that the movie is 3 hours long.

We get a lot of 90 minute movies out of books that are 500 pages long, but we get a 3 hour movie out of a 100ish page graphic novel, this is a first. Maybe we'll like the movie more than the graphic novel? I wonder if the movie will show us more of the relationship we saw rushed on the graphic novel.

For those wondering,the movie is great,but those like me who have read the book also,it is clear that it is a loose adaption of the novel. In the first part there are some scenes which are indeed like in the book,but in the sexond part of the movie it becomes a totally different story. But i liked both,the novel was a good read,allthough short,and the movie albeit three hours,they just flew. I wasn't bored even 1 minute.I can only recommend everybody to go and watch it.

I saw a preview for the movie for the first time today. I have to say, it made me very excited for the film. Perhaps it was the trailer itself, but I am looking forward to watching.