Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - All the Colors of the Dark

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

27 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

Title: All the Colors of the Dark
Author: Chris Whitaker
Genre: Literary Mystery
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: June 25, 2024

T H R E E • W O R D S

Sweeping • Intricate • Haunting

📖 S Y N O P S I S

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

💭 T H O U G H T S

This book needs no introduction as it's been absolutely everywhere for the past 4 months. I'll admit was pretty indifferent after readingWe Begin At the End, my first Chris Whitaker novel. For that reason, I wasn't initially planning to read his newest release All the Colors of the Dark. However, a few glowing reviews from trusted bookish friends with similar reading tastes as me managed to change my mind. It was an added bonus that it was selected as the October book for my in person book club.

Through deeply layered storytelling, descriptive and atmospheric writing, engrossing and quick paced chapters, and fully formed characters with complex emotions, Whitaker has delivered a new forever favourite!

While this story is in many ways dark and tragic, it is equally filled with light and hope. It unpacks a lot of trauma, yet what really stood out for me is how it is weaves an epic love story - love lost and found, biological and found family love, love between friends and romantic love, and parental love. It shows the sacrifices love asks of us and it allows love to be messy - something often forgotten.

The cast of characters is beyond large, so much so that I needed to make myself a character list to keep the connections straight. Many of the characters comes and go, but the loyalty and friendship between Patch and Saint is constant and unlike any I've read before. The narrative tells how their paths diverged and converged over the decades, each remaining vulnerable in a host of ways.

It's quite possible All the Colors of the Dark is entirely too long, however, I never got distracted with the wordiness and was immersed in the slow, constant pacing. This is exactly the type of story that will stick with me long after I've read the final page. The type of book you sit with and savour, and I did exactly that.

Marketing All the Colors of the Dark as a thriller is deceiving and an utter disservice to the novel. It does not read like a thriller. The characters feel too real and relatable for a thriller. The level of depth and emotion goes way beyond a thriller. The writing is much more exquisite than most thrillers. Simply put this just isn't a thriller - it is so much more than that. The short chapters make for an easy reading experience, yet its the writing that keeps the plot moving. A story about second chances that combines pain and loss with hope and love, I'm certain it'll be landing on many #TopReadsOf2024 lists in a few months time... Maybe even mine. It's also great on audio read by Edoardo Ballerini.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• missing person mysteries
• unlikely pairings
• coming-of-age stories
• beekeeping

⚠️ CW: kidnapping/abduction, missing person, confinement, murder, death, child death, death of parent, death of partner, sibling death, grief, rape, sexual assault, physical abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, incest, homophobia, lesbophobia, violence, gun violence, blood, injury/injury detail, fire/fire injury, pregnancy, abortion, mental illness, alcoholism, alcohol, drug abuse, addiction, cursing, terminal illness, cancer, suicide attempt, suicide, bullying, mass shooting

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Friendship was a difficult art to master."

"Saint wanted to ask what is was like, to lose the thing that defined you. But perhaps she knew it left you someone else. A stranger you had no choice but to tolerate, and see each day and feel and fear."

"Do something meaningful. Or maybe just mean everything you do."

"Why do we hold on to the bad things and forget the good?"

"'I guess maybe someone all wrong for me in the ways that counted least. We fell in love and it was like... You know when all of a sudden there is meaning. Actual true meaning and purpose.'
'Like color in the dark,' Patch said.
'Yes. Exactly yes. Nothing is so dark with them in the world.'"

"Grief is a part of life. It's the unknown that truly ruins us."

"People say it gets easier, but that’s only because each day we get a little closer to seeing them again."

"To love and be loved was more than could ever be expected, more than enough for a thousand ordinary lifetimes."

"Reading isn’t a privilege, sir. I believe we all have the right to leave our problems and escape into another world, if only through the written word."

Content Warnings

afrenette's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

tayreads10's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I laughed, cried and spanned from 1975-2001 with Saint and Patch. Twists and turns, love, hope, grief and so much more that you just have to read to understand the impact the characters will have on you. Beautiful and heart filled!

Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

2.0

Finished reading: October 22nd 2024

“We’ll exist at the extremes because the middle is where the healthy pass their time.”

WARNING: a VERY unexpected unpopular opinion review!!

Oh yes, this rating is not a mistake. I still can't believe it myself, but one of my most anticipated releases of 2024 and one I had already pencilled in as a 5 star read ended up being a VERY unexpected dud for me. I was SO excited to be buddy reading All The Colors Of The Dark with Nicki, and we both had high expectations for this book. To our surprise, both of us ended up struggling considerably with this story that so many people seem to love... It almost felt like we were reading a completely different story than everyone else, and I have to be honest here and say that I don't think I would have finished it if I had read it alone. Why did I struggle so much with All The Colors In The Dark then? I'll try to keep it brief, because I don't want to turn this shorties review in a full blown rant. Yes, it was THAT bad for me. Please don't shoot the messenger!

