'Blossoms in Autumn' by Zidrou with art by Aimée de Jongh is a graphic novel about love at any age.

The two main characters are Ulysses, 59, who has been a widower for a while.  He's just been laid off from his longtime job as a mover.  He's trying to figure out what to do with his life now.   He meets Mediterranea, 62, who has just lost her mother.  The two hit it off and the two find out things about each other, like that Mediterranea was a nude model when she was younger, or Ulysses not liking to read because of all the heavy books he's had to read along the way.

I really liked this story of love at an older age.  There are a couple weird plot turns, but I'm willing to go with that because the characters are so charming and human.  The art is good.  There is nudity and adult themes in this one, plus the subect of old people in love may turn away younger readers.

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.

Beautifully written. The cover feels like the story may be a slow one. But it races along. Truly a keeper of a graphic novel. Great prose on old age, retirement and death. Things a lot of people think about but don't face. Credit to the illustrator for doing justice and drawing great detail to bring the lives of the characters to life. Really enjoyed this read.

Very sweet book about love in later years. Though the ending seemed a bit implausible. Loved the artwork too.

It was a good book. I liked the storyline and the graphics were good. I did not care for the explict part in the book I could have gone without seeing old people in that situation. Lol!

A beautiful book about death. 
It was really deep, I liked it a lot. I did not really liked the graphics but I also think they were perfect for the theme. 
It was morbid and interesting because it's not usual to have a romance with older people. 
I will definitely recommend it !

A neat little graphic novel with two "elderly" main characters that find their way to each other. Nice artwork, interesting storyline.

A very sweet story, with really good artwork!
I didn't love the ending, but it was a heart warming (and quick) read, and the characters are very loveable. I'm slowly starting to get a bit into graphic novels. It's available on Netgalley, if you want something sweet and charming to read, this is the way to go!

Content warning for nudity (if you're one of those people) and aging/death themes.

This book was not what I expected.  The graphics were too explicit for me.  I should have read more of the book details before I downloaded the book.

There are so many romances about young love. This is a romance about old love. Or rather, a romance about people in their late 50s, early 60s who are in love. Ulysses who has been forced to retire early and Mediterranean, who has spent a long time watching her mother die.

Both adrift, they find each other.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5050" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-24-at-4.49.35-PM.png" alt="Blossoms in Autumn" />

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5051" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-24-at-5.11.03-PM.png" alt="Blossoms in Autumn" />

Being European, the author is from Brussels and the illustrator from the Netherlands, they are open about showing bodies in all their glory, and in this case, all their wrinkled glory. This is all tastefully done, but would still be NSFW in most offices.

A most enjoyable romance. Highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I was greatly disappointed by this book for several reasons. But let's start by the one thing I really enjoyed.

The art was very beautiful and I admired the illustrations at each panel. It was unique, and did its part on adding to the story succesfully.

However there were so many things I didn't like, unfortunately.

To begin with, I personally can't stand graphic content in books when I am not warned about it, and even more when they have no place in the story. I am not reading erotica so I am not happy when I see detailed illustrations of a sexual scene in my book. This isn't the stuff I like to read, and if I had been reding this book in public I'd be even more disappointed.

As for the plot, I found big connection holes and I couldn't understand how the story moved from the one part to the other, actually some parts seemed to irrelevant at times. For me, some parts didn't make clear sense and I could only rely on my imagination to understand specific parts. Maybe it was intentional? A trick to keep the reader wondering? I don't know but sadly it didn't work for me.

Lastly, I can't omit mentioning that the format I received through NetGalley was faulty. Maybe this is a part of the process, but since the book is already published now I expected it to be free or editing problems. The main problem I faced was that the letter "l" often disappeared in the text, and as a result it made reading very inconvenient. 

To conclude, if the book was longer, and hadn't it been a review copy, I would strongly consider not finishing it at all. I respect the author's work and I no way imply this book isn't worth reading, but as far as me and my personal tastes are concerned, it isn't something I enjoyed.

3.5~4★
“You know, Mediterranea, I can’t get my head around the fact that now . . . you’re the oldest Solenza.”

