Book Review By Sunaina Luthra

Rating: 4/5

Is it easy or way too difficult to recognize the real intentions of people; the façade is usually an ice-breaker but beneath it lies the veracity of misjudgements.  Sometimes, the precarious moods and vibrations stare incognito; the real emotions hidden, unresolved and unattested.  A tumbling block, indeed for people like me! Difficult to assess if the holier pretences are a highfalutin deep inside!

Sometimes I ponder what if I am induced with a natural gift?

A power to see people through their aura and colours

Black for presentiment of danger

Pink and red for endearment

Golden for beauty

Purple for suspicion

White for tranquillity

Wow!! It will be a mounted risk worth taking

Acompassionatesoothsayer,Alice Kelly possesses this extraordinary gift to be able to visualize colours around people siphoning varied emotions.  Bright and intense, these colours help Alice decipher their thoughts and feelings as she suffers from a rare phenomenon called ‘Synaesthesia’. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, her gift seems a curse for her. The incense of familiarity inside someone else’s mind cohabits as a hermit. As perilous circumstances moon over her life – her mother lily’s illness leadsher to be the caretaker and Olie—her brother sentenced to prison.

To deter people’s feeling and emotions that invade her, Alice wears sunglasses, gloves and face mask, thusmaking her distinct fromothers.  For self- discovery and to free herself from her cocooned existence,Alice soon decides to move to London to create a life of her own.Encapsulated in her desire to free herself from ‘Synaesthesia’ she accidentally meets Andy—the onlyperson with whom she can be her real-self and the only one without any colour.                                   

IsAndy her only shred of hope for a new beginning?

Will Alice realize that clairvoyance she possesses is a gift and not venom?

Cecelia Ahern is known to write evocatively about love,relationships and self discovery. From her first book ‘P.S I love you’ to her new ‘in a thousand different ways’, the protagonist of her books have been like a phoenix emerging empowered and invincible from their pain and loss.

It is believed that negative emotions are more contagious than positive ones. Hence we make every effort to keep away from people and situations that breeds negativity. The same happens with our protagonist in the book—the sadness, rage and dark thoughts enveloping people become overwhelming for her and deters her to lead a normal life. Inspite of her own difficulties obnubilating her life, Alice possesses a strong zeal to walk the greener pastures.

Takeaway

Human spirit is unique; it has the power to uplift us from deep ditches of uncertainty, fear and turn us more resilient and tolerant.  Mustering courage in the face of obstreperous situations and areown discomfitures, all that is required is to find a glimmer of hope. Alice’s spirit is an inspiration for many who are shrouded in their despair but aprospect for a better future keeps them determined to walk ahead head-high.