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A review by cheekylaydee
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris
4.0
This is the story of Jasper, a severely autistic boy who witnesses a murder. He has real trouble recognising faces, but has the extraordinary ability to see voices in colour, creating breathtaking abstract art from the sounds he sees. Across the road lives Bee Larkham who is the process of clearing out her deceased mother's house ready for sale, and she has wild parakeets nesting in the tree outside her house. Jasper becomes fixated with these birds and the colours of their songs, and Bee doesn't seem to mind if he watches them with his binoculars from her bedroom window......as long as he does something for her. Especially as the noise of the parakeets is driving the rest of the street mad, andit is up to Jasper and Bee to protect them at all costs....
There is so much more to this book than I seem to be able to write in a review. To start with, the explanations of Jasper's bursts of colour when he hears sound were difficult to get my head around, but once I did, his way of seeing the world was fascinating and frightening all at the same time. His inability to see things from others' point of view made this character vulnerable and susepitable to manipulation, and you see this happen with other characters around him that use this to their advantage. As a reader, you're in that unique position of being able to see the people around Jasper in their true colours before he does so to speak which makes this a fascinating read. Anyone interested in autism, much like 'The Incident of the dog in the night time' it has to be read.
There is so much more to this book than I seem to be able to write in a review. To start with, the explanations of Jasper's bursts of colour when he hears sound were difficult to get my head around, but once I did, his way of seeing the world was fascinating and frightening all at the same time. His inability to see things from others' point of view made this character vulnerable and susepitable to manipulation, and you see this happen with other characters around him that use this to their advantage. As a reader, you're in that unique position of being able to see the people around Jasper in their true colours before he does so to speak which makes this a fascinating read. Anyone interested in autism, much like 'The Incident of the dog in the night time' it has to be read.