A Review of "A World Without Color"

Introduction

Croatian author Bernard Jan approached me on Twitter and offered me a copy of his memoir, A World Without Color, as a free .mobi file in exchange for an honest review.

This story is a heartwarming and emotional ode to the last three days that the author spent with his cat, Marcel. Although I read far more fiction than nonfiction, I enjoyed the book and was honored that Mr. Jan would offer to share such a personal memoir with me and the rest of the world.

Mr. Jan also generously allowed me an extension for the publication date of this review, which I am very grateful for! However, I must insist that this in no way affects my honesty in writing this review. 

My Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: "What do you say to someone who is dying? And what do you say when that someone can't understand a word you are saying? How do you comfort each other throughout...and beyond?

'My love, if you go away in a few days, the world will lose its colors and darken like the land of Mordor. If you go away and leave me to wander aimlessly, alone in this sea become wild, like a ship with a broken rudder and drowned sailors, and if I don't find comfort in the warmth of your body, clutched in my embrace at the end of the day, I'm afraid I won't survive.'

'I don't regret anything. Marcel was not only my cat, he was my everything. My brother, my friend, my world shrank in a soft gray-striped furry ball.' - Bernard Jan

Powerful. Emotional. Honest."

Thoughts and Comments

Pros

• I thought that the book was very well-written! It flows excellently, and the language that the author uses is delightful and adds to the raw emotion that is captured in the lines.
• The feelings of the narrator are expressed clearly and beautifully throughout the book, which makes it easy for the reader to have empathy for him and his situation.
• The author is fabulous at describing surroundings and locations.
• There is a blend of memories that are tied into the present-day view of the narrator, which is helpful in visualizing how things were before Marcel got sick.
• I did not find it hard to keep my interest in reading the memoir, even though I was slightly skeptical when I first read the synopsis, which was a nice surprise.

Cons

• The book is entirely in second person, which is neither here nor there--it just boils down to personal preference. I don't typically favor books set in the second person, which is why I'm putting this point in the "Cons" instead of the "Pros", but it didn't affect the rating that I gave the book.
• There are some instances where the present-tense of the narration switches into past-tense, which doesn't fit in with the rest of the memoir.
• I continuously found it difficult to determine the age of the narrator during the time the book was set, and I feel that if the reader knew the age, it could shift the perspective significantly. For example, is this a child that's going through this pain? Or an adult?
• Occasionally, outer thought mixes in with the narration and breaks the fourth wall, which is confusing.
• There are parentheses used in the narration that I feel are unnecessary.
• The biggest issue I had with this book is that there are multiple times where meat-eating people are condemned and looked down upon. While I am absolutely in support of authors voicing their own opinions in matters such as these, I felt that these moments in the memoir had nothing to do with the story being told, and that they felt out-of-place and halting.

Conclusion

I thought that this memoir was extremely touching, and I would recommend it to any animal lover, especially those that might be dealing with grief or loss. Mr. Jan, thank you so much for sharing your work with me. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!

Amazon Link: See here

Goodreads Link: See here

Riffle Link: See here

This fulfills the "Memoir" subgenre of the Miscellaneous genre!

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