White as Silence, Red as Song by Alessandro D’Avenia

When a book is advertised as being similar to “The Fault In Our Stars”, I’m all over it!

Thank you to Thomas Nelson for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my review.

Leo is your typical high school student: plays soccer, hangs out with friends, and has a girl he is in love with from a distance. His teacher has left and a substitute teacher has taken over, nicknamed The Dreamer. He’s got a way with words and a way with the kids. He seems to know exactly what to say. He’s got Leo thinking about the love of his life. How can he tell her how much she means to him? Especially now that she’s been diagnosed with Leukemia? Will he ever tell her?

This really was nothing like The Fault in Our Stars. Maybe the girl with cancer, but other than that? Nothing. The author is a popular Italian writer. This book actually was a movie in Italy! He is also an English teacher. As a teacher myself, I appreciated the student point-of -view throughout the novel. The author completely nailed the emotions students feel about their parents, their peers, and even substitute teachers. I was not a huge fan of Leo’s affection for Beatrice. It wasn’t authentic to me. He loved her from afar but did not seem to have any interactions with her whatsoever up until a certain point. Then it just got totally creepy! Borderline stalker-ish! The white and red love references was actually really beautiful. There were a bunch of quotes that I would cherish deeply throughout the book (based on love), but that was literally all I’ll remember from this book. The debate about believing in God was also quite interesting coming from a Thomas Nelson book.

2/5 Stars