Review: Beautiful, evocative coming of age novel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2014
Even in the best of families, growing up is often hard. Sunday Oshiro-Morning is the 4th daughter of two flower children who became overnight stars, sensation singing artists and founding members of the hottest band of their generation. Their gentle parenting style works with the first three girls, but from a very early age, Sunday is strong willed, jealous, and needs more than her family can give. She is a nasty little girl, who becomes even more challenging when the fifth daughter is born with special needs. The fifth daughter requires parental focus and enormous attention and Sunday feels betrayed and angry. As she grows up, the problems become more and more pronounced, until at the age of 15,  she is the catalyst for a disaster so terrible that it tears her apart to the point where she believes she can never return home. Is that true? What happened on that horrible December night? What could have been so terrible that Sunday lives among the poor in another country under an assumed name? Can she ever come home?Barcelos has continued to develop her talent since her debut novel, Mean. Myself in Blue is beautiful, well developed with characters who we don't want to leave at the end of the book. The writer creates the mystery beautifully, but the real fun and beauty of the book is in the backstory and the psychological tension that drives the family drama and the individual characters. Read this book! I promise that you will be delighted but 'warning': it will leave you wanting more.