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hels08's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book, bit different.
Jasper is autistic, sees colours when he hears sounds, and has face blindness - he doesnt recognise anyone from looking at their faces.
He witnesses his neighbours murder. The story unfolds as he tries to communicate what he knows to the police but they are finding it difficult to understand what he is saying as he sees the world differently.
I found it really interesting seeing things from another angle.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Jasper is autistic, sees colours when he hears sounds, and has face blindness - he doesnt recognise anyone from looking at their faces.
He witnesses his neighbours murder. The story unfolds as he tries to communicate what he knows to the police but they are finding it difficult to understand what he is saying as he sees the world differently.
I found it really interesting seeing things from another angle.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
cerim's review against another edition
2.0
This book has been on my Goodreads TBR for a couple of years now and I finally got round to reading it when I picked it up in the library.
Unfortunately, it was a massive let down for me. The main character, Jasper, has synaesthesia and is neurodiverse (on the autism spectrum) - he sees the world in colours and finds it difficult identifying and communicating with people. When his neighbour, Bee, is murdered he is a key witness to the incidents surrounding her death. The plot of this novel sounds amazing but it fell completely flat for me - the randomly inserted colour descriptions became irritating very quickly and I couldn’t warm to Jasper as a character. I see what the author was trying to do but it was not well executed.
There was also a plot line in which Bee abuses a minor - this was never fully explored and never mentioned again, which seemed like a massive oversight from the author.
The book was far too long and rambly and took forever to get to the point of the novel - overall a disappointing read and I probably wouldn’t read more from the author.
Unfortunately, it was a massive let down for me. The main character, Jasper, has synaesthesia and is neurodiverse (on the autism spectrum) - he sees the world in colours and finds it difficult identifying and communicating with people. When his neighbour, Bee, is murdered he is a key witness to the incidents surrounding her death. The plot of this novel sounds amazing but it fell completely flat for me - the randomly inserted colour descriptions became irritating very quickly and I couldn’t warm to Jasper as a character. I see what the author was trying to do but it was not well executed.
There was also a plot line in which Bee abuses a minor - this was never fully explored and never mentioned again, which seemed like a massive oversight from the author.
The book was far too long and rambly and took forever to get to the point of the novel - overall a disappointing read and I probably wouldn’t read more from the author.
chandlerleighk's review against another edition
3.0
I learned so much from this book! I had no idea about synesthesia and it’s connections to autism. It was a slow read for me because it was a challenge to get into Jasper’s mind. It was such a beautiful insight from an honest narrator though. Really did love it, but because it was such a slow read I had to rate it lower.
sophieannereid's review against another edition
4.0
This took a while to get going and at times was it was difficult to get into. But the precise reason why it was so hard to read was what made this book so interesting, a great effort has been made to tell the story from the point of view of a child with autism, synesthesia and prospopagnosia. That’s a lot to pack in to a character but everything was interwoven and you got a real sense of Jasper as a person, not just a collection of diagnoses.
The underlining thread of this story is a murder mystery, which stands well on its own. The murderer makes sense but there’s plenty of red herrings and detours along the way. The victim is a complex character in her own right, I’m still not sure how I feel about her. What really makes this book special is Jasper as the narrator, it was equal parts delightful and frustrating. Jasper is highly observant and has a great memory for voices but can become fixated on certain things, is unable to recognise faces and can be easily mislead. This doesn’t make for a reliable narrator, but it’s interesting to see the world through his eyes and observe him putting the clues together in his own unique way.
I would have enjoyed this book even more if it was a bit faster paced, but it was worth persevering to the second half!
The underlining thread of this story is a murder mystery, which stands well on its own. The murderer makes sense but there’s plenty of red herrings and detours along the way. The victim is a complex character in her own right, I’m still not sure how I feel about her. What really makes this book special is Jasper as the narrator, it was equal parts delightful and frustrating. Jasper is highly observant and has a great memory for voices but can become fixated on certain things, is unable to recognise faces and can be easily mislead. This doesn’t make for a reliable narrator, but it’s interesting to see the world through his eyes and observe him putting the clues together in his own unique way.
