This book frustrated me a lot.
First off, Saffron. For a seventeen year old she was very naive and childlike, and it felt like reading a much younger character. Her actions didn't line up reasonably with the situation around her - she was dramatic and stubborn and over reacted, and I didn't find her a likeable of relatable character.
Also, her dad. So many false starts to finding out what happened in the past because this book used the common trope of misunderstanding, of not communicating to fuel the storyline and it was so irritating to read. How many times can you use the 'oh well he started to tell me the truth but my voicemail message reached its limit'??? Unimaginative and boring plot device.
Can we also go back to the first spark of this story? Saffron finds cards in the attic that she wrote to her mum when she was little, when she believed her mum was ill in hospital before she died. And now that she's found them, in a split second she believes her dad never took them to her mum, her dads a massive liar and her mums still alive. I mean... that's true, but also if her mum died in hospital he could have just kept them for sentimental value? Again, over dramatic, overreacting.
However, my biggest gripe with The Colour of Shadows was the homelessness storyline.
In one sense, I thought it was really great to bring attention to the issue of homelessness like this in a YA novel - to discuss the use of drugs and alcohol amongst the homeless community as a tool to getting by, the reaction of other people towards them, the loops they have to jump through to get help which becomes impossible for them, and the mental health effects. I also thought it was really important that it touches on grooming.
But, I didn't like the part Saffron played in it. For anyone to think it's okay - and not at all incredibly stupid to risk their lives - to voluntarily sleep on the street as if her home drama was anywhere near as drastic as some people's that forces them onto the street. As if it was game to her to see how long she could last, and then she wore it like a badge of honour almost - look what I was able to do. Look what I was forced to do, woe is me. I have a perfectly good bed at home with a family that obviously loves me and cares for me but I found one one thing I don't like and now I'm sleeping under a bridge. Like???
So unnecessary. So over the top. So stupid.
And it was truly insensitive and insulting to be amongst those people who had no actual choice. Not to mention the way she spoke to and about, and treated most of the other homeless characters, Maggie and Ronnie especially.
When I say Saffron is naive and incredulous, I don't at all mean this in a victim blaming way for the fact she nearly ended up a victim of grooming. I mean when she says 'children can't be homeless!' - ??? or how she doesn't understand that a fight with her dad is not at all worth sleeping under a bridge with complete strangers who could be dangerous, or that she's vulnerable to a whole host of dangers. Even when her bag and all her money gets stolen.
I did like the pacing, I liked how it was split into days and spread out over only a week, but unfortunately most of the content of this book fell flat for me.
3 out of 5 stars.
First off, Saffron. For a seventeen year old she was very naive and childlike, and it felt like reading a much younger character. Her actions didn't line up reasonably with the situation around her - she was dramatic and stubborn and over reacted, and I didn't find her a likeable of relatable character.
Also, her dad. So many false starts to finding out what happened in the past because this book used the common trope of misunderstanding, of not communicating to fuel the storyline and it was so irritating to read. How many times can you use the 'oh well he started to tell me the truth but my voicemail message reached its limit'??? Unimaginative and boring plot device.
Can we also go back to the first spark of this story? Saffron finds cards in the attic that she wrote to her mum when she was little, when she believed her mum was ill in hospital before she died. And now that she's found them, in a split second she believes her dad never took them to her mum, her dads a massive liar and her mums still alive. I mean... that's true, but also if her mum died in hospital he could have just kept them for sentimental value? Again, over dramatic, overreacting.
However, my biggest gripe with The Colour of Shadows was the homelessness storyline.
In one sense, I thought it was really great to bring attention to the issue of homelessness like this in a YA novel - to discuss the use of drugs and alcohol amongst the homeless community as a tool to getting by, the reaction of other people towards them, the loops they have to jump through to get help which becomes impossible for them, and the mental health effects. I also thought it was really important that it touches on grooming.
But, I didn't like the part Saffron played in it. For anyone to think it's okay - and not at all incredibly stupid to risk their lives - to voluntarily sleep on the street as if her home drama was anywhere near as drastic as some people's that forces them onto the street. As if it was game to her to see how long she could last, and then she wore it like a badge of honour almost - look what I was able to do. Look what I was forced to do, woe is me. I have a perfectly good bed at home with a family that obviously loves me and cares for me but I found one one thing I don't like and now I'm sleeping under a bridge. Like???
So unnecessary. So over the top. So stupid.
And it was truly insensitive and insulting to be amongst those people who had no actual choice. Not to mention the way she spoke to and about, and treated most of the other homeless characters, Maggie and Ronnie especially.
When I say Saffron is naive and incredulous, I don't at all mean this in a victim blaming way for the fact she nearly ended up a victim of grooming. I mean when she says 'children can't be homeless!' - ??? or how she doesn't understand that a fight with her dad is not at all worth sleeping under a bridge with complete strangers who could be dangerous, or that she's vulnerable to a whole host of dangers. Even when her bag and all her money gets stolen.
I did like the pacing, I liked how it was split into days and spread out over only a week, but unfortunately most of the content of this book fell flat for me.
3 out of 5 stars.