It’s hard to know what to say about this brilliant book that hasn’t already been said in all the other 5 star reviews.
I would go as far as to say this is a modern day classic, an epic novel that spans 25 years. For me it has a similar vibe as To Kill a Mockingbird. It very much character driven, the main characters are Patch and Saint. It doesn’t really sit in a specific genre, it crosses a number of different genres. The book is beautifully written, Chris Whitaker is a master storyteller.
Originally, I started listening to this on Audible and got just under half way through however, I gave up and decided to read the book from the start, I’m so glad I did.
All the Colours of the Dark
Audible Audiobook
– Unabridged
Most Popular
Page 1 of 1Start AgainPage 1 of 1
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
Reviews with images
A story full of sacrifice, with short chapters and complex characters
'Saint wanted to ask what it was like, to lose the thing that defined you. But perhaps she knew: it left you someone else.'This is a story full of sacrifice. Patch sacrifices his life to find Grace, and Saint sacrifices her life to set Patch free by journeying a different way to find Grace. But there are so many more sacrifices than this, even sad ones coming to light at the very end of the book from unexpected characters. This writing is quite different to what I'm used to and the chapters much shorter. I found it weird at first, but I soon adapted.After Patch's return, he discovers art and paints beautiful portraits of what he believes Grace to look like and of other missing girls. I could see them come to life in my head. I love how he saw in paint shades. The one thing I would have loved added to this book is an artist recreating those paintings to add to the pages.Even though this book has a standout plot, I can't help feeling that it's the characters who really make it what it is. I felt strong empathy for Saint, wanting her to find true happiness instead of putting it aside to do whatever she could to help Patch. A brave, strong, determined lady who deserved more. But even characters I thought I'd dislike I ended up loving. Misty, who I thought was going to be the popular mean girl, turned out to be anything but. Sammy, the drunk who has an air of only caring about himself has a big heart he doesn't like to show. Charlotte with a sharp and witty tongue who was just hiding her vulnerability and covering how she truly felt. By the end of the book, I really took to her and found many laugh-out-loud moments in her words.This book is truly a journey, one with many twists and emotional moments. And as with life, not everyone gets what they want or the life they deserve or dreamed to have. This feels like a love story between Patch and Saint, even if a very different one from what I would have wanted for them and a different sort of love to what Saint desires. I can't help wondering if that would have been different had Patch not been kidnapped.'The shrink they make me see, she taps her pencil and frowns at me. And she talks about how we construct our ideals out of our own past mistakes. And I wonder what exactly a mistake is. A thing we should not have done, right? But if learning is built on trial and error there can be no mistakes, only rungs on a ladder to someplace better.'