So, All The Colors In The Dark. I'm not sure if it was Fickle Freida ruining the day for me, but the fact is that both of us struggled considerably from the very beginning. I know that most people seem to love the writing, but for me personally it was just too flowery and it was hard to make proper sense of the sentences at times. This story is definitely more literary fiction than crime thriller; not something I expected and not a genre I usually enjoy. I know this reaction is very personal and I did become a bit more used to the writing style after a while, but I never warmed up to it and especially dialogues could be very frustrating. Why does everything have to be so incredibly vague?! I like surprises and twists in my stories, but in this case it felt like the author kept the reader in the dark until the very end, and even then things weren't cleared up in a proper way. And then I'm not even talking about the fact that you have to be able to suspend your disbelief a LOT, because there are so many situations that just don't make sense...

What more? Well, definitely the fact that All The Colors In The Dark is just so incredibly SLOW. I know that this is a character-driven story and those tend to be slower, but this was just glacial pace almost throughout. Directly linked to this is the fact that this story is just extremely overlong; it could have been cut in half and it would still be overlong for me. I think I would have enjoyed this story so much more as a crime thriller... But then again, literary fiction doesn't usually work for me in the first place. I wasn't a fan of the short chapters either, and to make things worse they jumped all over the place. Add a boatload of characters that I was never able to warm up to, probably partly due to the writing style and wonky dialogues, and it was a struggle to keep reading. Sure, I'll say that I did like Saint and Patch initially, but only before Patch was kidnapped. Afterwards, their behavior started to frustrate me more and more, and I wasn't a fan of how everyone seems to be enabling Patch's behavior. And then I haven't even mentioned the focus on religion in part of the plot... And the fact that the ending itself was mainly confusing and utterly not worth the time we invested to finish it despite our struggles. I'm so glad we buddy read it with Nicki though, because we could compare and talk through our frustrations on Twitter. It took us ages to get through this story, but mostly because we couldn't really stomach more than a dozen or so chapters each day... And it is honestly a miracle we even finished it.

Yikes, this review ended up being a rant after all... As you might have already guessed, All The Colors Of The Dark and me REALLY didn't get along. I'm still shocked myself, because I absolutely loved his previous book We Begin At The End... But this story most definitely wasn't my cup of tea.

Content Warnings

beate251's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is an epic, sweeping story spanning almost 30 years and has as many characters. To give a synopsis is almost impossible but I will try. It all begins in 1975, when teenager Joseph "Patch" Macauley rescues popular Misty Meyer from a kidnapper but gets snatched instead.

Against all the odds, he is found a year later by his friend Saint Brown. But he is not the same anymore, and he can't stop talking about a girl called Grace who periodically shared his cell and kept him sane by sharing knowledge and travel stories. Police Chief Nix and others think his mind has conjured her up as a means to stay sane but Patch dedicates his life to finding her again. Under the guidance of his mentor Sammy he paints her and other missing girls, many who turn up dead later.

There is definitely a serial killer on the loose but no one can catch him. Patch is in a relationship with Misty for a while, then starts wandering the country, visiting parents of missing girls and now and then robbing banks, only to give the money to charities that look for missing persons.

Saint grows up to become a police officer and she never lets go of finding Patch's abductor - and Grace. When Patch turns Robin Hood it sets them on a collision course, but they will never stop being friends, having each other's back.

When I say I read this in one sitting and you look at the page count you will surmise that I must have lost sleep at night. Yes, massively, but I couldn't stop. The chapters are so short, just one or two pages long that it was easy to simply read "just one more chapter".

But I am deducting points for the length because I think a good author should be able to get a story done within about 400 pages. There were definitely passages that dragged and were repetitive.

I also couldn't understand that it took decades for the serial killer to be found and the mystery of Grace solved. Saint had so many recordings of Patch giving her information and they knew who they were looking for, her not finding the right info earlier felt absurd. A man nearly died under the vile death penalty, for goodness sake!

This is the story of many traumas. This is the story of a pirate and a beekeeper, of a man who touched so many lives, and in the end they came through for him. This is a story of second chances, of friendships and of never giving up. Impressive stuff.

Content Warnings

maddiela's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.5

Content Warnings

kimveach's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to like this book, but it was slow and overwhelmingly sad. It's a story about hope, but all the trauma and tragedy was too much for me.

Content Warnings