Joseph, nicknamed Patch, was born with one eye, and had an affinity for pirate stories. Saint, a smart but odd girl, lived with her grandmother after her mother died in childbirth. As the two outcasts in their grade school, Patch and Saint became good friends and thoroughly supported each other against the other "normal" students. When their rich and beautiful classmate Misty was attacked in a field, Patch drew attention to himself and told Misty to run, which she did. Patch was held in a completely dark place for a long unspecified time by the attacker in the company of one other person, a girl who said her name was Grace. Saint, trying to find her friend, worked with the town's police chief to get a location on him and finally found him-more dead than alive. From then on, Patch, feeling guilty that he left without Grace, spent his life trying to find her, even though many people thought she was a figment of his imagination. This childhood incident took over each of the character's lives, delving into the issues of memory vs reality, the arts as therapy, the prevalence of missing girls, and the power of love and friendship.
The term "sweeping epic" is way overused but in this case I'll have to use it again. From this kernel of childhood trauma, Whitaker creates a world where nothing is the way it was meant to be-Misty falls in love with Patch, the odd kid from the wrong side of the tracks, Patch becomes an artist to conceptualize the girl in the dark who he is driven to find, Saint abandons her chance at a top-notch college to become a cop, and crimes are committed in search of a criminal. This book defies genre and trope-it is absolutely original.
I heard the author speak on a panel and was astounded to find that he was a young man from Britain who has written a few critically acclaimed books that weren't very commercial. This great American novel hopefully will change that-I feel that he has a great career ahead of him and look forward to watching All the Colors, the movie.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
Publication date - June 25, 2024
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