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hollietoftx's review against another edition
4.0
This book felt chaotic but in a good way. It was such a unique book representing synaesthesia and prosopagnosia and it's 100% worth the read.
dunder_mifflin's review against another edition
5.0
I read this for family book club and was very surprised about how much I loved it!!
katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
A world of colour, confusion, murder and obsession. Insightful and enveloping.
4.5 stars.
Jasper is a lot like Christopher Boone in 'The Curious Incident', and yes, this will definitely and with good reason receive many comparisons to that modern classic. A boy with social and emotional issues, a different way of viewing the world, incredible abilities - and the murder of a neighbour to solve, with all his disadvantages.
We've had many books use the narration of a protagonist with Aspergers or autism since Mark Haddon, but I've not seen one who has embraced a character with the much rarer condition of Prosopagnosia, an inability to identify faces. Jasper can only recognise his own father by his clothes, his voice and remarkably, his voice's 'colour' - for this young teenager also has Synesthesia, he sees colour in sound and other stimuli.
This, the author conveys with confidence and much penetration. Seeing Jasper's world, of constant strangers, is disturbing and disorientating. You can also see his father's frustration. Jasper and his dad live together in relative equilibrium, following the death of his mum. His dad left the military to take care of his son, and is not as understanding of Jasper's idiosyncrasies as his mum was, who also had Synesthesia.
Jasper lives by his routines, and lives to paint the colours he sees around him, most recently in the bright birds that have begun to come to his street for the food his neighbour Bee Larkham puts out. But now Bee has been murdered... and Jasper knows who by. But nobody believes him.
We go down blind alleys (almost literally) with Jasper, whose innocence is endearing in my opinion, as he navigates an adult world.
I found my feelings about characters changed as the book moved on and we learned more of their pasts through the unwitting conduit of knowledge, our narrator. Bee Larkham I didn't think had a redeeming quality, but I changed my mind. Jasper irritates at times, with his obsessions and routines, but when you remember what he has to contend with every day, I certainly forgave him and wanted him to come through this on top.
The murder mystery itself plays a small role for the majority of the book, a thread running through it until we are sure one way or the other that a murder is what we are looking at.
I loved Jasper's voice and viewpoint, though I still can't begin to visualise what he sees, it was fascinating to imagine Jasper's world.
A disconcerting condition to be thrown into a murder, but it gave a new dimension to a well-worn domestic drama story.
Review of a Goodreads giveaway copy.
4.5 stars.
Jasper is a lot like Christopher Boone in 'The Curious Incident', and yes, this will definitely and with good reason receive many comparisons to that modern classic. A boy with social and emotional issues, a different way of viewing the world, incredible abilities - and the murder of a neighbour to solve, with all his disadvantages.
We've had many books use the narration of a protagonist with Aspergers or autism since Mark Haddon, but I've not seen one who has embraced a character with the much rarer condition of Prosopagnosia, an inability to identify faces. Jasper can only recognise his own father by his clothes, his voice and remarkably, his voice's 'colour' - for this young teenager also has Synesthesia, he sees colour in sound and other stimuli.
This, the author conveys with confidence and much penetration. Seeing Jasper's world, of constant strangers, is disturbing and disorientating. You can also see his father's frustration. Jasper and his dad live together in relative equilibrium, following the death of his mum. His dad left the military to take care of his son, and is not as understanding of Jasper's idiosyncrasies as his mum was, who also had Synesthesia.
Jasper lives by his routines, and lives to paint the colours he sees around him, most recently in the bright birds that have begun to come to his street for the food his neighbour Bee Larkham puts out. But now Bee has been murdered... and Jasper knows who by. But nobody believes him.
We go down blind alleys (almost literally) with Jasper, whose innocence is endearing in my opinion, as he navigates an adult world.
I found my feelings about characters changed as the book moved on and we learned more of their pasts through the unwitting conduit of knowledge, our narrator. Bee Larkham I didn't think had a redeeming quality, but I changed my mind. Jasper irritates at times, with his obsessions and routines, but when you remember what he has to contend with every day, I certainly forgave him and wanted him to come through this on top.
The murder mystery itself plays a small role for the majority of the book, a thread running through it until we are sure one way or the other that a murder is what we are looking at.
I loved Jasper's voice and viewpoint, though I still can't begin to visualise what he sees, it was fascinating to imagine Jasper's world.
A disconcerting condition to be thrown into a murder, but it gave a new dimension to a well-worn domestic drama story.
Review of a Goodreads giveaway copy.
alissa417's review against another edition
4.0
Dark but thoughtful tale of a neighborhood full of characters as described by an unreliable teenage narrator. Learned a bit about a condition I knew little of, compelling plot, slow to start as you get inside kid's head, but not hard to stick with once there. Ending far more depressing than anticipated, hence only 4 stars - 3.5 seems closer to my mind. Thanks for the arc, Netgalley.
andrew_j_r's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very interesting book. It is not one that I would have found without help - it was the inaugural monthly read of a new reading group in my home town. It’s one of the reasons I love reading groups - I have been a member of some online groups before and always enjoying something that I would personally never have selected.
