The Other Side of Blue Book

Five Reasons Why This Book Was Not Ready To Be Published

1. Look at this simile: "... and her mixing palette has dried out, the smudges of blue paint wavy and stiff under my touch like a bad van Gogh imitation." (p.5) What? What is that even supposed to mean? That's a poor excuse for a simile, not only for the fact that this author is brave enough to throw van Gogh out there, but also because THIS COMPARISON JUST DOESN'T WORK. Just think about it. She's comparing paint in a palette to a "bad van Gogh imitation"? That's a little bit over the top, don't you think? (Sorry, but that sentence was bothering me quite a lot when I was reading this book.)

2. I don't quite understand the main character, Cyan. She's whiny, bratty, and clearly stuck in the blues (no pun intended) after her father dies. She steals her mother's paint. (oooh! so bad!) She is cold and distant towards her soon-to-be-new stepsister. But there will be sudden random metaphor-ey phrases that Cyan makes, which is just a little too deep for a girl like her. For example, sometime in the exposition of the book, she says "But what is the color for lost?" We have to be realistic now. What kind of pinchy 15 year old says those kinds of things?. Don't even get me started there. Then there's the *SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER* ending. The author really had to fit in the part about Pandora's box. Been there, done that, WRITE UP SOMETHING FRESH PLEASE. I am absolutely sick of these sorts of references to Greek mythology. Like I said, Cyan is crabby throughout the whole book, and suddenly, it's all "Oh, hope! We still have that!" Hope for what!? Forgive me for being extremely one-sided, but I really, really, did not like the way figurative language was portrayed in this book.

3. The heartburn-panicky determination Cyan has to solve the mystery of her father's death. The guy is gone 3/4 of the year, and how he ended up stuck in a net, drowned, is never solved. I was honestly curious about how he died, but the author felt it in her right to not give us much of a grand finale for the resolution. Maybe she was aiming for the kind of plot in books where unresolved mysteries were okay. It doesn't work for a book this brief, disconnected, and completely filled with holes. Not a very wise move for a first time author.

4. The cave scene. WHOA. What the heck? Do I even need to explain this part?

5. I felt that the author could have actually stretched out the book even longer. I felt that the plot was too short to actually get into, and the characters were barely warming up before the book ended. Also, Martia. I'm not sure I understand her connection with Cyan. But like I said, this book could have been, uh, thicker.

Why I gave it two stars and not one star: I liked the way setting was portrayed.

P.S. I apologize to infuriated readers who have read this review who praise this book as "beautiful, stunning, and just as reminiscent to the Caribbean that it is set in!" (not that i've seen any reviews like that. yet.)