Review: The Astonishing Colour of After

So we've finally come to an end for our journey of AAPI heritage month. I thought of adding more books but then nah, fixing myself to a schedule proved to be more stressful than I originally thought to be. So I thought, you know what, we'll be fine with this list. Reading 10 books in a month ain't easy as it is.

When Leigh's mother dies by suicide she leaves only a scribbled note - I want you to remember.

Leigh doesn't understand its meaning and wishes she could turn to her best friend, Axel - if only she hadn't kissed him and changed everything between them.

Guided by a mysterious red bird, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first

 time. There, Leigh retreats into art and memories, where colours collide, the rules of reality are

 broken and the ghosts of the past refuse to rest …

But Leigh is determined to unlock her family's secrets.

To remember.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 3.9/5, I DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND IT FOR A GOOD WHILE, THOUGHT TO DNF IT TOO.

Possible Trigger Tags:

1. Mentions of suicide

2. Mentions of depression and other mental illnesses

3. Mentions of therapy [I don't know some people find the concept of therapy triggering]

4. Mentions of self-harm

5. Mentions of racism

WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE  BOOK'S: 

1. Writing Quality: The writing quality is confusing and gets pretty boring in the middle. The continuous delving into the past and the present pretty much fucks up my concentration and it takes me so long to complete this book. It's kind of sad because the chapters are bite sized and you can get through them pretty quickly and even the beginning was awesome the middle just got boring but it got really well by the end. So kudos to that I guess.

2. Character Development: I was rather impressed with the character development that takes place throughout the story. To be honest, it would be the only character development because it is her mind that we are getting to see throughout the book. The other characters just fade away into the background so there isn't much to talk about them. From the past, one can see that Leigh is your typical lashing out teenager who hates the fact that her parents are hiding everything from her. And that's understandable. Like really, really understandable. Throughout the present there is a subtle change that takes place within her every time she goes into those smoke memories and it's impressive. It's impressive how she gradually turns from hot headed and rude to this docile and understanding person like she finally gets it as to why it happens and she finally lets go.

3. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 6/10, I thought of DNF-ing it at first because it was so boring in the middle.

4. Intellectual Depth: Like a lot of books that I read this month this book kind of deals with mental health and the issues revolving around it. Unlike other books, the main character is not the one suffering from major depression or suicidal thoughts but the theme is quite clear considering a character close to the main character is going through it. When the book delves into the past as well as into the smoke and memories one can actually get into the themes that are displayed. One can clearly see that Leigh's mother is clearly a victim of depression, and perhaps PTSD and that whatever bullshit treatment she's going through it's really not working. I could literally feel the spiral her mother went through because I myself was going through that spiral at some point, and I know what it feels like to almost give up on everything.

5. Plot: Family could be a trope in the book that was noticeable. Well not technically found family considering that Waipo and Waigong were actually Leigh's grandparents but then again they could be considered partly found. The fact that this book keeps delving between the past and the present is a bit confusing and sad for the plot because the time inconsistency is something that I do not like. TIME INCONSISTENCY IRKS THE FUCK OUTTA ME, you can't blame me for it. The magical realism kind of makes it better but only partly.

OVERALL, A DECENT READ, it's nice but not something I'll recommend.