ARC REVIEW: The Color of Our Sky by Amita Trasi // PLUS, Book Quotes!

Cover linked to Goodreads!

My rating: ★★★★★

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Publication Date: June 30, 2015

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends—one struggling to survive the human slave trade and the other on a mission to save her—two girls whose lives converge only to change one fateful night in 1993.

India, 1986: Mukta, a ten-year-old girl from the lower caste Yellamma cult of temple prostitutes has come of age to fulfill her destiny of becoming a temple prostitute. In an attempt to escape this legacy that binds her, Mukta is transported to a foster family in Bombay. There she discovers a friend in the high spirited eight-year-old Tara, the tomboyish daughter of the family, who helps her recover from the wounds of her past. Tara introduces Mukta to a different world—ice cream and sweets, poems and stories, and a friendship the likes of which she has never experienced before. As time goes by, their bond grows to be as strong as that between sisters. In 1993, Mukta is kidnapped from Tara’s room.

Eleven years later, Tara who blames herself for what happened, embarks on an emotional journey to search for the kidnapped Mukta only to uncover long buried secrets in her own family.
Moving from a remote village in India to the bustling metropolis of Bombay, to Los Angeles and back again, amidst the brutal world of human trafficking, this is a heartbreaking and beautiful portrait of an unlikely friendship—a story of love, betrayal, and redemption—which ultimately withstands the true test of time.

My review:

Thank you to Bloomhill Books for providing me a digital review copy. This does not affect my review in any way.

The Color of Our Sky is the perfect example of a book with a gorgeous cover and an even more beautiful story. Yes, I was lured by the gorgeous cover but I’m very happy I requested this book on NetGalley. This is one of the best books I’ve read in 2015, I swear.

First of all, I fear that my review for this book will not live up to the greatness of The Color of Our Sky. I’m so sorry for that but trust me when I say that this is one of the most amazing books out there: beautifully written, realistic characters, it has diversity, tragic yet hopeful.

The story is told by two women, Mukta and Tara. The structure of the book is told from the present to the past which is done magnificently. I love how it was told. The writing is so beautiful that I couldn’t believe this was a debut novel. I also love the metaphors in this book.

Right in the beginning, Tara confessed that she had something to do with Mukta’s disappearance and I liked how it created an air of mystery. I asked myself if I can trust Tara.

This book reminds me of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because of Mukta’s love and appreciation for books. She was like Liesl! She studied how to read just so she can escape reality within the pages of a book. She described a library like a temple for books and those words never left my mind.

This book opened my eyes to the tradition of India and their caste system. I did not know that girls like Mukta lived like that. I did not know those struggles were real. I did not there was even a tradition like that.

Personally, I want to do something about it. I want to help those girls. But I don’t really know how.

Even though this is based in India, I can still see some connections with my own country. Even if you live in the most developed country in the world, you will feel all the feels that is connected to the tradition in this book.

Sometimes the book is a little slow but that’s okay because those slow moments are still full of feelings and established the relationship between the characters.

This is an adult novel but I think hardcore YA readers will still love this. Most of the parts from this book are told when they were teenagers.

There’s romance, yes. I suspected that there wouldn’t be romance but there was. But it took a backseat and focused more on friendship, family, innocence and forgiveness.

I think that every person, reader or not, should read this book. It’s such a thought provoking novel.

If you are looking for a great diverse read then this is for you. Not only that this book has diversity in it but it also has such a beautiful story. One of the best that I’ve read in my whole 17 years.

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Now for the book quotes! I’m not the best at typography (it’s called typography, right? Correct me if I’m wrong please!) but I took a shot on it and created some book quotes. The Color of Our Sky contains very beautiful quotes and it sparked some creativity in me so here are some of them.

My favorite is this one! I love stars! I love starry book covers!

This did not turn out the way I liked. But I think it’s still pretty okay and it looked like one of the pages of a magazine.

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So what do you think of these book quotes? And also, please recommend me some books based in India. I’d like to know more about their culture through fiction!