Member Reviews
This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!
I'm sure the author had good intentions but the characters are not written very realistically. The men are all pigs raping the women in their possession while the women on the plantation are the white saviors, even though while treating black Americans better by no means treat them like equals and there's no thought of setting their slaves free. I just don't know that Europeans should be writing books about slavery any more than white Americans should at this point. And this one has a viewpoint that's been considered outdated for at least a decade.
I did really want to read this graphic novel but at the time I was very confused how to download the novel in a new app as it was not available for kindle format. Haven’t been able to find a digital copy without having to pay for it.
Dark and gritty graphic novel. I tried hard to love it, but the art style through me for a loop. It was interesting enough to keep me reading, but nothing sold me on the characters.
A woman looks back on her family history as her children want to compare it to Gone With the Wind. But most life in slave owning Louisiana was not good, not easy, and no Rhett Butler to be found. This is the first of three volumes. It’s very intense and dark. The illustrator does an excellent job using color to display emotion both in the highs and the lows. I loved the mix of hoodoo, plantation, and slave story. I can not wait to complete the series, read and see what happens next.
A very awkward to read font does all it can to disguise this mediocre slavery story, set on the Louisiana plantations. It's a drear affair, with miscegenation, rape, death in childbirth – and that's just the first half of this, the opening volume of a trilogy. Not exactly entertainment. One and a half stars.
Louisiana was a beautiful example of a dark graphic novel and would be a great introduction for future fans of the genre. I'm personally just getting into graphic novels and am encouraging my students to enjoy the genre for appreciation of both art and storytelling, although this one I would be hesitant to share with most of my students. This is because the content is quite harrowing and could be upsetting. I think mature teens over 16 might like it and it is educational because the events of the novel are surely not far removed from some people's unfortunate reality. The style of art is beautiful, and the story is sad, but moving. If you are looking for something with depth and not just a fluffy happy ending, this might just do it for you.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
Beginning in 1961 with an elderly woman dictating her family history then flashing back to the early 1800s. There's some nice background art work that captures the atmosphere of the story and its times but the plot itself is nothing special. Brutal slave owner, beleaguered wife, pampered daughter of privilege out to make a difference, etc. Other than an element of VooDoo and some graphic imagery this is pretty standard stuff.
This is not a romanticized version of the dignity of antebellum culture. It is gritty, dark, and more than a little disturbing in parts that show harsh conditions experienced by slaves on plantations in the American South.
Louisiana - Volume 1: The Color of Blood isn't appropriate for younger readers, the easily offended or those of a more sensitive nature. The brutal violence and sexual assaults depicted will likely turn off many readers. I'm not sure exactly what the authors are going for with this one. Whether it will ultimately be an expose, a confession, or something more along the lines of a triumph of the spirit.
This is the first chapter in a series that will likely continue on through the American Civil War so it may pick up and evolve as it goes on but it's doubtful that I would follow the rest of the story. It's just not for me.
***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
I found this to be an interesting take on how the lives of women were affected by things such as slavery and the time period that this novel took place in. I enjoyed the art style!!
A snippet of a non represented POV in American slavery: white women. A truly different story during this time.
3.5 stars
I really loved this though I will have to issue a strong content warning for people that are easily triggered by issues such as rape and defilement. That being said, this was an enlightening peek into what life was like in Louisiana when women and slaves meant nothing to the men around them.
This is a short but intense graphic novel of one's family history with slavery in Louisiana. Definitely has adult themes and a lot of the very dark side of the history of slavery. Seems to be a very typical representation of plantation owners of history, minus the influence of Marie Laveau, famous Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
Artwork is very realistic and is well done, but the flow is a little odd because of the way the page is split and disrupts how the it's read. I am also disappointed that book 1 is short and we must wait for the next book. I would have just liked the whole story at once.
Copy provided by NetGalley.
I didn't like the style of the artwork. The colouring was too dark and the story was too wordy for me. I really disliked the style of the comic's artwork. All of this made it very hard to read. This just wasnt a story that I could enjoy but I am sure others may do so.
The description and the cover is what attracted me to this book however, I was left a little unsatisfied for the mere fact that this just wasn't my cup of tea, unfortunately.
I received this book for an honest review from netgalley and the publishers.
It was a very emotional read about a period of history that was terrible. Slavery has been abolished now and for that we must be thankful.
This story told by an elderly woman, is of her life on a plantation in Louisiana and the terrible way slaves were treated and her friendship with some of the slaves and her wish to change things. This is only book one and is a graphic novel. The illustrations are beautiful. It does have images of rape, beatings and spousal violence but these were accepted at the time in which this book is set . I Would love to continue with the series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
While I am sure the author and illustrator had righteous intent in creating a graphic novel about the horrors of slavery, the message was lost with a lurid narrative, a white savior trope and historical inaccuracies. The story begins in 1961 when an elderly woman recounts some of her family's past to a caregiver, and we are taken back to her family's plantation in Lousiana in the early 1800s. Her great-great-grandfather is a cruel man, who sexually assaults his slaves, and teaches his son to do the same. However, his wife and daughter are saints who wish to help the women being attacked. In New Orleans they meet Marie Laveau, a real woman who was considered a Voodoo priestess, but when I became interested in this historical figure, I discovered that she was not born until 1801 (some sources say 1794) and her daughter was not born until 1827. It is incredibly sloppy storytelling, to try to tie a real woman to a fictional tale in completely the wrong time period. The story ends in 1811 and there is a reference to this account being the first of three parts, so I assume the second two tales will push the story forward chronologically. While the artwork had a well-drawn Gothic pulp-fiction look to it, I was unsettled by other aspects of this story and came away disappointed.
I loved this book! This was a very powerful and provocative story about the history of plantations and slavery in 19th century American South. The characters were all well written and the plot was packed full of action and highlighted a lot of the racism and misogyny that took place during that time period. I blew through this book and I'm so excited to read the rest of the trilogy! The one problem I had was that the font was a little bit difficult to read but the artwork was spectacular. Also maybe include a trigger warning for the graphic scenes (sexual assault and suicide) displayed. Overall a great, well written and drawn historical story!
I'm not sure what to make of this book. Who is the audience? Certainly not children, or even teenagers. I don't think it's really for adults with a keen interest in history. It's quite literally, graphic. The violence and sexual violence depicted may be defended as necessary realism, but it felt voyeuristic without a strong historical counterpoint to justify the in-your-face realism.
I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.
This book really pulled at my heartstrings and actually made me cry at one point.
Such a beautifully crafted graphic novel that covers such a serious topic. I can't wait to read the 2nd installment.
Beautiful and haunting at the same time.
You really must give this a read.
This is a very interesting way of looking at history and historical fiction. It was a little bit more of a comic than a graphic novel but overall the illustrations were good!