I would have enjoyed this book even more if it was a bit faster paced, but it was worth persevering to the second half!
phyrre's review against another edition
4.0
You can read the full review on my blog, The Writerly Way.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
A protagonist with synesthesia and prosopagnosia (face blindness) sounds like the perfect cocktail for a mystery book. And you know what? It really was. The combination made for a protagonist that was both unique and memorable and super easy to root for.
Sarah J. Harris turns murder mystery on its head by marrying a charming, yet unreliable, narrator with a seemingly solved murder that begins to unravel. And I loved (almost) every minute of it.
Thoughts:
- This is, hands down, the best unreliable narrator I’ve ever read. Mostly because it’s unintentional. I mean, poor Jasper’s doing his best. He’s not trying to be duplicitous or cunning. Actually, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t even if he tried. Simply due to the nature of his character—a combination of synesthesia, face blindness, and autism—Jasper often doesn’t fully understand the world around him. As the point-of-view character, Jasper tells the story in the best way he knows how, leaving the reader to suss out fact from fiction. And man, it required lots of attention to details and interpreting things rather than relying solely on what you’re told. There were plenty of times I felt myself getting mad on Jasper’s behalf, because he simply didn’t understand what was happening, but there was more than enough context for the reader to pick up on it. And people suck. That’s all I have to say.
- Jasper is a really strong protagonist, and brought a unique perspective to the story. Jasper doesn’t see the world as some might. Part of that is due to his synesthesia, which gives him the ability to see sound as colors. Which is fascinating. Color was such a big theme in the book, and often, Jasper identified people by their clothes and their color. Both of which can be deceptive.
- The mystery was riveting, mostly because it seemed like it was already solved when the book started. But, as I said, Jasper’s world is often deceptive. I mean, the only witness to Bee Larkham’s murder is Jasper, but his memory’s scattered and unclear, and he’s not sure where all the pieces fit together. Everything comes into focus little by little, and it’s often required to read between the lines in order to get the entire gist. Nothing is just blatantly explained, and that kept me engaged in the story.
- The way the book ends? Cue angelic choir! So, an otherwise pleasant mystery book can be totally ruined for me with a lackluster resolution to the mystery. I mean, that’s the whole point of a mystery book, right?! So not the case here. There are several possible culprits, and each one makes sense right up until that final clue, and then it’s like … oooh.
Sticking Points:
- Jasper is obsessed with parakeets and … wow, there was a lot of bird talk. Which is great if you love birds. All you ornithologists out there, I see you. This is a book for you! Parakeet it up. But for me? Hard pass. I really couldn’t be less interested in birds if I tried. Not going to lie, there were several times I considered DNFing this book just because I couldn’t take the bird talk. I understand that it’s a quirk of Jasper’s personality, particularly with his autism and his hyperfocus on the birds, but … I just couldn’t do it. In the end, I opted to just skim or skip those bits.
- Confession: I love books that incorporate color. Also confession: I don’t understand what certain shades are supposed to look like. Which is ALWAYS a problem when reading books where color is a major theme. And yet I love them? Because I’m a bundle of contradictions. I understood why it was a thing, and yet, specific shades always trip me up because I don’t know the difference and I’m sure as heck not going to put my book down to Google that particular color. So it seems we’re at an impasse here.
- You have to really be in it for the long haul to appreciate this book and be able to make it through the slog. There are pros and cons to writing neurodivergent characters. Pro: diversity and representation. Yay! Con: Wow, it’s hard to follow and confusing and often repetitive. Yikes. There were plenty of times that the book dragged simply by virtue of who Jasper was. I tended to be more forgiving because that’s sort of the point of the character, but it definitely bogged down in places for me.
- The very end was an awful lot of exposition explanation, which was a bit of a letdown, since I already got it, even if Jasper didn’t, and I didn’t need it spelled out to me. Some of it was a little necessary, but it felt like the overall mystery was summed up with Jasper just reciting Important Facts that his father told him. The problem is, I already knew most of these facts because of details in the previous narrative, so Jasper stating them was a little on-the-nose for me. Having the answers blatantly handed to me in the end sort of cheapened all the work I did through the rest of the novel to see the truth behind Jasper’s narrative.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
A protagonist with synesthesia and prosopagnosia (face blindness) sounds like the perfect cocktail for a mystery book. And you know what? It really was. The combination made for a protagonist that was both unique and memorable and super easy to root for.