This is a story about a thirteen year called Jasper. Jasper has prosopagnosia, which is a condition that makes him unable to recognise faces. On top of that, he also has synaesthesia, which (in his case) means that whenever he hears a sound, he sees a colour. Because he cannot recognise faces, he knows people through the colour of their voice, although this can cause problem if, say, someone has a cold, which changes the tone and therefore the colour.
Of course, knowing the above, the title starts to make sense. I had assumed that this book was a murder-mystery, and it kind of is. Jasper is a very credulous young man, he comes across as autistic and as a result when he gets close to someone who is subsequently murdered, the clues to what happened are in his head but even he cannot see or understand them. It is very easy for other people to persuade him to believe things, and as a result, when you’re reading the book you can never be sure what you are being told is fact or a fact skewed by his interpretation of it. At the start, I was not even totally sure that Bee Larkham had in fact been killed, and that the whole thing was not an interpretational error made by the protagonist.
This book is highly enjoyable. Even though Jasper sometimes comes across like Sheldon Cooper on steroids, you to want things to be okay for him. There are lots of shades of grey in all of the characters (pun intended) which keeps you guessing about what is going on until, quite well into the book, some hard facts are presented and it does become about what happened to Bee Larkham and why.
A great read, thoroughly recommended.
This is a story about a thirteen year called Jasper. Jasper has prosopagnosia, which is a condition that makes him unable to recognise faces. On top of that, he also has synaesthesia, which (in his case) means that whenever he hears a sound, he sees a colour. Because he cannot recognise faces, he knows people through the colour of their voice, although this can cause problem if, say, someone has a cold, which changes the tone and therefore the colour.
Of course, knowing the above, the title starts to make sense. I had assumed that this book was a murder-mystery, and it kind of is. Jasper is a very credulous young man, he comes across as autistic and as a result when he gets close to someone who is subsequently murdered, the clues to what happened are in his head but even he cannot see or understand them. It is very easy for other people to persuade him to believe things, and as a result, when you’re reading the book you can never be sure what you are being told is fact or a fact skewed by his interpretation of it. At the start, I was not even totally sure that Bee Larkham had in fact been killed, and that the whole thing was not an interpretational error made by the protagonist.
This book is highly enjoyable. Even though Jasper sometimes comes across like Sheldon Cooper on steroids, you to want things to be okay for him. There are lots of shades of grey in all of the characters (pun intended) which keeps you guessing about what is going on until, quite well into the book, some hard facts are presented and it does become about what happened to Bee Larkham and why.
A great read, thoroughly recommended.
rhalfie29's review against another edition
4.0
A really interesting concept, kind of a riff on Curious Incident but exploring 2 separate neurodiversities of the protagonist, namely face blindness and synesthesia. It's clearly a trend of the past few years to explore neurodiverse perspectives and while this can take a while to get into (the specificity of Jasper's colours and shapes can be a bit mind-boggling to process), it's a worthwhile and fresh take on a murder mystery. The book was a little slow to get going but I found once the real 'whodunnit' aspect was in gear, I was fully engaged and keen to find the answer. I didn't predict the twist and the ending was satisfying. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read.
yanagicha's review against another edition
5.0
The last chapter or so felt a bit rushed, but I really enjoyed the rest of it!
tomstbr's review against another edition
5.0
A murder mystery with a seriously colourful hook. In the vein of Curious Incident but I enjoyed it a lot more.
lexxa's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
kimblefairy1989's review against another edition
5.0
I read a myriad of mixed reviews about this novel before I read it - some people seemed to love it and others hated it. I was definitely in the love it camp.
The plot centres around Jasper, a young teenager with autism, synesthesia and face blindness. We follow Jasper as he comes to terms with a murder he thinks he committed and watch as he, in his own way, tries to make sense of events and work out what actually happened.
The only thing I struggled with in this book was the way Jasper was so clearly taken advantage of in so many ways. I had also expected, based on the reviews to be sick of parakeets by 100 pages in but I actually didn't find them that trying as I found they added to Jaspers character.
Overall, this is a very solid 5 stars from me and one I'll definitely be recommending.
The plot centres around Jasper, a young teenager with autism, synesthesia and face blindness. We follow Jasper as he comes to terms with a murder he thinks he committed and watch as he, in his own way, tries to make sense of events and work out what actually happened.
The only thing I struggled with in this book was the way Jasper was so clearly taken advantage of in so many ways. I had also expected, based on the reviews to be sick of parakeets by 100 pages in but I actually didn't find them that trying as I found they added to Jaspers character.
Overall, this is a very solid 5 stars from me and one I'll definitely be recommending.