So.
I was really excited to be granted a review copy of this on Netgalley, so thank you for the opportunity.

I don't read many graphic novels, and this is a fact. I've read the staples, if you may so call them (things like Maus or Persepolis, like... the famous ones) so I'm not incredibly educated on the subject matter. My review is therefore not going to be a reflection on the technical, but on my own taste.

This is to say I absolutely hated the graphic part of this graphic novel. Yeah. So much I struggled to read, and to finish it. Which is a shame, because the story in itself is actually quite heartbreaking and stunning, but in a work like this you expect the drawings to be part of the narrative, and unfortunately, I missed out on those since I couldn't bare to look at them for more than necessary. So yeah, I didn't get to fully experience the narrative either. What a shame.

I don’t know if my review went through so as this is the second time I’m writing this I will be brief. This is an exceptionally beautiful book,the art work is phenomenal and the story was fascinating.n this is a story that continues to need to be told. Just one of the greatest books I’ve read in a long time. An extremely moving and exciting read.

Beautiful and heartbreaking. I wish it were a text-based type of novel because I would have loved to read more about it. It’s …not enough for the punch that story packs. The art is absolutely beautiful and the emotions transmitted were so strong. I felt for Karl, I wanted to hug him .

I wanted to do at least one read in honour of #pridemonth and I picked Matthias Lehmann’s graphic novel “Parallel”, which had been calling out to me for some time. Parallel begins with Karl Kling trying to get back in touch with his daughter. She hadn’t spoken to him for 8 years and he wishes to see her on his birthday, which is around the corner. He begins to write a detailed letter to her explaining why he did the things he did in the hope that she would forgive him.

And what were those things? Karl writes about the difficulties, and even dangers, of living as a gay man in 1940s-50s-60s Germany. He longs to have a family and so he marries and has a son. However, Karl is drawn to men, and his wife soon discovers this. They separate and Karl moves to another city. Forced to conform to societal norms and to satisfy his yearning for a family, he marries again and has a daughter. This time he tries to make more of an effort but it sadly goes to naught.

Karl’s escapades with men put his life at peril too as homosexuality was a punishable offence in Germany until as recently as 1994. When rumours about him fly around, people call him names and practically ostracise him.

It seems like Karl leads his life in the comfort of minutes - the few minutes he spends in his lover’s arms. The few minutes he gets to play with his daughter. The space between is filled with a suffocating ennui with the life he is forced to lead and an unending restlessness to lead the one he wants ideally. His love for his daughter is genuine but the lack of real fulfilment causes a degree of inattentiveness and indifference towards her. Karl wants everything but when he realises that’s impossible, he makes a choice. And pays a heavy price for it.

Lehmann superbly brings out the unfairness of it all with a deep melancholy that clings to many of his panels, especially some of the wordless ones. Things have changed but there’s also a lot that hasn’t and this book continues to be very relevant even now. You feel for Karl although he appears to be selfish at times. He is merely trying to achieve what we all want - a wholesome life.

This poignant read was first published in German, the English translation by Ivanka Hahnenberger is true and vivid. Thanks to Oni Press (one of my favourite publishers!) for the ARC.

Not gonna lie, I teared up a few times reading this.

Parallel is a fluid and beautiful work about the hardships of being gay in a world where it's literally illegal (just post-WWII and set in Germany during the era of the Berlin Wall) and I'm so tired every day of folks thinking that there is anything wrong with homosexuality, or that it's a choice. Of course Karl made some choices that directed and shaped his life, and he reminisces in that in this graphic novel that's mostly flashback interspersed with a a modern day letter to his estranged daughter, and even though he felt he could not help those choices, well. But choices as they were, I'm sure living in an error where everybody and everything tells you you're an aberration makes a person want to strike out and act out and desperately try to do literally anything that feels good and right.

Anyway this was a good graphic novel with beautiful art; please read it.

This one was a hard read in the best way possible. I was torn in reading this - it is all at once heartfelt and tragic. I liked the art style, but it was sometimes difficult to distinguish the characters. I'm normally picky about plotlines containing cheating, but this is a special circumstance. I love working with morally grey characters, and Karl is definitely morally grey. I want to read more LGBT historical works this year - this was a strong reason for requesting this book- and I feel like (despite this being historical fiction) that was accomplished in this book. This is one of those books that I really want to sit down and take my time with, so it took me a while to get through it. This book was really touching and put me through the emotional wringer. Reading Parallel gave me a tragically positive outlook. Reminding myself of our history in this tactile way reminded me to put myself in a historical perspective and made me incredibly grateful to live in current times and places.

I enjoyed this read for its art style and its portrayal of how family and love can come out of a stressful and devastating life event.
While I enjoyed the art style, there were several times I was confused as to which character was which. Karl and some of the other male characters has similar profiles and it was difficult to differentiate them when in the same panel . I thought it was interesting how it wasn't taking a pity approach to Karl's situation, rather showing that his denial and apathy towards those around him eventually leads to him hurting his family and friends.
I was hoping to see if there was any consolation with him and his son at the end, but since it seems he never went back to his first wife or wasn't allowed any contact with them.
Overall the story was very compelling and a well-worth read.

Very sad to unfortunately have to DNF this book. I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into the story.