Sarah J. Harris turns murder mystery on its head by marrying a charming, yet unreliable, narrator with a seemingly solved murder that begins to unravel. And I loved (almost) every minute of it.
Thoughts:
- This is, hands down, the best unreliable narrator I’ve ever read. Mostly because it’s unintentional. I mean, poor Jasper’s doing his best. He’s not trying to be duplicitous or cunning. Actually, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t even if he tried. Simply due to the nature of his character—a combination of synesthesia, face blindness, and autism—Jasper often doesn’t fully understand the world around him. As the point-of-view character, Jasper tells the story in the best way he knows how, leaving the reader to suss out fact from fiction. And man, it required lots of attention to details and interpreting things rather than relying solely on what you’re told. There were plenty of times I felt myself getting mad on Jasper’s behalf, because he simply didn’t understand what was happening, but there was more than enough context for the reader to pick up on it. And people suck. That’s all I have to say.
- Jasper is a really strong protagonist, and brought a unique perspective to the story. Jasper doesn’t see the world as some might. Part of that is due to his synesthesia, which gives him the ability to see sound as colors. Which is fascinating. Color was such a big theme in the book, and often, Jasper identified people by their clothes and their color. Both of which can be deceptive.
- The mystery was riveting, mostly because it seemed like it was already solved when the book started. But, as I said, Jasper’s world is often deceptive. I mean, the only witness to Bee Larkham’s murder is Jasper, but his memory’s scattered and unclear, and he’s not sure where all the pieces fit together. Everything comes into focus little by little, and it’s often required to read between the lines in order to get the entire gist. Nothing is just blatantly explained, and that kept me engaged in the story.
- The way the book ends? Cue angelic choir! So, an otherwise pleasant mystery book can be totally ruined for me with a lackluster resolution to the mystery. I mean, that’s the whole point of a mystery book, right?! So not the case here. There are several possible culprits, and each one makes sense right up until that final clue, and then it’s like … oooh.
Sticking Points:
- Jasper is obsessed with parakeets and … wow, there was a lot of bird talk. Which is great if you love birds. All you ornithologists out there, I see you. This is a book for you! Parakeet it up. But for me? Hard pass. I really couldn’t be less interested in birds if I tried. Not going to lie, there were several times I considered DNFing this book just because I couldn’t take the bird talk. I understand that it’s a quirk of Jasper’s personality, particularly with his autism and his hyperfocus on the birds, but … I just couldn’t do it. In the end, I opted to just skim or skip those bits.
- Confession: I love books that incorporate color. Also confession: I don’t understand what certain shades are supposed to look like. Which is ALWAYS a problem when reading books where color is a major theme. And yet I love them? Because I’m a bundle of contradictions. I understood why it was a thing, and yet, specific shades always trip me up because I don’t know the difference and I’m sure as heck not going to put my book down to Google that particular color. So it seems we’re at an impasse here.
- You have to really be in it for the long haul to appreciate this book and be able to make it through the slog. There are pros and cons to writing neurodivergent characters. Pro: diversity and representation. Yay! Con: Wow, it’s hard to follow and confusing and often repetitive. Yikes. There were plenty of times that the book dragged simply by virtue of who Jasper was. I tended to be more forgiving because that’s sort of the point of the character, but it definitely bogged down in places for me.
- The very end was an awful lot of exposition explanation, which was a bit of a letdown, since I already got it, even if Jasper didn’t, and I didn’t need it spelled out to me. Some of it was a little necessary, but it felt like the overall mystery was summed up with Jasper just reciting Important Facts that his father told him. The problem is, I already knew most of these facts because of details in the previous narrative, so Jasper stating them was a little on-the-nose for me. Having the answers blatantly handed to me in the end sort of cheapened all the work I did through the rest of the novel to see the truth behind Jasper’s narrative.
alba_marie's review against another edition
I only managed to get halfway through and have returned it to library because I really couldn't get into this book. Honestly, it's just version 2.0 of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (human murder instead of dog...). The book is boring and unrelatable, as are all of the characters. The time jumps are really confusing and unnecessary. None of the characters are likeable or even all that interesting (or realistic).
