An insightful and thought-provoking read.
Whilst it’s impossible to fully understand the emotional, psychological and, at times, physical impact of being constantly aware of other people’s emotions through the colourful auras which surround them, I think that Cecelia Aherne’s depictions of the struggles Alice faced throughout her life as a result of her synaesthesia enabled me to gain some insight into how stressful this ‘gift’ can be. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for Alice, from such an early age, to not only be able to ‘read’ what other people were truly feeling, whatever persona they were choosing to present to the world, but also to feel the need to isolate herself to some extent in order to protect herself from being overwhelmed by the power of other people’s emotions. I liked the fact that the story explored a wide range of themes, including the impact of growing up in a dysfunctional family, neurodiversity, mental illness, as well as the importance of loving relationships and friendships when facing any of life’s challenges.
Although I felt that at times the pacing of the storytelling was rather uneven, particularly the rather rushed covering of most of Alice’s adult life in just thirty pages, I nevertheless appreciated how the author portrayed her many struggles in such an empathetic and sensitive way and found this novel surprisingly thought-provoking.
A captivating page turner.
This author is new to me and I am pleasantly surprised. I was immediately drawn into the story, into the troubled life of Alice Kelly who has the curse/gift of synaesthesia.
Alice is highly sensitive and is able to recognise people’s moods and emotions, seeing the emotions as colourful auras surrounding each individual. This is not always a pleasant experience.
Her “gift” made an appearance when Alice was eight years old and as a child she was often overwhelmed by this constant barrage of emotions. In order to cope she shut herself off from interaction with others and occasionally lashed out with bad behaviour. She was classed as a "difficult child". Her home life was miserable and her family dysfunctional.
Alice is a complex character and we follow her throughout her life as she meets people who are able to help her with her situation.
I have one main criticism and that is the story has a strong focus on Alice’s childhood and early adulthood, while several decades of her later life are covered in the last forty pages or so. This does seem very rushed.
However this did not detract from the overall enjoyable reading experience. An emotional and thoughtful page turner.