Jean-Paul has always been the type of guy who gets teased by "tough guys"(he's always been skinny, gangly, has a large nose and wears super thick glasses). It doesn't help that his mother has always been overbearing - more so since the death of his father, when she and Jean-Paul took over the family's toy company.
But one day, after one too many people ask way too much of him, Jean-Paul takes off without telling anyone, booking himself on a cruise for singles. There he meets a colorful cast of characters who force him to re-evaluate his entire life and all of his choices and to make one last choice that could alter the rest of his life.
It's a quick, enjoyable character study, and is aided by the way the author uses his artwork - making it weird and wavy when Jean-Paul is intoxicated, and using different colors to express different emotions.

I guess the English language title of Cyril Pedrosa's Les Coeurs Solitaires (literally 'lonely hearts') should have given me a clue, but Pedrosa creates a little world so suggestive of home comforts and routine that it doesn't seem like his main character Jean-Paul is going anywhere, so it's a surprise when you turn a page and find him on-board a ship ready to set sail off into the Mediterranean. But such an effect is undoubtedly intentional and the results are also a little jarring but necessary for Jean-Paul.

Up to that point, Jean-Paul's life seems to be going nowhere. Living in a place where not much happens, somewhere between Paris and Basel, Jean-Paul works in the family business, which is designing traditional quality hardwood toys. He's very much under the influence and watchful eye of his mother, a bond that seems impossible to break now that his father is dead. As the anniversary of his death approaches, it's clear that Jean-Paul is dissatisfied with the way things are going and it's clear that the girl in the white tracksuit is never going to notice him on his morning jog, so when he appears in that panel on the deck of a ship, you have a fair idea why he is there.

Whether life aboard the Lorenzo, a lonely hearts cruise ship that caters to all ages, will offer him any real opportunities for a meaningful romance and excitement is unlikely given Jean-Paul's rather timid nature and lack of self-confidence. There are plenty of games and parties designed to help people get to know one another and plenty of attractive women around, but most of them seem to have brought their own issues and problems with them, but at least it's a step in the right direction of Jean-Paul trying to take back control of his own life.

An indication of how much of a change this is to Jean-Paul is very much within the dynamic of Pedrosa's artwork itself. Pedrosa's drawings are in that loose, expressive European cartoony style, but it's a style that will be familiar from a certain period of Disney films, Pedrosa having worked as an in-between artist on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. Pedrosa (who doesn't look unlike Jean-Paul, so there may be some autobiographical character to Hearts at Sea) is able to make this work for the two sides of Jean-Paul's life, his mundane home life and how he finds himself 'adrift' at sea.

In both cases however Pedrosa stretches the artwork into hyper-expressionistic, with exaggerated gestures that not only give indication of strong character traits, but also hint at and give expression to inner feelings in a way that reminded me of Kyle Baker (Cowboy Wally, Why I Hate Saturn). Some figures are solid, calm and assured, others like Jean-Paul are a riot of swirling curves and angles that hint at their romantic yearning, nervousness and fear of humiliation. The lonely-hearts sea journey that Jean-Paul undergoes might not have anything of great insight or originality, but Pedrosa's drawings ensure that there are some lovely touches, strong characterisation and a way of expressing deeper sentiments and inner turmoil that many will recognise as true.

Pedrosa's Hearts at Sea is sad, melancholic and very lively in many ways. The story is about Jean-Paul who's a stranger in his own life, always the great person and nice. In reality no one knows him and he's like a shadow trapped. His mother owns his life treating him like a kid even when he's a man already. Jean-Paul flees to a single's cruise ship only to be alone once again, but the trip teaches him things about himself and strengthens his desire to leave everything behind. For me the story seemed to start from nowhere and I would've wanted to get to know Jean-Paul better, to see deeper inside his mind. There are Jean-Pauls everywhere and enjoyed when we saw the world through his eyes. Perhaps Hearts at Sea is too short to convey the magnificent thoughts it contains.

The art is wonderful, wonky and drawn with thin and rusty lines. It's very animated and the colors are blinding and beautiful and they depict well what goes on. Pedrosa's magic can be seen in this comic even though it's not his best. I love Pedrosa's people who are broken and flawed, but still full of life and the need to survive. Hearts at Sea is cynical and heartwarming in one package and prove how fleeing hardly ever changes things - instead it's you yourself that needs to change and Jean-Paul will get there, I'm sure.

Thank you, NetGalley for the preview of this graphic novel.

Hearts at Sea is about a middle-aged man who discovers himself while on a cruise away from the grasp of his overbearing widowed mother.

While the art was good, I couldn't get into the story.

