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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick in Books

Sep 24, 2020

The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick

Hattie Holden Edmonds | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The protagonist in this book is Oskar, and the whole story is told from his perspective. He is a misery artist, which I found very amusing. I had no idea it is a thing. 😀 I really liked the protagonist’s personality, until I found out, that he is not that innocent as I thought. Oskar came to the saddest place in Germany, looking for the inspiration for his next painting, but he got sucked in into local affairs very quickly. I really liked how the author picked the characters for this book. I loved the way she portrayed the complexity of the people and how their life stories unravelled.

The narrative of this novel was very interesting to follow. We have Oskar telling his story and describing his relationships with the citizens at the present time, but at the same time, he time travels to his childhood as well as sharing an unbelievable story from his recent past. Because of this constant change in the plot, the story went pretty quickly for me. There are some parts which didn’t really make sense to me, but I liked the message behind it. I really liked the topics used in this book, such as parenting, homelessness, misery, lack of socializing, alcoholism, loneliness etc.

The setting of this book was very unusual, I loved that the story was set in Germany, and the atmosphere of this book felt like everything around is grey and colourless, and Oskar is this little sparkly gem, which makes everything better and brighter. I can not exactly describe the feeling it created. 🙂 I really liked the writing style of this book, it is very creative but at the same time quite simple and understandable. The chapters are pretty short, and the pages flew by quick. The ending rounded the story nicely and left me satisfied with the outcome.

So, to conclude, I really enjoyed this amusing book, set in a very intriguing place, and filled with very unique and complex characters, whose life stories created something unforgettable.

Kudos

Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Fire Colour One in Books

Jun 24, 2019

This is one of those books that you see displayed in the library and just think, "What the heck? I'll give it a go."

This is YA book, as most of the books I read are. It's named after a painting, which ends up as quite a significant aspect in this novel.

Iris lives with her mother Hannah and step-father Lowell. She doesn't remember her real father. Hannah has always told her that he didn't want her, that he didn't care. She blamed him for their debts, their problems.

Thurston is Iris's best friend, her only friend. He means everything to her. He's always been there for her, until she has to move away to England without any means of telling him where she's gone.

Iris herself is a pretty troubled girl. Family life isn't great - Hannah and Lowell want her to be more like them, more conscious of her appearance and wealth. But all Iris really cares about is fire. There's nothing like the soothing flicker of a flame.

When she meets her father Ernest, Iris soon realises that everything she's been told by her mother has been a lie. He didn't leave her; Hannah took her, changed her name and hid. Ernest had been searching for her for years. But now it was too late.

The book actually begins with Ernest's funeral, and sort of goes backwards a few times. There's memories written throughout, clips from the past. We slowly learn more and more about Iris's personality, and we watch her re-develop her relationship with her father.

It's actually a pretty great book. It's so realistic, and unique. It isn't a fantasy, it isn't a cheesy romance, it isn't even really a book with a typical happy ending.

Although I wouldn't have searched this book out in particular, I am happy I read it. I'm not sure it quite gets 4 stars from me, so I'll give it 3.5.