-Samuel's mother, to her very young son
This book was highly recommended by one or more of our Page Turners and at the time, I was skeptical about the title. It ended up being an awesome read---a true page-turner. I have rated it a 5 but would give it a 6 if allowed!
The novel chronicles much of the life of Samuel Hill, born with ocular albinism, an affliction with which I was unfamiliar. This cause the eyes to be red although other traits of albinism are not present. The story takes Sam from a precocious 6-year-old to his teens and later adult years. After being an outsider who is bullied for most of his youth, it takes Sam many years to accept that his life has indeed been extraordinary as his mother predicted. (See quote.)
There are unique, loveable characters like dear friends Ernie and Mickie and ones to hate like David Bateman. The reader goes through a roller coaster of emotions---anger at the abuse of power and mistreatment, especially of a child, sadness at tragic loss, frustration through failed romances and happiness in a life fulfilled. (I hope that's not too much of a spoiler.)
This last photo shows ocular albinism and is pretty much how I visualized Sam's eyes. However, the images online showed great variations of this rare genetic disorder.
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I look forward to hearing what our group has to say about the novel when we meet next week. More then...
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Page Turners met on our regular day, light in numbers but heavy in thoughts and experiences to share. We admitted we had never heard of ocular albinism. Much of our discussion centered around being proactive mothers (like Sam's) and bullying. Several former teachers shared how they related to Sam's school years. We hardly needed the discussion questions I had found at readingroupguides.com because we had plenty to say. The average rating was 4.5, highest of 2023 so far.
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