It's hard to defend some of the Booker Prize finalists to the casual reader. Often times they are introspective character-driven novels which have more of an intellectual value than an entertainment one. Clare Morrall's Astonishing Splashes of Colour however, was not only a Booker Prize finalist but is also one of those rare introspective character-driven intellectual novels that are blessed with a plot. Contained herein are some surprising revelations about half-way through the book (which prevent synopsis here) and a climactic ending. The casual reader and the intellectual may both gasp.
The story is told from Kitty's perspective and we are dropped into her life with no explanation or exposition. Married to a man who still lives down the hall she lives a life divided - searching for memories of her mother and trying in vain to replace the child she lost. Bizarrely, this sense of simultaneous loss and abandonment play in well with her job as a reviewer of children's literature and hint at the title's source: a line from J.M. Barrie's classic children's book Peter Pan. The abandoned urchins at the center of most children's books are usually blessed with an overwhelming sense of optimism, but Kitty is an adult and therefore not so lucky.
She is, however, surrounded by her very own pack of lost boys: four brothers and a father, all of whom share fuzzy memories of her mother. The father is the most interesting of these and his behavior which seems inscrutable in the beginning comes to make a great deal more sense by the end, leaving one to feel as if you should have seen it coming. But it is testimony to Morrall's talent that you don't. These five lost boys, each with radically different occupations and personalities are all united by their mothers' absence but seem less bothered by it than Kitty. They seem to have found their way in the world while Kitty has been trapped in the dystopian Neverland of her own mind.
It is also Kitty's unbalanced and, as becomes clear early on, unstable personality that leaves you to wonder whether what you're reading is what's really happening. Her intriguing personality is the driving force behind this book. Written with the kind of melancholy artistry reserved solely for novels it is Kitty's desperate bewilderment with the world that makes us like her. It is this particular undercurrent of sadness that only novels can make enticing and it's the kind of thing that Booker Prize judges eat up. But it should not discourage the casual reader who will find not only an astonishing amount of insight into human nature but also a great story about the death of childhood and what it means not only to look back at one's life but also to look forward.
Only the ending disappoints- and then only slightly. It's hopeful despite the overwhelmingly inevitable consequences of Kitty's actions. But this is a slight blemish on what is otherwise a highly engaging, smart, and (most importantly) entertaining book.
Only the ending disappoints- and then only slightly. It's hopeful despite the overwhelmingly inevitable consequences of Kitty's actions. But this is a slight blemish on what is otherwise a highly engaging, smart, and (most importantly) entertaining book.
