A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler
Release Date: May 8, 2010
Publisher: Flux
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher/Requested Title
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon
Terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future, sixteen-year-old Aura struggles with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.
As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.
Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process.
I have to admit that the one thing that drew me to this novel was the gorgeous cover art, but the thing that kept me reading was the beautiful writing.
This is one of the most impressively written debut novels I've read this year. (And that's saying a lot because I've read a lot of them!) But it wasn't just the writing that was so striking... the characterization, the story... everything! It was... WOW.
Aura's story is definitely one that will stay with you. To watch her struggle so intimately... it was heart-wrenching. This story is so raw and emotional... I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was hard to read at times. It was difficult to watch Aura struggle with her mother they way that she did. The hardest thing was knowing that there were so many 'responsible' adults that should have noticed what Aura was going though. I seriously wanted to slap her dad silly! What's worse is that I think he knew and he just didn't care enough. (GRRR!) So many emotions while reading this novel! Aura's dad wasn't the only character that I had strong emotions about... the characters were so well developed I couldn't help but feel a certain way about each one of them.
The mental illness aspect of this novel... the correlation between creativity and schizophrenia was very intriguing. (You can read more about that in my interview next week with Holly.) There aren't many YA novels that cover mental illness... (another one that sticks out in my mind, Dirty Little Secrets) but this is an exceptional addition to the genre.
This is such an amazing novel... (one that I think has been overlooked!) Add this to your reading piles people! Wow. I wish I could write it a better review.