Blurb from Goodreads.
Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.
Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum -- a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?
In this gripping, stimulating and totally absorbing novel, black and white are right and wrong
Now that the blurb is done, lets move onto my usual summary.
So this book is set in a very different, yet similar society. It is set in a society where people are split into two different levels or castes -- the noughts and the crosses. Crosses are the dark-skinned, leading/higher class people. Noughts are the fair skinned, the 'blanks'. They are the underdogs, the lower class. Sephy is a Cross. Born into a family of wealth like majority of Crosses, she has everything she ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter. Callum is a nought. He is part of the lower class. He barely gets any education, does all the work that the crosses don't want to do for a living. His home can barely be called a house. Callum's mother used to work for Mrs Hadley, Sephy's mother. They were good friends, which was how their children grew up together and became best of friends. In this society, equality barely exists. It's all about the better race. Noughts were not allowed full education privileges. What would happen when you put two strong-willed teenagers from a Cross family and a Nought family together, who wants to stay with each other against all odds? Toss in some terrorists, a broken family and some disapproving people and pretty much the whole society discriminating against you? Can feelings still stay strong, or will it start to waver?
What I liked about this book:
The author, Malorie Blackman, did an amazing job on creating this oter world that seemed so realistic. I think now that we think about it, this story could be seen as an eye opener. This teaches us that if we let this go on, chaos will occur. I also think that by changing the 'fair skinned' people into the inferior class adds a very unique twist to it. She has also done a marvelous job in expressing how it would feel like to be in that society, and while reading it, I can feel some raw emotions boiling up inside me and especially towards the end, it made my heart clench when I read the book. I literally ran to grab the second book right after I read the first one. *there was originally a more personal input here but I have cut it out incase you guys don't want my rant to get in the way*
What I found needed some improvements: -
Favourite quote(s) from the book:
“You're a Nought and I'm a Cross and there's nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we'd be left in peace...That's why I started crying. That's why I couldn't stop. For all the things we might've had and all the things we're never going to have.”
“I hadn't fully realized just how powerful words could be before this. Whoever came up with the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' was talking out of his or her armpit.”
“And things go unsaid soon get forgotten”
That is it for this (I apologize) rather short book review. I read this book as part of a nationwide reading challenge and I loved it so much I read all the others in this series.
*here is my rant*
This book really struck something in me -- whether it is realization or something else, I am not quite sure but it made me realize that if roles were reversed, it wouldn't be at all different, and how society can be so cruel and twisted, and it makes it worse knowing that we are the ones who created this whole thing to discriminate against one another of the same kind. Why? Because they don't have the same complexion as you, they don't look the same as you? It's insane and it makes me so sad to be faced with such a reality. I mean I understand that there have been some inequality, but after the book, I did some closer observations and research into the inter-racial discrimination and I can't help but feel disappointed in ourselves. I feel that sometimes, I can relate to this whole ordeal. Maybe not as seriously, but still a little bit. This is how heartbreaking it is to know.
What I liked about this book:
The author, Malorie Blackman, did an amazing job on creating this oter world that seemed so realistic. I think now that we think about it, this story could be seen as an eye opener. This teaches us that if we let this go on, chaos will occur. I also think that by changing the 'fair skinned' people into the inferior class adds a very unique twist to it. She has also done a marvelous job in expressing how it would feel like to be in that society, and while reading it, I can feel some raw emotions boiling up inside me and especially towards the end, it made my heart clench when I read the book. I literally ran to grab the second book right after I read the first one. *there was originally a more personal input here but I have cut it out incase you guys don't want my rant to get in the way*
What I found needed some improvements: -
Favourite quote(s) from the book:
“You're a Nought and I'm a Cross and there's nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we'd be left in peace...That's why I started crying. That's why I couldn't stop. For all the things we might've had and all the things we're never going to have.”
“I hadn't fully realized just how powerful words could be before this. Whoever came up with the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' was talking out of his or her armpit.”
“And things go unsaid soon get forgotten”
That is it for this (I apologize) rather short book review. I read this book as part of a nationwide reading challenge and I loved it so much I read all the others in this series.
*here is my rant*
This book really struck something in me -- whether it is realization or something else, I am not quite sure but it made me realize that if roles were reversed, it wouldn't be at all different, and how society can be so cruel and twisted, and it makes it worse knowing that we are the ones who created this whole thing to discriminate against one another of the same kind. Why? Because they don't have the same complexion as you, they don't look the same as you? It's insane and it makes me so sad to be faced with such a reality. I mean I understand that there have been some inequality, but after the book, I did some closer observations and research into the inter-racial discrimination and I can't help but feel disappointed in ourselves. I feel that sometimes, I can relate to this whole ordeal. Maybe not as seriously, but still a little bit. This is how heartbreaking it is to know.
*end of rant*
Okay, so I should really get going because I have a Spanish, English, Maths and Science test coming out and I still have Chinese homework so byeeee!
xx,
K
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