A little too slow in places for my tastes. The character development could have been better throughout and all in all I wasn't a fan sorry. Felt lacklustre without suspense or grip.

A great read for Pride month. The parallels are interesting. Homophobia is still such an ongoing problem.

I absolutely adored this book. It reminded me of Fun Home combined with Maus and I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a classic of the genre alongside those titles. At points, I struggled to follow the non-linear style but once I’d got my head around it, I found the stylistic choice effective and engaging. I’d definitely recommend this to any fan of graphic novels, and I can easily see this becoming a firm choice for university courses on the form.

Thank you to the publishers over at Oni Press for providing me with an eArc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This graphic novel follows a complex story of a man named Karl who is gay at a time and place where it is forbidden. The novel is written in flashes of past and present moments of Karl's life, from him starting a family, to divorces, to the affairs he had.

Throughout the story, he also writes a letter to his daughter, Hella, who he hasn't seen in years.

Through the letter, Karl comes clean to his daughter about why he was a bad father, and he is hoping that they can meet up so he can say more things, the truth about himself, in person.

This was a really good book that reflects on being queer during the 1950s in Germany and how much of a struggle and danger it was to be yourself. I was so interested in seeing how Karl's life was changed, and what he was forced to go through just because of his identity.

This is definitely a book that you should buy and read!

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy!

3.5 ⭐
This graphic novel takes place in the 1950s in Germany and follows the story of a gay man discovering his sexuality. As queer love is forbidden he is torn between his longing for a family and his desire for other men. The story is really emotional and shows what life was like when homosexuality was proscribed and punishable.
The one thing I struggled with was the dual timeline as the time frame changed unexpectedly + at times the characters looked very similar.

A graphic novel exploring the dual life of a closeted gay man in Cold War-era Germany, Parallel grips the reader’s heart in a cold fist until the very end. We need stories like these: to see how criminalising homosexuality ruined the lives not just of LGBTQ persons, but also those who loved them. A no-holds-barred masterpiece with a fallible main character that the reader can’t help rooting for.

heartbreakingly real, this graphic novel will make you feel all the feels. my heart truly hurts for Karl and all of the queer people that had to live (and continue to live) with such heinous anti-gay laws and internalized homophobia. it was difficult to read and i really feel like the art style perfectly matches the emotional tone throughout.

4.3/5

What a journey.
This took me around two 'n half days to complete but it was worth it.
This story is so sad and in some parts it was hard to read.
I think that we get a very clear view of the mentality and how it was the normality back in the days, and how wrong all this felt reading it.

Knowing that things like this were ordinary and that so many people had to go through such secrecy and abandonment made my chest hurt.
In this book we follow the story of one single person's almost life span full of dreams and hopes that was constantly put in a situation of detachment from the people they knew, we can feel how lonely sometimes they felt and how they tried so much to create and keep what a normal family meant back in the days.

The art felt so delicate and was able to tranfer all that sadness and loneliness that was around our main protagonist. The ending as well felt so delicate and created a way of hope.
This book should be read by as many people as possible, it opens the eyes to a world that was just wrong and that should never be lived ever again.

A beautiful queer historical fiction graphic novel. About a man who is writing a letter to his daughter who won't speak to him, and wants to reconnect with her and honestly explain the reason why their family unit didn't stay together.

It's about life in WWII (1950s Germany) as a gay man, who has to hide his true feelings from his wife and children. Although he sees other men, he is living his life in fear of being discovered. He is torn between his loyalties and love for his family, and his yearning to live a free life.

My only difficulty I had with this graphic novel was the art style made it hard for me at times to tell which characters were which, and sometimes when it jumped around in time I didn't notice and got confused! I think a lot of the characters look alike so it isn't always clear at first whether we are seeing a new character, or the same character when they were younger.

3.5 stars

Parallel chronicles Carl's life as a gay man in Germany between the end of world war 2 and the 1980s. It flows between his earlier life as he tries to hold together a family despite his attractions and to the present where he tries to contact the daughter he lost.

First of all, the art work is beautiful. I really appreciated the black and white illustrations. At times I would say it was a little difficult to differentiate the faces from one and other, but this could have also been because of my screen.

This story is brutal the majority of the time, it's not a light read but it is an enjoyable one. I really like that all the characters were fully rounded out. At times you wanted to hug them & others you could slap them for being so stubborn. I think my favourite character was Lieselotte. It's not a completely satisfying ending but it will tug at the heartstrings for sure. Highly recommend if you're looking for historical fiction in a more approachable form.

I loved this graphic novel! It discusses the complexity of being gay during a time when it was not safe to be out. This book touches on loneliness, depression, love, family and redemption.

"Parallel" tells the moving story of Karl Kling, a gay man in intolerant Germany. In those days, it was illegal to be homosexual, and raids sometimes took place to arrest people who simply wished to be themselves. Against this backdrop, Karl seeks to live his life as discreetly as possible, start a family and not think about other men. But this becomes complicated, and things don't work out the way he wants.
This long graphic novel goes into great detail about Karl's desire to conform to society's codes, despite all the unhappiness he experiences as a result. We follow the letter he writes to his daughter, trying to explain why he hasn't been an exemplary father.
I found this graphic novel very touching and sad, while being very happy that mentalities have changed.