Trust a younger brother to cheer you up! This is an interesting and timely graphic novel. The characters are recognisable, normal, everyday people of older middle age you could easily know. They have both hit bitter reality checks and are having trouble dealing with life. 

Mediterranea’s mother has just died, and she, not her brother, is the one who has been caring for her, so now, she’s not only grieving but she’s feeling the weight of age herself. Mind you, she’s only 61, hardly over the hill.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of her brother reminding her she’s the oldest in the family now.

She heads for home, and the weather and the night aren’t doing much to cheer her up.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of her waiting for the bus on a dark, wet night.

On board the bus, a woman tells her child “you need to give up your seat for old folks.” Boy, that hurts!

We also meet Ulysses, a long-haul truckdriver who is being retrenched at 57.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Ulysses ‘handing in’ his keys in anger.

He makes excuses to be in the neighbourhood to say hello and tries to pretend to his mates that he’s enjoying his forced retirement.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Ulysses with his truckie friends.

Meanwhile, Mediterranea, who used to be a girlie model, checks out every sag and bag and wrinkle. She’s sure not the girl she used to be, and it saddens her.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Mediterranea inspecting herself in the mirror.

I have chosen only discreet illustrations to give a sense of the realism of the story. The author and artist pull no punches. They know where people bulge and wrinkle roughly as they age and how worrying it can be, and they show it warts and all, the whole glorious body.

Meanwhile, Ulysses is doing his best, or his worst, depending on your point of view, to pass the time. Daytime TV, evening sudoku, walks in the park. He makes excuses to chat to the cashier in the supermarket just to have someone to talk to. 

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Ulysses walking through the park without stopping to chat. 

We also see, in pretty graphic detail, Ulysses making his regular visit to his “comfort woman”, as she’s referred to later in the book. She’s a younger woman with a picture of her family by the bed! It’s not loving sex, but she seems fond of him and manages to give him a little relief, so to speak. We see her a little later in the story, where she’s also shown as a very real person, not just some sex object.

We know Ulysses and Mediterranea have to meet, of course. That’s why we’re still reading! It happens when she is visiting her gynaecologist, and it turns out that Ulysses is in the same waiting room also waiting for the doctor – his son. 

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of meeting at the doctor’s office.

They begin chatting, and she mentions she runs a cheese shop. The inevitable happens, he visits the shop, they become friendly and start flirting a bit and going out a bit and he finds out she was the equivalent of a Playboy bunny in France, and one thing leads to another and we have quite a different sort of bedroom scene. Several of them, all very lovingly drawn, with less and less detail and more and more gentle blurring of the wrinkles and warts and all.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration of some love scenes graduating from full colour to charcoal and chalk sketches.

There is a lot of story, back story, history, shared memories of songs and events, wine and cheese and music and fun. There’s a lot of teasing about their names and what they mean. It’s more than a superficial glance at loneliness, it’s a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS! to anyone who’s been brave enough to risk connecting with someone new at any age.

Also, Ulysses mentions at their first meeting that he hates reading, which reminds me of the importance of graphic novels. There must be millions of people who love stories and would enjoy a book like this while they would never read pages full of only words. 

I enjoyed it very much. I hope the few illustrations I’ve shared will give you a sense of the depth of the story and the love that has obviously gone into producing it. I did find some of the translation a little awkward and the songs unfamiliar, which made me feel like an outsider at the party sometimes. But it's a graphic novel, so the pictures make up for it, and overall, I like it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the preview copy which is available as Read Now on NetGalley. If you’ve not tried a graphic novel before, I suggest you have a look.

Positives:
- Beautiful stroy (for the most part)
- Gorgeous illustration
- stunning colour pallet
- poignant

Negatives
- story and message was ruined by a miracle pregnancy. It would have been stronger if 'life can have regrets, but it's not the end, you can still be happy'
- the explicit sex between elderly characters wasn't pleasant FOR ME. I'm all about sex positivity, but I just didn't want to SEE it. Implied would have been fine. 

Only 2 negatives, but they were strong enough to knock off 2 stars.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I must say that although this book is rather bleak, as some has put it, casting a shadow on growing older, I enjoyed reading this graphic novel. It's honest and a bit wacky and I did not expect the ending. Even so, I liked the book and the illustrations were lovely. 

