Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson
My rating: 3/5 cats
tommy has been telling me about A Mango-Shaped Space for a long time now, and after reading this, i both want to read that book and also to have synesthesia myself, please. it’s like having a superpower that doesn’t require you, morally, to go out and save the world. it is more like being on a mild acid trip all the time, without any of the accompanying backaches and food-aversion.
of course, in this book, her synesthesia is compounded with other special gifts which both complicate her life and also give her additional abilities that regular synesthetes do not get to experience, but i will even take the traditional synesthesia effects, if there is a bored and license-revoked neurosurgeon out there who wants to make a quick ten bucks. i think it would make the world a richer and more entertaining place for me. and when i was stuck in a small-talk situation, i would at least have something to taste and other things to look at while i stood there, instead of feeling frantically trapped as i do.
i liked this book, but i wish i loved it as much as so many other people did.
View Spoiler »but all of that is just to say i am a terrible book rater. i have book synesthesia – after reading a book, i just “see” the number of stars cats my purely emotional gut will give it. sometimes i try to be better, more objective, and give a book merit-based stars cats instead of karen’s feeeelings, but then i remember i am not getting paid for this, and my feeeeelings are as good a barometer as any for determining a book’s enjoyability to others, and i feel uneasy when i give a star cat-rating that i don’t “feel.” it grates on me.
it is enjoyable – this is a really high three. i liked the pacing and the characters, i liked the storyline; it just didn’t punch me in the soul or do for me what i need my fours to do for me.
and i liked the relationship, even though it was inappropriate for at least three reasons. but it’s totally understandable. and i would obviously have had a crush on him, too, in her position. or even in my position, as a reader of the book. he sounds like my type, except for the whole, you know, View Spoiler » part. View Spoiler »
i also liked the part at the end, when she is ummm… overtaxed? and she is coming to terms with and understanding the different influences in her life and what she took from each person to become the girl she was. and how she hated all of those influences. or not the individuals, you understand, but that she took the wrong messages from them and became someone she regretted.
it is definitely worth your time, unless you are someone with a much more important job than mine, like AIDS research or immortality studies or a plant that grows brie. you people shouldn’t be reading anything at all, so get back to work.