This is the story of a young man who struggles to find his identity and place in life. An overbearing widowed mother and a non existent love life do not help but by the end of an otherwise frustrating shipcruise for lonely hearts our hero will at least find the courage to make a new start.

The reader is left wondering what will happen to him, but there is a flicker of hope in his decision to stay in an unknown town by the sea and not go back home. And hope is the best place to start anew.

Much like life, this graphic novel represents daily events and challenges in the world of an ordinary character. The art is attractive and the color scheme is often eye-catching. What strikes me about this decidedly mature comic is the way that the artist uses the graphic novel medium to capture every day experience. Recommended for comic book/graphic novel readers who enjoy the literary side of the medium.

This book was just okay. It could be hard to follow at times and I didn't really understand Jean-Paul's emotions, so it felt a little all over the place. Idk if I would recommend this to anyone, it was just plain and average and didn't really make me feel anything.

Another good title from Cyril Pedrosa exploring death and what it does to your loved ones in a very signature style.

Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Didn't exactly think it was worth my time.

This one really fell short for me. I enjoyed the illustrations, and style of artwork. Although the story was simply too dull for me. Not something I could see myself recommending. Aside from the artwork, it was just bland.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate it!

Good art and color work in this graphic novel. The story was a little too slow for my tastes though.

Loved the art work, the colour scheme. Didn’t love the narrative sadly, it was clunky and didn’t flow. Maybe I missed something but this was not for me sadly.

Our hero, Jean-Paul, starts out as a sadsack, learns nothing, and remains a sadsack. That would be fine if he were an interesting or funny or at least dryly humorous sadsack, but he isn't. The cover pretty much says what there is to know about Jean-Paul.

'Hearts at Sea' by Cyril Pedrosa is a French graphic novel about a lonely man who seems to have everything, but love.

Jean-Paul seems to work hard. He has a really overbearing mother and a lot of demands to do things that he doesn't really enjoy. To that end, he just disappears one day and ends up on a Lonely Hearts cruise. His experiences with the various characters he meets on the ship vary from charming to downright creepy.

The art is cool. The humor may just be too European for me. The story reminded me of 70s tv like Love, American Style and The Love Boat. It felt like a story from another time.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

One easy way to get graphic novels rated for you is to find out how quickly and urgently they were translated into English. This was ten years in the making, so to speak, and that says a lot. A hum-drum chap goes off with a party of singles on a cruise, instead of kowtowing to his sad and slightly bitter mother, or thinking about work. And… not a heck of a lot happens – this isn't a world where happiness is just around the corner, as you'd gather immediately from the unattractive artwork. So-so, and probably easily forgotten.

Very French, fairly depressing and a bit... weird. Not entirely my cup of tea, to be honest.

I received a copy through Netgalley.

Really good story about a man who runs away to sea but not in the traditional way.

Jean Paul has a mundane life. There is nothing wrong with a mundane or quiet life, but Jean Paul is not happy. He works in his family toy firm and his life consists of work, work colleagues, people he grew up with and his mother. His mother is very doting, but smothering at the same time and Jean Paul wants so much more.

In the midst of planning for the anniversary of his father's death he does something entirely unexpected and he runs away to sea on a lonely hearts cruise. He meets people just like him, some much older, some the same age but each of them trying to find something deeper and trying to assuage the pain of loneliness.

I really dislike cruises and this story brought home to me just how much I hate them. The enforced gaiety, group games, the lonely lives and then the enclosed spaces, add to this the exercise that Jean Paul felt obliged to participate in. Jean Paul throws himself into life on board and meantime his mother hires someone to find him.

But even a cruise cannot fill the gap in his life or answer the questions he has about his own life. At the end of the cruise and after much emotional upheaval Jean Paul decides not to return home but to strike out. He phones his mother to tell her and we are left at the point where Jean Paul's life really begins.

It is a really good comic and brought home to me all I hate about travelling with strangers in a group, especially when the tour guide says 'we are here to get to know each other'. I always disagree because I go on group holidays as a safe way of touring foreign countries. I have nuff friends at home. Jean Paul also has friends at home but what he is looking for cannot be found on a cruise holiday because he is looking for the freedom to direct hus own life instead of letting circumstances and duty direct it for him.

I thought the artwork was good and the story isnt overburdened by prose. The art work captures all his emotions including the harder ones and it also captures his hope and his decisiveness.

I really enjoyed it. Carpe Diem Jean Paul!

Copy provided by Europe Comics in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was an interesting graphic novel. I didn't completely love the art style but i think it worked well when telling the story. The story focused on Jean-Paul and the way he was written meant he was a relatable character. The colour scheme was an interesting choice and at times it worked but other times, it seemed to hinder the story.