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Hillary, anak tertua, tetap tinggal dengan bibinya, dan mengalami kehidupan kelam. Tersiksa, nyaris mati karena dihajar pacar bibinya, diperkosa teman sekamarnya yang lesbian, namun berprestasi sangat baik di bidang akademik. Sangat membenci Arthur, dan menyalahkannya atas kematian ibunya. What I took from this book was two things- that we have two sisters, and each one is jealous of the other without them ever telling the other her feelings. Things childishly escalate until a tragedy strikes---then the book is all about the younger sister's feelings, sexual needs, and her need to get away from her family in the most dramatic way. And the second thing is I learned a ton about the family's fascination/obsession with Indian culture, food art, and fabric. There are no words for what this book meant to me. It was meaningful to me in a very personal way. I found myself sobbing multiple times because it was so intense, and real, and sharp, and beautiful all at the same time. What a perfect name Kaleidoscope is for this novel. Ultimately this book is a deep dive into family relationships for all they are good and bad, but formative. This is a story of sisterhood, ambition, and the complex tangled-ness of relationships between sisters, lovers, and parents . . . a book about love, grief, and forgiveness.”
The book opens with one of the characters taking the pregnancy termination pill and the whole experience being described graphically. This coming of age story feels so very important, delving deep into family as much as personal growth. Because who are we without those who raised us, who were raised alongside us? Not that Riley is trapped or even defined by the Brightons, but to ignore them would make her less, would make the story less. Wong’s character is amazingly herself. I’ve found that loneliness has a way of feeling significant, no matter how frivolously the hours are spent.”This is a nuanced story with a narrative that shifted around a lot — switching between time periods, between past and present, between character perspectives, between first and third person voices, even touching on second person voice at one point. The segments of the story mirrored the various fragments of a kaleidoscope, where the pieces eventually come together to form a dizzying but arresting portrait of an ambitious family caught up in the throes of success and its impact on one daughter’s personal journey toward meaning and understanding. As I mentioned earlier, I found it difficult at first to parse the various fragments of the narrative, but when I figured out the direction that the author was trying to go with the story (around the halfway mark), I couldn’t help but be awed by the brilliant use of structure and form. Stories that play with structure don’t always work for me, but this one did for some reason, and I definitely appreciated the chance to experience something so interesting and different. Another dysfunctional family saga. Kaleidoscope, the shopping empire built by the family with Morgan as the design genius. The tight bond between the sisters. The different relationships with their parents. So. This book... I'm not exactly sure how to think of it. It confused me. Very much. It really is a kaleidoscope of stories and pictures, fragmented, not quite cohesive... Each snippet was like a beautifully crafted shard of something bigger, some grand story that we catch glimpses of along the way. Oh, the writing was so gorgeously poetic I wanted to hold my breath.
Megan, si bungsu yang masih berusia 1 tahun, diangkat David Abrams dan Rebecca, istrinya. Keduanya pengacara muda yang bersemangat.Sang sahabat semasa perang, Arthur, terpaksa mencarikan keluarga yang mau merawat ketiga kakak beradik Walker: Hillary, Alexandra, dan Megan. Pertama, Arthur terpaksa menaruh mereka di rumah kakak Sam, sebuah rumah di daerah kumuh dengan kehidupan yang kacau. Hillary yang masih berusia 8 tahun terpaksa menjadi dewasa demi menjaga adik-adiknya. With just the turn of a kaleidoscope, your vision on life can shift, whether it be for the better or for the worse. I would recommend Danielle Steel's story; Kaleidoscope. Not only because it's full of love, tragedy, and determination showing how easy it is for life to change in an instant, but because conveys the idea that with enough persistence, you can make your way through any situation, and that's what I love about it. The story of Hillary makes you cry, the hardships that she goes through is extremely heart-wrenching and you feel sad for her, you understand all her fears, you understand why she never lets love inside her heart. The ‘discovery’ they make on their trip seemed convenient as it gives their romance more legitimacy (that morgan had hidden stuff from them).
The story features the events of each girl's life. Separated after the death of their parents, each one is raised quite differently. It all changes when a private investigator is asked to find the three girls by a guilt prone friend of their father's who is about to die and wishes to see them united. Membaca buku ini bagaikan naik roller-coaster. Naik, turun, naik, turun lagi. Naik-turunnya kehidupan yang terjadi pada sebuah keluarga. Dan semuanya terjadi dengan cepat. Wew.
Ambitious and unabashedly romantic, Kaleidoscope is as heartbreaking and hilarious as life itself…. True to the book’s title, Wong tells her young protagonists’ story in fragments that shift through time and place, cohering into a beautiful, sparkling whole. Although it’s fast-paced enough to be read in a single sitting, Kaleidoscope is a novel you’ll want to linger with, full of fascinating characters and moments of arresting beauty.” Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. Kaleidoscope is a moving story about grief and one prominent family adjusting around a sudden loss. Cecily Wong captures the gradations of loss but also the power of love in the novel, which may be exactly what you need this summer.”
Megan grows up to be a strong girl who fights for what she believes in. The character was not adequately developed by Steele and she does remain a bit distant to the reader. Sparkling with sharp observations and deeply wise in its insights, Kaleidoscope is a moving portrayal of the tangled knot of sisterhood and the dizzying spiral of grief. Cecily Wong’s dazzling second novel deftly explores the complex push-pull of family and ambition, and the ways we learn to define ourselves in—and out of—our loved ones’ orbits.” I gave this book 1 star because I finished it and the second star because the author obviously put a lot of effort into writing this book. Had I stopped reading when I wanted to I would have given this book only one star but I was able to persevere.
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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature. At what point, she asks herself, is a person entitled to feel badly for themselves? Who gets to judge? What are the criteria for comparing heartbreak?”
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