Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story

I thought this was a beautiful story about love in the midst of a great challenge. The author tells us the story of his relationship with his girlfriend and her child through the medium of a graphic novel. The challenge is HIV. They are a sero-discordant couple. He is HIV - negative, but she and her child are positive but there is no discordance in their love for each other.In one sense the challenge they face as a couple is similar to other couples who live with disability and critical illnesses, but in another sense the challenge is real and ongoing because HIV is stigmatised and because it can be transmitted.And so we are given a glimpse into the lives of the author and his girlfriend and the ups and downs of living with the virus. In some ways this is very different to many stories about people living with HIV because this is a story about a heterosexual, European, middle class couple living in Geneva. Many stories about HIV and AIDS are about gay men, mostly white and living in the US or Europe but what really breaks the trend is that the story is in graphic novel format and so we receive the story through pictures.The story is touching, real and very hopeful. What makes this truly memorable for me is the love the couple have for each other and for the child. After reading this I googled the author and found that he now has a daughter with his girlfriend and so love and hope continues. I liked the story so much that I bought a copy for a friend.The art is a bit dark for me in places but it doesn't affect the powerful story telling. I thought this was a beautiful story and I am going to check out some of the other graphic novels by this author.

If you are a fan of memoir graphic novels you will probably like this book, it is an interesting and frank portayal of life living with a partner who is hiv positive. The topic is treated really sensitively and the drawings are beautiful.

This is an incredible book. Unfortunately, I got it used from Amazon and, although the description was “like new,” it was in a terrible state.

Beautiful

I picked up a copy of this because we were asked to produce a presentation about it at university. I wasn't too sure what to make of it at first because it certainly isn't what I'd normally go for in the comic and graphic novel genre. Peeters' style is easy enough to get to and his honest depiction of some really sensitive subjects leave you really thinking after you've put the book down. Definitely something different in an industry that seems to be dominated by the usual fantasy genre graphic novels, something a little more true to life such as Blue Pills is refreshing.

Frederik Peeters tells the story of his relationship with his wife Cati and her 3 year old son, both of whom are HIV positive. He meets Cati years after meeting her for the first time to find that since their last meeting she has had a child, been divorced, and contracted AIDS. This doesn't stop him from being with her but we learn of the obstacles that come with it. The cautious beginnings of their physical love, the vigilance of maintaining a normal life for the child despite a regime of pills and syrups, and a scare when a condom breaks and Peeters thinks he's contracted the virus (he hasn't).The book shows a deep and fulfilling love between Peeters and Cati, one that has the spectre of AIDS in the background but never dominating their life to the point where they can't live. They live their life as normal couples do and their relationship is both moving and sweet. The relationship between Peeters and his stepson is also very well told here. The scene when during a house party the 3 year old moves through the guests to where Peeters is sitting on the balcony and then sitting between his legs to play with his toy dinosaurs is very touching and not at all sentimental.The stark realism of the story is belayed in the final part of the book where the author works out his frustrations and anger with a wise mammoth as they roam the prehistoric plains, the mammoth quoting everyone from Oscar Wilde to Burt Reynolds. The magical realism works and the author comes to realise how he cherishes his wife and son more because of the illness and how through the challenges they have developed a stronger love for each other.Peeters draws as beautifully as he tells his story, the illustrations being somewhere between Craig Thompson and Jeff Lemire, both masters. The book is a beautiful and moving evocation of love in the face of adversity. Very easy to read, a fascinating story told expertly and lovingly, I recommend it to any and all.