Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman'Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.
Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum -- a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?'
My Rating- 3 Stars
Genre- Young adult/ romance/ dystopia
Review- Non spoiler until there is a spoiler warning
I feel like this book has always been sat there waiting for me to read it. For years I have had teachers, friends, random people, telling me to 'read Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman!' So after all these years I finally decided to pick it up. The reason I avoided it was because it didn't really seem like my style of book, so I went into this with quite low expectations and not really thinking I would enjoy it. I feel like I was wrong and right at the same time, I haven't decided which of the two yet.
Noughts and Crosses shows a society whereby black people are in control and the white people are completely below them as 'second class citizens'. Stephy is black- a Cross. And Callum is white- a Nought. The two have always been best friends, so when they start to develop feelings for one another, the obstacles start falling in their way because a Nought and a Cross cannot ever be together.
I have really mixed feelings about this book, I found it really hard to rate and settled on 3 stars which I think I will stick with.
This book wasn't a difficult read, I was never bored and I wanted to keep reading... So it was a quite fast one for me. But my issue with it was mainly the characters. I can deal with 'the annoying characters' in books normally, when a protagonist makes a bad decision I normally just let it slide. But when I say that there were no redeemable characters in this book, I mean it, with the exception of maybe one single (and minor) character who was kind of okay, I could not understand these characters and their actions. I get that this was what Blackman was trying to achieve, but for me it wasn't really what I was looking for, at points I was fine with it... But at times I got a little frustrated. Sorry if you love this book and the complex characters are the best part for you, but personally it wasn't really my thing.
I am glad this book got as much hype as it did, we need more books in the young adult genre which deal with serious topics like segregation and racism and I feel like that is a very important part of the novel.
The chapters in this book are pretty short so it reads quickly, also the writing is quite simple so you don't have to think too hard to get through a page. Maybe I should have read this a couple of years back, but I think that this book was aimed at a slightly younger audience than me. It seemed like every couple of sentences ended with an explanation mark and I'm not sure how to describe it to people who haven't read the book, but this made Sephy and Callum kind of annoying to read at points.
It may seem like I disliked this book by the amount of criticism I'm giving it, but I did enjoy reading it. I wanted to know what was going to happen and the story was definitely interesting. If you are interested in reading this book then I would definitely give it a shot, mine is just one opinion and many people adore this book.
This is going to be the end of the non-spoiler part of this review, so if you have yet to read this book then I would recommend not going any further. If you read the book at some point then definitely come back and discuss!
Spoilers
So I'm gathering that everyone reading this knows what happens in this book... I was definitely expecting the book to end the way it did, I completely knew that one of the two had to end up dead because there is a feeling from the start that the story just won't end happily. So I wasn't too shocked at how the story ended.
I was so angry at all of these characters during this book. Lets start with Callum. I thought that Callum was going to be a good character and that he would make the right choices- he really did not. When he joined the LM I wanted to shake him, then he just kept making bad decisions. Kidnapping Sephy was probably the worst. He was definitely a complex character and I seemed to be constantly shaking my head whenever he did something. But at the same time I just felt bad for him and rooted for his relationship with Sephy- Malorie Blackman must have super powers considering how utterly conflicted I am about all of this.
Sephy was alright at times, but her character was just kind of off. Her priorities weren't always in tact and I kind of felt like shaking her as well. I really wasn't expecting her pregnancy so when it came I was pretty shocked, this was when I felt really bad for her. I don't think Sephy ever did anything wrong to deserve any of what she got, it all felt pretty unfair. But I didn't really relate to her character and she was pretty annoying at times, so she wasn't all that redeemable.
So much happened in this book, I look back at it and I don't know how Blackman managed to fit so much into one book. Nearly every member of Callum's seemed to die, Stephy's Mum trying to commit suicide, the bomb, Callum's Father's court case, the pregnancy, the kidnapping- there was always something going on. This was either a really good thing because it meant that the reader was always engrossed, or maybe bad because it led to significant parts loosing their meaning a little. The death of Callum's sister and father seemed to be swept under the carpet for much of the story which was sad.
I feel so bad for Callum's Mother, she basically lost everything. All of her children, her home, her life in general- when Callum left her all alone I literally could not believe it.
I enjoyed the relationship between Minnie and Stephy, although a little messed up, I enjoyed watching their sisterly bond grow a little. And on that good note, I am going to end this review. I hope you enjoyed this post if you have read this far and I will be back tomorrow for another day of Blogmas,
-Darcy
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