Publication Date: March 10, 2015
Hardcover, 304 pages, Simon Pulse
Genres: YA, Contemporary
A poignant and unexpectedly funny
novel about Francis - one of the best and bravest teenage boy narrators since
Adrian Mole. This is an emotionally honest story about wanting the very best
from life, even when life shows you how very bad things can be.
Francis Wootton's first memory is
of Kurt Cobain's death, and there have been other hardships closer to home
since then. At fifteen years old he already knows all about loss and rejection
- and to top it all off he has a permanently broke big brother, a grandma with
selective memory (and very selective social graces) and a mum who's at best an
acquired taste. Would-be poet, possible intellectual and definitely wasted in
Tyne and Wear, Francis has grown used to figuring life out on his own. Lower
Fifth is supposed to be his time, the start of an endless horizon towards
whatever-comes-next. But when he is diagnosed with leukemia that wide-open
future suddenly narrows, and a whole new world of worry presents itself. There's
the horror of being held back a year at school, the threat of imminent
baldness, having to locate his best shirt in case a visiting princess or
pop-star fancies him for a photo-op . . . But he hadn't reckoned on meeting
Amber - fierce, tough, one-of-a-kind Amber - and finding a reason to tackle it
all - the good, the bad and everything in between - head on. In Bloom is a
bright, funny, painful and refreshing novel about wanting the very best from
life, even when life shows you how very bad it can be. It is a novel about how
to live.
My Review
Francis Wootton is a normal kid.
Well, as normal as a 15-year-old English boy with few friends, a love of
literature, and a dastardly case of leukemia can be. He’s supposed to be strong
and stoic in the face of potential death, but how can he be when his mother is
seemingly going off the deep end and his big brother keeps stealing their food?
In pops Amber, another teenager stuck in the chemo ward. And once Francis sees
her, it’s kind of… err… not really, love at first sight. But there is
chemistry.
Francis is an eclectic character.
His mannerisms, jokes, views on life, and everything else about him will make
you smile from ear to ear. And his interactions with his family, while
sometimes sad and depressing (but that’s bound to happen with any story about
sick children), are the stuff of every YA readers dreams. For once there is a
family depicted in young adult literature that is so imperfect that it’s
beautiful and wonderful. Instead of this book focusing on the dynamic between
two love-struck teenagers, it focuses on the overall relationships a young,
sick boy would have with those around him. You get to know his overbearing-ish
mother, his broke brother, and his crazy grandmother all without detracting
from the storyline.
While Amber is somewhat of an
acquired taste, her romance with Francis is incredibly realistic. And unlike
the somewhat romanticized version of love that’s in popular “sick lit” today,
the characters are not only emotionally flawed, but physically flawed as well.
There are facial blemishes; disappearances of hair…everywhere; and most
importantly, but unfortunately for the characters, there is an abundance of
sickness.
While The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise is a fantastic depiction of
real people, both the sickly and the not so, remember that this book is written
from the perspective of a boy in England, so the first few pages might be a
little hard to get into, but once you get used to the dialog, the story will be
well worth your time. Just don’t forget to keep a couple of tissues handy.
*Note:
I borrowed a copy of this book to review for Book Review Board of Missouri.
This in no way altered my opinion/review.
A good read but I wish they had made it longer. The ending felt incomplete.
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