White as Silence Red as Song by Alessandro D'Avenia

White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D'Avenia is what I would call, the love story of a teenage boy named Leo. It is written in first person, almost as if it is a diary - which is fine by me. I used to read diary type books a lot as a young adult. It is, however, different to read from a young man's point of view. Some of it is just hum-drum regular kid stuff like soccer and hanging with his best friends, Niko and Silvia. A lot of it is his obsession with Beatrice.

The very first section explains the title of the book. Leo compares different things to colors. Silence is white - which to him is nothing because there is nothing within white, no color, no feeling. Silence to Leo throughout the book is almost an enemy, something that distresses his very soul. He then compares his love interest Beatrice to the color red, saying that love is red - it is a tempest, a hurricane "that sweeps you away"*, and an earthquake "that crumbles your body to pieces".**

The book was hard for me to finish. It took awhile, because personally, I found it slightly boring. I'm not into love stories or for much drama, so this book I feel is geared a lot more to young adults. I probably would have really liked it ten years ago. It is compared to "The Fault in our Stars" which I haven't read or even watched the movie. So if you liked that, maybe this will be up your alley.


*page 3, line 10
*page 3, line 11

***I received this book from Book Look Bloggers to read and review. All opinions are 100% my own.