A Boy Named Rose

by Gaëlle Geniller

Genres: Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction
Pages: 212
Rating:

Synopsis:

Paris. The 1920s. Rose is a boy and, like all the girls he's spent time with since he was born, he wants to dance at "Le Jardin", the cabaret managed by his mother.

As Rose blossoms into a young man, he discovers love and tries to find his place in a society that's not ready to welcome true love between two men.

Gaëlle Geniller’s A Boy Named Rose is really, really cute. I like the art and colours, and I like how protective and warm the found family at Le Jardin feels. Rose’s character is nuanced, never perfect, but overall positive and sweet, and thoughtful about his identity (which comes out when he’s interviewed). It’s not that he doesn’t get any pushback for being male and wearing dresses or dancing on stage like the women, or even quite that he dismisses it, but he takes his own perspective on it.

I also liked that his relationship with Aimé wasn’t explicitly romantic all the time, that it seemed to be companionship above all for the two of them, with potential for something more — and perhaps a hint of Aimé being interested in how free Rose feels to be who is, and maybe even longing for it himself (even if he doesn’t express it in the same way).

There’s a line from the summary that made me think it was going to be significantly angstier than it actually is: “As Rose blossoms into a young man, he discovers love and tries to find his place in a society that’s not ready to welcome true love between two men.”

But… nope. Mostly it’s gentle and happy. It’s not perfect, and sometimes Rose gets upset or afraid, but… his family and Aimé are there to help him.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)