The Color Midnight Made : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This book is interesting and a good read. Characters in the book are well developed throughout the story and create a sense of reality for the reader. I would highly recommend those who read this book to read the whole book at once so they don't forget important details throughout the story and grasp the full meaning of this book.

Rating:
Summary: The author's a superb wordsmith
Review: While it's true that coming-of-age stories are not infrequently found in literature, the way Andrew Winer treats his subject is fresh, engaging and relevant. This tale of young Conrad Clay butting up against the painful realities of adulthood broke my heart, but then the story knitted the fissures and gave me hope.

Having no first-hand experience at being a ten-year-old boy, I was grateful for the guided tour into this young man's heart and head. Evenso, Conrad's story brought up a flood of memories -- being a girl child isn't really so very different. This is what makes Winer's book, and Conrad's tale, the reader's own: being ten, having to deal with the fallibility of adults, living in a tired ol' neighborhood, or watching your parents split up are experiences that many, many people can relate to intimately; but connecting into this man-child's heartaching experience, and watching him survive, made me think I can, too.

I am astonished at the dexterity of Winer's wordsmithing, and the wickedly funny (the morgue scene!) and heart-wrenching dialogue. The way he draws descriptions was nothing short of extraordinary, and some of the scene settings left me gasping. This is an excellent debut novel and I look forward to upcoming wordsmithing by Andrew Winer.

Rating:
Summary: The color of innocence
Review: Winer tells a fascinating tale of a young boy coming of age just outside Oakland, California. A young white boy living in a black neighborhood searches for his identity while trying to hold his world together. Conrad Clay, known to his friends and family as "Con" reaches from the pages and touches the reader's heart with humor, empathy, and innocence. He labors to be accepted, struggles with his feelings of disparity.

Strong secondary characters like Loop, Con's best friend, make The Color Midnight Made an undeniably worthy read. Con's parents play significant roles in the flow of the story, as does Midnight, Loop's blind brother. An anomolous story and premise, even the title of this book seeps with poeticism and profundity, and once you read this wonderful book, you too will be able to see The Color Midnight Made.

~ Reviewed by CandaceK