Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Delightfully Breathtaking, January 12, 2006
This review is from: Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely (TrueColors Series #1) (Paperback)
Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely/ Melody Carlson
NavPress, 2004, 196 pages
Young Adult Christian
Jordan Ferguson makes cheerleading squad and starts making new popular friends. Her best friend Kara who she has known all her life is suddenly being left out.
Color Me Lonely, is about two best friends Kara and Jordan. Jordan and Kara do everything together but when Jordan suddenly wants to become a cheerleader Kara is not eager to follow her best friends plans. Jordan tries out for the cheerleading squad her freshman year in high school but fails to make the team. Kara is actually reluctant her friend doesn't make the team than sad for her. When sophomore year comes around Jordan enthusiastically wants another chance at becoming a cheerleader. When Jordan makes the team this year Kara is sad and upset and wonders what may happen to their friendship. Jordan starts ditching Kara to hang out with her new cool popular friends. Kara feels like she has no one and her best friend has totally deserted her. Kara makes new friends eventually and her life is suddenly coming together. Kara also finds god and realizes how much of a friend he can really be when needed. Jordan on the other hand, is no longer getting along with her" popular" friends because of a incident that went on at the dance. With open arms, she comes running back to Kara for support and a shoulder to cry on. Kara doesn't seem to want it this way anymore.
Color me Lonely is a great start to Carlson's True Color series. I think that this book shows friendship and how much a person can turn to god when something goes wrong. I think this book shows great character in Kara and shows the ability Carlson has to capture her heart. Melody Carlson did a wonderful job at making every page of this book more exciting each paragraph. The twists and turns in this book left me thinking about life and kept my heart racing.
If Melody Carlson's point in writing this book was to make teens think, she was successful. Carlson explained in great detail throughout this book how turning to God with a problem could make every problem seem just a bit smaller. Carlson's writing was very unique and it is a very powerful start to her series. The only weakness in the book was I think she drug the part of the book out where Kara had no friends. Most of the book Kara was having trouble making new friends and it made me more depressed than happy to read the book. Regardless of this flaw, the book was hard to stop reading. Carlson did a very good job in writing the ending. I think Melody Carlson writing about teen Christians is a very brave move. Religion is a serious topic in most cases but Carlson presents it well in her book really explaining what teens go through until they find God in their life. She was right on topic the whole book explaining exactly what teenagers go through and she presents many great results for their problems. Some parts of her novel were depressing and made me upset but I still kept reading. For the most part the booked move me into thinking about my own life and how I can make it better through God. I would highly recommend this book to any teenager who is going through any problem. This novel is also recommended for anyone for just a great novel to sit down and read. Carlson will really catch your eye with all her twists and turns and her book will really make a person think.
Color Me Lonely is a wonderful book every teenager should read. The book may have depressing moments but do not be discouraged if the person keeps reading the ending is breathtaking. Color me lonely will leave any persons mind working and ready to keep reading more of her wonderful stories.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A poignant novel that explores loneliness, friendship, and finding faith, March 16, 2006
This review is from: Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely (TrueColors Series #1) (Paperback)
Melody Carlson has created an emotional touchstone resource for female teen readers in her series titled True Colors. A prolific author of over seventy books, and mom to two grown sons, Carlson has taken a reminiscent look back at her own teen years to write this story. The result is terrific, and young adults will find Carlson's fiction closer to "true" life than they might anticipate.
The story's primary message is based on the excruciatingly painful emotion of loneliness and how it can overwhelm, undermine, and skew the ability to function in a healthy way. Kara Hendricks is a quiet girl, but when outgoing Jordan Ferguson takes her hand (way back in kindergarten) and announces her loyalty, Kara and Jordan become best friends for the better part of eight years. Fast forward to high school: Jordan now announces to the still shy and reticent Kara that she's going to try out for the cheerleading squad. Kara is abhorrent but supportive. Shockingly, Jordan does not make the team, to Kara's clear relief. The following year Jordan will not be dissuaded and tries out a second time; she makes the team, to Kara's obvious discomfort.
What follows is not so unusual in the basic fictional formula, where two former best friends take their separate paths --- one's heart is broken (the one left behind) and the other moves on to better and brighter things. This story aptly describes the day-to-day heartaches that Kara experiences as a friend no longer needed or wanted in Jordan's now-popular social set. While the book could read blandly and predictably, Carlson does some creative wordplay and continually draws readers smack-dab into Kara's volatile emotional journey, thus ensuring a lively, engaging read. Using such emotionally charged phrases as "...another part of me is dark blue, and I feel buried alive in a deep and bitter grief," and "I am lonely. Unspeakably lonely. And there is this dull empty ache inside of me. Sometimes I think it might actually kill me. But perhaps that would be a relief," Carlson successfully gets her readers' attention.
DARK BLUE: COLOR ME LONELY follows Kara though the school year as she works to survive her emotional funk. She meets new people, slowly engages with them, and learns about true friendship. In the midst of her deepest feelings of despondency, Kara reaches out to God and makes a connection with Christ --- her now "best friend." The author explores Kara's newfound faith tenderly yet with a frank transparency that works well with the current tempo of the entire text. Young adults will not only appreciate the candor with which this topic is explored, they'll find themselves seeing social situations in a whole new (and enlightened) way.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alone, November 22, 2005
This review is from: Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely (TrueColors Series #1) (Paperback)
This book was pretty good about a girl named Kara Hendricks, who lost her best friend due to cheerleading. Kara's one and only friend, Jordan Ferguson, tried out for cheerleading and made the squad. Jordan still hung out with Kara until the "popular" chicks started to stick around Jordan and became friends with her. Kara became depressed and lonely because Jordan wasn't really friends with her anymore. She kept thinking Jordan would come back but every time her hopes got high, they would crash back down again. Kara was in art class or what some people would call it a "geeky" class and she started to talk to these 3 outcasts, Edgar (school nerd), Amy (Goth), Felicia (fashion disaster). She was invited to an art show with Felicia and Felicia's friend, Jessie. Kara enjoyed the show but felt kind of left out because Jessie and Felicity kind of ignored her. Then the Harvest Dance came up and Kara wanted to go but couldn't show her face to Jordan. Then Amy (in her future she wants to become a fashion designer) thought that Kara and Edgar could go together. Kara wasn't so sure until Amy gave Edgar a makeover and overall, Kara thought he looked like a cutie. Kara got a makeover and looked like a girl from the sixties. She and Edgar went to the dance. Kara liked going with Edgar but Jordan and her popular friends got a little snooty. From there, Kara no longer wishes to be Jordan's friend and begins to come closer with the 3 outcasts.
Things I liked about the book are that Kara finally was becoming friends with the outcasts because she was getting a little annoying weeping over Jordan, that she got saved by God and finally cheered up, and this book had good detail but not many thrills. The book was good and once in a while I couldn't put it down. But sometimes I could. Anyways the things that I disliked are some parts near the end that deals with Edgar's family. It is sad and Edgar is already the school nerd, he shouldn't have those troubles also. Another thing I dislike about the book is that Kara was always weeping! Everything practically revolved around Jordan. It became annoying after a while. But the book was overall good.
The people who I think would like this book is definitely girls. Also girls who are Christians might like it because it does have a religious touch dealing with Kara getting saved. This book is also realistic fiction so people who like realistic fiction would like it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
