Reviews

Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall

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lynnedf's review against another edition

3.0

I started this book and was instantly charmed. Kitty, our narrator is vulnerable, sad, slightly naïve, and absolutely adorable. At least she started off that way.

Chapters 1 through 6. Great. An enjoyable little read that seemed to be moving towards a happy ending.

Chapters 7 through 9. Absolutely ridiculous. Off-topic. Nonsensical.

Chapter 10. Back to the beginning - Sadness with a little hopefulness thrown in for good measure.

Strong start. Muddled middle. Decent ending.

uhm_kai's review

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challenging 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

4.0

had no idea what to expect, but the book was quite good. not sure that the whole synaesthesia asepct really came through though

Content Warnings

kalkie's review

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2.0

This is an odd little book. It follows the life of Kitty Wellington through various events as she tries to piece together her life following the death of her baby. She was brought up in a family with her father and 4 brothers, after the mysterious death of her mother and strange disappearance of her sister. As she tries to come to terms with her grief, she unravels the story of her mother's disappearance and the truth about her sister, and unearths some of the family secrets.

The story starts off well enough, and by the time it starts to drag and get boring, the reader is already well into the book. Rather than wanting to finish the book I felt more of a compulsion to do so just to see what happened. Kitty is generally unlikable, and all the characters are flat and rather two-dimensional. Even the twists and turns, which were no doubt meant to surprise the reader, were as predictable as Christmas and totally transparent.

By the end the book develops into a kind of farce with the feeling that the author had a checklist of scenarios she felt she needed to check off a list to complete a novel. Overall it reads more like a book "written by formula" with very little emotion or feeling in the pages.

I certainly won't be running out to buy any more books by Morrall.

rachelgertrude's review against another edition

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4.0

Fascinating impressions and way of describing a complex illness. The protagonist is slowly going crazy, but the reader is led to this conclusion slowly, apart from the labels we are often thrusting on anyone who is different. Beautiful way of seeing the world.

booksaremyhoard's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

3.25

nocto's review

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5.0

I loved this. I wasn't sure what to expect of it other than it sounded the most interesting when last year's Booker Prize lists came out and the title promised miracles to me. The title is actually a quote from Peter Pan and the book is all about families without mothers and mothers without families. It's also a really good portrayal of life on the edge of madness, I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's the leading or the trailing edge.

I'm a bit disappointed to find this is Morall's first book, I was hoping for a back catalogue to dive into. Write more books already Ms Morall!