Customer Reviews

A Patch of Blue

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Elizabeth Kata's poignant novel, "A Patch of Blue," details the brief relationship of a young white woman from the South who falls in love with a black man in the early 1960s. Selina is a young woman of eighteen years, blinded accidentally by her mother when she was five. She is neglected, mistreated and abused by the miserable people she lives with, her prostitute mother and drunken grandfather. Somehow, Selina is not scarred by these wretches and grows up to be an attractive, sensitive, caring young woman. Her survival over these odds is almost beyond belief, because of the torment this girl endured quietly for eighteen years. At one point, Rose-ann, Selina's mother, returns, violent and wild, from her minimum-wage job of cleaning restrooms. In a frantic rage, she shatters all the kitchenware, which is left on the floor for Selina to fall on later. She then attacks her daughter. Wrenching her by her hair from under a dirty cot that serves as a bed, she brutally beats her until Selina is bruised, bleeding and vomiting. The plot begins to develop when Selina meets Gordon Ralphe, a stranger, in the park. He treats her with respect and is determined to get her away from the two despicable people she lives with. Their neglect has caused her to be illiterate and ignorant to the ways of the world for having been locked up in a one-room apartment for over thirteen years. Gordon sees that it is imperative for her, as a grown woman, to be educated and aware of the world and out of the harm's way at home. It is no wonder that Selina and Gordon fall in love. He is her only friend and the only person she has ever known to treat her kindly. She is sweet, beautiful, tender, affectionate and tolerant of him, qualities he values in a woman. There is one complication: Gordon is black. In the 1960s, a decade often characterized by racial and ethnic discrimination and hate in the South, this difference poses a serious problem. But what does Selina care? She's blind. Except for the fact that for the few colors she remembers from early childhood, she hates the color black, there should be no problem. She feels this way about the color black partly because she lives with her extremely prejudiced mother and grandfather. Mostly, though, this feeling comes from being trapped in black darkness forever because of blindness. Can their brief, but intense, love break such a strong social barrier? Or are they destined to be separated forever? I won't give away the ending, except to say that I was very disappointed. It was a great story, excellently written, but I found it lacking in the end. It ended flatly and without any clear resolution. The reader is left suspended, thirsting for more details and answers. You may feel as I do, annoyed with a weak finish, or you may be slightly surprised, as it takes an unexpected turn.

A Patch of Blue is an outstanding book! It is set in the 1960's when race and prejudice was a problem. A blind girl named Selina gains and loses many things throughout her life. She falls in love with a man without knowing his race. Being blind still makes it hard for her not to be prejudiced against others, as that's all she knows due to her childhood. Her love for Gordon teaches Selina not to be prejudiced, and she finally realizes people are people no matter what their race. Although the book does not have a typical ending, it has a profound effect. A Patch of Blue is a very enjoyable and memorable book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys love stories, as well as learning about life.

This story focuses around a poor blind named Selina, born into a poor family which abuses and neglects her. She struggles with her disability but also struggles to get a foot-hold into a "normal" life. Not an uplifting story, this is book is brutally honest about the effects of an abusive family on a fragile spirit. Depressing, somewhat, and begins to ask some valid questions about the human condidtion. Unfortunately, it stops there. Interesting only up to a point, I found myself skimming pages, looking for a brake in the rambling storyline. This book would most likely be intriguing only to those unfamiliar or just begining to get into social comentary. Not for the advanced readers, or even mediocre readers. Most likely for the 6th to 7th grade area. I won't give anything away, accept to say it ends weakly. Nothing unexpected in this story. I saw the plot "twists" coming at me like a mac-truck on an otherwise lonely highway on a 3 mile long level plain in Idaho with beacon head-lights a five A.M. Not to say the book is bad, per se, probably better for someone younger than me, though. After reading more advance novels like "To Kill a Mocking Bird", "A Patch of Blue" reads kind of like "The Cat in the Hat". The only implications or metaphores in this book are so easily read that you'd have to lock the book in the bottom of a file cabinet to not see them (a plus for some readers), most of which center around colors, and a few around race. If you're looking for some lighter reading (light as in easy, not as in happy), read this, as long as you're not used to difficult novels. If, however, if you're looking for anything with a little more depth or challenge, I wouldn't suggest it.

Since I am black this book The Patch Of Blue was very interesting. I liked the book. It was a love story about a blind white girl that was in love with a black guy who she never knew was black. I hated the fact that Ole Pa and Roseanne taught her to be racist and that Rosseanne mistreated Selina.

I recommend tihs book to those who are in Selina's situation to let them know life is not about color.

This is the story of Selina, a young woman who was blinded at an early age and lives a life of squalor with her hootchie mama and her drunken grandfather. In the park one day stringing beads (her work) she meets Gordon, and they fall in love with one another's inner beauty. Gordon is the only one who has cared enough to teach her anything. Selina's mother has plans to use her daughter in a whorehouse, and it looks like Selina will be forced to go along with it unless Gordon can save her. A movie was made of the novel in the 1960's with Elizabeth Hartman as Selina; Sidney Potier as Gordon; Shelley Winters as the mother; and Wallace Ford as "Ole Pa", the grandfather. The movie stays true to the book, which is wonderful as the book is so beautifully written. It really made a statement for racial equality in its time and still does today. It's a short book, and worth the investment of both time and money for a story you will never forget.

A Patch of Blue is an excellent book. I really like the story. At first I thought it was going to be a sad story. It turned out to be a love story. It is set in 1960's when race was a problem,when white and black people did not get along. I did not like the ending because they did not get together.

A Patch of Blue is an excellent book, but like almost any book, it has flaws. I really enjoyed this book because of the messages it sent. It teaches us that evil will never conquer a good heart. It teaches us that we are all te same, we are all people, and we all have the capabilities to love each other no matter what race or religion. Besides this, the book is very descriptive. If not for the book's lacking ending, I would have given it five stars.

I read this book for my high school English class. After i had procrastinated the reading until the very last weekend of the assignment, i finally settled into the book. Fortunately, it was easy, fast reading. I felt the book was intrigueing and captivating from the very first page until the end. The story is a first person narrative of a strong, young blind girl's life. She has been terribly neglected, having been blinded as a child by her own prostitute mother. She knows only of her one room apartment, and what she's listened to on the radio. In the book, she finally has the oppurtunity to go outside of her dingy apartment. She meets a friend in the park, and discovers what friendship and love is. She realises what a sorry life she's been forced to live through her blindness. The story was beautiful, touching, and honest. The theme of the book was of tolerence. It must have been set in the 1950s or 1960s, and so the plot emphasises the prejudice between blacks and whites, rich and poor. I do feel that i missed much of the suspense of the plot because the cover of the book i used gave away a key to the story. I did not like the bluntness of the books ending. I felt that many conflicts had not been resolved, however, it was realistic. I think this is a story you should expose yourself to.

After reading A Patch of Blue I could tell that Elizabeth Kata must be a good author. I must admit though, by looking at the cover and reading the summary on the back of the book it didn't strike me as being an interesting novel. It really isn't as bad as it looks! In my opinion, Kata does a good job using the interesting liability of a blind girl to tell a love story. If you like stories of love that knew no color, then I recommend this book to you. For her first novel I would have to say Elizabeth Kata did fairly well. The beginning of the book grabbed my attention, the middle lost my interest slightly, and the end was confusing and depressing. But don't take my word for it! Go read it for yourself and see what you think!

There is a secret twist to the end of this book. Unfortunatly the edition I have actually goes so far as to put that on the covers of the book spoiling a lot of it for me