If you want to read a book about growing older, regrets, trying to find yourself even when you're older and finding love, you should pick this up. 

/ Denise

Bleak look at aging

Zidrou and Aimee de Jongh are the creative team behind Blossoms in Autumn. While the story of an older couple intrigued me and the illustrations lovely overall the story showed a rather bleak look at aging and life in general which frankly was not what I expected. While I did not find it a problem, the graphic frontal nudity might be for some readers.
I received an advance reader copy via Netgalley.

<b>3 stars</b>

*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

An interesting graphic novel. I thought it was okay, just not my kind of thing. It was pretty bleak.

Blossoms in Autumn is a graphic novel by Zidrou. It is illustrated by Aimee de Jongh. Mediterranea and Ulysses are both grieving. Ulysses Varennes, at fifty-nine, has been retrenched from his job as a removalist. Sixty-one-year-old Mediterranea Solenza has just lost her mother after nine months of devoted care. Life for both of them is suddenly emptier. And each has been rudely made aware of their advancing age. 

Mediterranea has her cheese shop, but the tactics Ulysses employs to fill his day are less than successful. They first encounter each other in a doctor’s surgery waiting room. Ulysses has been a widower for some fourteen years, while Mediterranea has never married. But now, something blossoms between them. And that’s not the only surprise they’re in for.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In a graphic novel, the text might be minimal, but what is conveyed by the illustrations is probably immeasurable. Aimee de Jongh’s art work is detailed and evocative, expressing a myriad of emotions and feelings. The message in this charming book seems to be that life need not end with a loved one’s passing or the end of a career. 

The text offers plenty of perceptive observations about life and love and getting older; there’s a bit of nudity; there’s humour, sadness and joy. This is an insightful, sweet and moving story.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Europe Comics.

What a wonderful graphic novel that tells a story about finding love and happiness at an older age. This is a short and sweet read about two elderly people who find each other by chance, and who start to build a new (and incredible) life together. The story gives a keen insight into the lives and thoughts of people above the age of 60, who may have already retired, and who are trying to find ways of coping with a very sedate and often lonely life that's much different to the one they're used to. It's full of the nostalgia for 'better days' that lends the story a slightly sad but also comforting air. The topic of the elderly in this graphic novel is certainly one that hasn't seen much light of day, but the authors do a beautiful job illustrating it in this comic. The artwork is so beautifully done; it's not the super clean lines of many of the graphic novels that I read these days, but it reminds me of the older comics, which I thought complemented this story quite well. A great read!

Here are some of my favorite quotes from it:
"How many times have I told them that I'm enjoying life and finally taking my time? While in reality, it's actually time that's taking me, bit by bit, like the cruel tide gnawing at the cliffside."

"The body gives up faster than the soul. Time wrinkles it, wounds it, debases it. The body plays along, a good sport. But the soul is a sore loser. It concedes in fits and starts, through painful revelations, through a series of frights."

Thanks to Netgalley and the authors for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

A beautiful graphic novel about a seldomly talked about topic: love and sex at older age.
Stunning artwork, lovely characters and interesting storyline.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy.

Beautifully drawn art work breathtaking.An original story about an older couple falling in love honestly graphically told.A pleasure for the eyes and finally a love story for mature people, #netgalley#europecomics.

This was such a lovely surprise for me! Apart from the ending, which was too good to be true (though I admit it is not impossible in real life), the whole of this graphic novel was crazy good! So refreshing to read about the life and love story of two almost-old people. It's something that does exist, but is almost never portrayed in films or books or songs. It should! It's just a stage in life after all. :)

The story was minimalistic, I guess, but it went really well with the theme of the novel. However, the art was gorgeous! Not lush, but very detailed and close to life. I found myself looking at those frames with rain and water minutes on end. I just loved it, it was my kind of graphic art. 

To wrap up things nicely, I have to say I'm glad I stumbled upon this story. It has some sad moments, but overall it is a very good and realistic portrayal of growing old. And growing old does not necessarily have to be painful. That is just another cliche that this society is force-feeding us. :)