Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story by Frederik Peeters.
130 page hardback graphic novel. Color cover with black and white interiors.
Published by Houghton Mifflin.
$18.95 retail.
This is not so much a review as it is a straight up recommendation. I don't think I had ever heard of this book or it's author until I came across it at my local library last week. It's one of the best things I've read in a long time. It is a memoir about the author's relationship with his HIV positive girlfriend and her son. It transcends my expectations of memoir and works as both a great psychological study and love story. The story itself is very interesting and engaging but Peeter's storytelling just blows me away. His brush drawings are very lovely but it's the way the mixes montage and stream of consciousness into the memoir structure that really impresses me. Peeters is not a romantic and he's not telling a sappy story but by using a wide range of storytelling techniques he gives the reader a lot of chances to form their own perspective on the situation. Simply put, instead of telling you how and why he loves he shows you from multiple angels. It is a masterful example of how good comics can be. Peeters makes me want to forget everything I know about making comics and start all over. My only criticism of the book is that I wish it went on for a few hundred more pages.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
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