Being inside Jasper's head is just too much for me. I understand he's got lots and lots of medical conditions but to me, it was like being jolted around inside a toddler's brain and I just couldn't get through it - and honestly, didn't want to. It seems highly unlikely that a person would have Autism AND Synaesthesia AND Prosopagnosia AND live next to someone who happened to be murdered AND all the rest of the sordid details (won't give spoilers here). I mean, really. Oh and the parakeets!!! If I have to hear the word parakeet One. More. Time. I will jump off a cliff. Also, who calls 999 THAT many times!!?? Ugh. Anyway, it's definitely a 1 star from me because I can't leave 0.
Being inside Jasper's head is just too much for me. I understand he's got lots and lots of medical conditions but to me, it was like being jolted around inside a toddler's brain and I just couldn't get through it - and honestly, didn't want to. It seems highly unlikely that a person would have Autism AND Synaesthesia AND Prosopagnosia AND live next to someone who happened to be murdered AND all the rest of the sordid details (won't give spoilers here). I mean, really. Oh and the parakeets!!! If I have to hear the word parakeet One. More. Time. I will jump off a cliff. Also, who calls 999 THAT many times!!?? Ugh. Anyway, it's definitely a 1 star from me because I can't leave 0.
clwojick's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
shelleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve long been fascinated by synesthesia, a condition where the brains perceptions of sensory input are blended. Synesthetes may taste sounds, smell colors or see scents.
In The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder, thirteen year old Jasper Wishart hears sounds as colours.
“Lawn mower: shiny silver; Car revving: orange; Aeroplane: light, almost see-through green; Radio: pink….; Dogs barking: yellow or red; Cats meowing: soft violet blue; Dad laughing: a muddy, yellowish brown; Kettle boiling: silver and yellow bubbles”
Unusually, Jasper also suffers from prosopagnosia, known as face blindness, and is probably also somewhere on the autism spectrum, given his literal manner and self soothing behaviours. His father doesn’t understand, and is perpetually frustrated by his son’s ‘weird’ ways.
When Bee Larkham moves into the Wishart’s Street, Jasper is enchanted by the colour of her voice-sky blue, the explosions of colour from the music she plays loudly in her living room, and most particularly, the flock of parakeets that takes up residence in her garden. However not everyone is happy with the disruption Bee causes in the neighbourhood.
“Bee Larkham’s murder was ice blue crystals with glittery edges and jagged silver icicles.”
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder is essentially a murder mystery, the story of which unfolds through Jasper’s unique perspective. It is not a straightforward narrative, skewed by Jasper’s limited, and sometimes unreliable view, partially reconstructed by his ornithological log, and the paintings he creates to help him order events. I did feel the pace dragged sometimes but I was engrossed by Jasper’s distinctive voice.
A colourful and Interesting novel, Harris paints a vivid picture of an exceptional boy caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
In The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder, thirteen year old Jasper Wishart hears sounds as colours.
“Lawn mower: shiny silver; Car revving: orange; Aeroplane: light, almost see-through green; Radio: pink….; Dogs barking: yellow or red; Cats meowing: soft violet blue; Dad laughing: a muddy, yellowish brown; Kettle boiling: silver and yellow bubbles”
Unusually, Jasper also suffers from prosopagnosia, known as face blindness, and is probably also somewhere on the autism spectrum, given his literal manner and self soothing behaviours. His father doesn’t understand, and is perpetually frustrated by his son’s ‘weird’ ways.
When Bee Larkham moves into the Wishart’s Street, Jasper is enchanted by the colour of her voice-sky blue, the explosions of colour from the music she plays loudly in her living room, and most particularly, the flock of parakeets that takes up residence in her garden. However not everyone is happy with the disruption Bee causes in the neighbourhood.
“Bee Larkham’s murder was ice blue crystals with glittery edges and jagged silver icicles.”
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder is essentially a murder mystery, the story of which unfolds through Jasper’s unique perspective. It is not a straightforward narrative, skewed by Jasper’s limited, and sometimes unreliable view, partially reconstructed by his ornithological log, and the paintings he creates to help him order events. I did feel the pace dragged sometimes but I was engrossed by Jasper’s distinctive voice.
A colourful and Interesting novel, Harris paints a vivid picture of an exceptional boy caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
sarkaandraskova's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
dannimason's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5