Scan barcode
A review by emmafluff15
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris
3.0
This is a good mystery novel with a very unique narrator. Jasper is a 13 year old boy who has face blindness and synesthesia, which means he sees sounds as colours. It’s also hinted that he might be autistic. This is an experience and perspective, you don’t get to read about often, not from a first person view.
This boy who sees the world in a different way from most and navigates the world in a different way.
You could say that Jasper is unreliable or frustrating at telling the story but then you miss the point. This is how he thinks, how his mind operates is difficult to understand. This makes the novel unique. There is such beauty in the descriptions of the colours he sees, a vividness that I have no imagination for. This is something that stands out in this book. The descriptions of the colours of every sound around him, what sounds/colours/words he likes or dislikes.
I was also fascinated by the fact that there are no real facial descriptions of people. Yet I still created those in my own mind, as the colours of each character's voice helped to paint a picture of what they looked liked.
I enjoyed the mystery and was somewhat surprised by the ending which is how should be. But I was more drawn to the descriptions and the the way this boy lives his life. Some of it was repetitive and time consuming but I grew to enjoy this unconventional storyteller. There was a certain amount of going forward to go back again and I liked that too.
I’ve no experience with any of the issues that Jasper has in this book. I do not know if they are ‘authentic’ to lived experiences but I felt empathy, and also sympathy, for him and I felt a connection.
Some of the downsides where that it took me 3 attempts to get into the novel. I did find it difficult at first and although the mystery was good I wasn’t completely blown away. I definitely was gripped come the end but more on what happened next with Jasper and not ‘who did it’. I would recommend it to anyone that likes unconventional stories.
This boy who sees the world in a different way from most and navigates the world in a different way.
You could say that Jasper is unreliable or frustrating at telling the story but then you miss the point. This is how he thinks, how his mind operates is difficult to understand. This makes the novel unique. There is such beauty in the descriptions of the colours he sees, a vividness that I have no imagination for. This is something that stands out in this book. The descriptions of the colours of every sound around him, what sounds/colours/words he likes or dislikes.
I was also fascinated by the fact that there are no real facial descriptions of people. Yet I still created those in my own mind, as the colours of each character's voice helped to paint a picture of what they looked liked.
I enjoyed the mystery and was somewhat surprised by the ending which is how should be. But I was more drawn to the descriptions and the the way this boy lives his life. Some of it was repetitive and time consuming but I grew to enjoy this unconventional storyteller. There was a certain amount of going forward to go back again and I liked that too.
I’ve no experience with any of the issues that Jasper has in this book. I do not know if they are ‘authentic’ to lived experiences but I felt empathy, and also sympathy, for him and I felt a connection.
Some of the downsides where that it took me 3 attempts to get into the novel. I did find it difficult at first and although the mystery was good I wasn’t completely blown away. I definitely was gripped come the end but more on what happened next with Jasper and not ‘who did it’. I would recommend it to anyone that likes unconventional stories.