Noughts and crosses...

Don't judge a book my its cover. I know this saying letter by letter, it is only seven words after all. Living it out is a completely different story. The cover of a book can preempt the words waiting behind the covers. Therefore, I often take a book's cover pretty seriously in making my decision whether or not to get a book.

+Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses has a cover black and white in colour, cut off by each other right in the middle. Strong, contrast, dangerous. These are things that crossed my mind the first time I saw the cover. I even thought it looked a little boring for a book with the sort of hype it has garnered from the few people who have read it. The title doesn't give much hint as to what might come either, therefore giving a yes to let go of my money was quite hard.

A friend and trusted book pal and I were talking about books we have read and books we have to read. She brought this book up and the phrase "must read" came up many times. Knowing her knowing me, I decided it was time, even if I knew that it would be a deep dark story and my mood was not exactly aligned to it.

Malorie Blackman writes about racial disharmony and discrimination, much like our real life world where segregation plays a constant issue in many countries. The difference in her fiction and our world is that there, the coloured people are the ones who are the high flyers, the elite, the bureaucrats where as the fair skinned are the ones on the sidelines, living day to day, scraping by with just enough. The coloured are known as Noughts and Crosses for the light skinned. The lines that separate these two groups of people a drawn hard and solid, with strong disdain between the two.

Enter Sephy and Callum. Sephy is not just any Nought, she is among the elite group with her father a major player in the political scene. Sephy's family is all power and all money. On the flip side of the coin is Callum, whose mother works for Sephy Hadley's family as a helper, with skin as fair as it gets. They live a typical Cross life serving the Noughts and living a life not full of opportunities having to dig long and hard for any light to shine through.

Sephy and Callum are close friends, given that they have known each other since Sephy was running around in diapers. As they approach the age where the blurred lines between Noughts and Crosses get clearer, they find keeping their friendship under a constant pressure from either side of the draw. Sephy's friends slant their eyes towards Callum and Callum's family accuse him of trying to be better than they are. Each dealing with troubles brought about by the harsh segregation. Caught in between the web is Sephy who tries her hardest to show that the colour of her skin means nothing to her, but each step she takes seem to push everyone away while Callum struggles to understand the inequality he faces.

The story is told through the eyes of Sephy and Callum, their voices alternating giving the reader a good perspective looking in from both sides. This gives the story an extra turbo charge flying through the plot in lightning fast pace. There seems to be no rest between pages and each word absorbed brings the reader closer and deeper into trouble that never seems to allude both of them.

I really liked this book and was really affected by the end of it. I know its good when I can't wait to go on reading through the whole series with the only thing holding me back is the need to step back into my own life for a little while (and money). The story is very intense but shakes you up and makes you reflect on life and what it might really mean. Does segregation still exist in our lives? Yes. Are we really defined by the colour of our skin? No. Why do we do it anyway?

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Would I recommend this book?
Absolutely.
How much do I rate this book?
5/5
Would I read other works by this author?
Yes

Thanks for reading!