True Colors Review

True colors, a novel written by Kristin Hannah, is a story of love, jealousy, family, and community.

"This envy of hers was expanding, taking up too much space in her chest. Sometimes, when she thought about everything Vivi Ann had taken from her, she couldn't breathe."(p89)

"Somehow, impossibly, Vivi Ann had broken all those rules, and a good man's
heart, and still paid no price. Golden." (p192)

Life is far beyond perfect for Winona Grey. Being single and overweight, she is constantly jealous of her sister Vivi Ann. Vivi Ann is beautiful and wins the heart of Luke Connnelly, Winona’s true love. Jealousy causes Winona to be malicious towards her sister; while Luke and Vivi Ann were dating, she fantasizes daily that they would break up and Luke would come running to her for a shoulder to lean on. When Winona finds Vivi Ann sleeping with Dallas, she betrays her by telling Luke right away, not giving her a chance to tell him herself.

The only thing that Winona never doubts is her intelligence. Thinking that she knows what is the best for everyone, her actions cause others to get angry at her. One time Vivi Ann actually slaps her and tells her that she never wants to see her again. She recommends to her father of selling his land while many times he told her that he would never do so. When Vivi Ann thinks of a plan to raise money for the ranch Winona tries to dismiss it because she was angry that she did not think of it herself. During the time Dallas was convicted of murder she tried to convince Vivi Ann that Dallas had to be the murderer, not caring of her sister’s pain. Hypocritically, she steps into case after Dallas spends more than a decade in jail.

In the end, Winona redeems herself. She finds flaws in Dallas’s conviction and goes to court as his lawyer against the will of her father. When the trial fails, she approaches the state attorney. Dallas gets dismissed and Winona is able to compensate for the pain that she caused Vivi Ann. She was also able to have a happy ending too; Luke comes back and asks her for a second chance.

The author's purpose of writing this book is to describe life in a small town and to encourage hope, love, and forgiveness. Growing up in Oyster Shores, the Grey sister's relationship remains strong throughout the years They walk to church every Sunday morning and go dancing and drinking together. Because the town is small, everyone is acquainted with one another. It made me kind of yearn for that type of lifestyle. It seems a a lot more peaceful and fulfilling than living in the city where people are preoccupied with making money and fashion, ultimately caring about themselves.

After Dallas gets arrested, the story is at a standstill. Vivi Ann stays single, never recovering from her pain. Noah gets blamed for starting fights and turns into what people call "like his father". Aurora divorced her husband for infidelity and Winona attempts to find love and fails. This situation creates a very gloomy mood. It had me wondering how the story will turn around.

" "...We're the Greys. That matters. Show us your true colors, who you used to be." " (p 554)

Hannah's purpose was achieved in writing this book. When things seems hopeless, miracles happened. Dallas's cased reopens and is eventually dismissed, Luke asks Winona for a second chance, and Noah is able to answer the "Who am I?" question in the journal that Mrs. Ivers gave him. The ending is beautiful; it encourages hope that pain is temporary. Despite her jealousy, Winona loves her sister and family. Through the good times and the bad, the Grey sisters stick together to the very end. Also, Dallas displays an amazing act of forgiveness; he forgives Myrtle Michaelian, whose mistaken testimony had convicted him.

People can be so beautiful when they demonstrate amazing acts. They show their greatest potential as human beings despite the obstacles in their way; they show their true colors. This is my initial interpretation of the title. I think that the author's meaning of true colors is one's true self. For Winona, her sisters, and her dad, there true colors was their identity as Greys and relationship as a family.

This book catches the interest of the reader from the beginning to the end. From how good the book is, I am surprised that it did not win any awards. I really like Kristin Hannah's style of writing. She does not include unnecessary details that bore the reader. It is easy to understand, descriptive and causes emotions to stir.

This book is very easy to understand. Unlike some other ones that I have read, there were no parts where I had no idea what was happening. Hannah uses simple vocabulary and also adds in a lot of dialogue. The dialogue creates a comforting, laid back mood, with the sisters making jokes about one another from time to time. She is very descriptive in her writing; all the situations and people along with their characteristics and apparel are explained thoroughly.

While I was reading, I felt many different emotions. These emotions included pity suspense, anger, and happiness. Knowing that Vivi Ann is beautiful and gets all the good things, I pity Winona, who is fat and lonely. Even though Winona acts badly, I have a harm time blaming her because if I would do the same in her shoes. During the long years Dallas stayed in jail, I was eager to find out how the story ends. I thought to myself, "There's no way it's going to be a happy ending." However, the story ends perfectly with one of Noah's journal entries. He too had found his true colors.

"And my dad said. Yeah. It's about time I taught my son to play poker. His son. That was when I had my answer, when I finally knew who I was. " (p558)

True Colors

True colors, a novel written by Kristin Hannah, portrays the life of the Grey sisters.

"From this vantage point, Myrtle saw Dallas' right side. Winona had always had a photographic memory, and she'd sworn it noticed Dallas's tattoo when she hired him. She would have sworn it was on his left arm."(p444)

I was horrified and in disbelief when I read this. I was sure that Dallas was the murderer and he only never admitted it. It was terrible thinking that he spent more than a decade in jail for a crime that he did not commit. I was wondering why he never pleaded innocent. It also shows how flawed the justice system is. The crime scene and the witnesses' accounts were not thoroughly investigated. People assumed that Dallas was the murderer because he was Indian.

While the years were passing by I was depressed at what was happening. Vivi had not healed from the pain of losing Dallas. She took pills and drank alcohol to ease her pain. Noah grew up and started fights at school. The people of the community said that he was just like his father. Dallas was still in jail. Even Aurora, who was doing fine in the beginning of the story suffered a failed marriage. I had no hope that the story would turn around.

"His son. That was my answer, when I finally knew who I was." (p558)

But, the ending was beautiful. I was so happy that Vivi ann. After waiting for so many years, she was find happiness again. Noah was able to answer the "Who am I?" question in the journal that Mrs. Ivers gave him. Dallas demonstrated a beautiful act of forgiveness; he forgave Myrtle Michaelian, whose testimony was the one that condemned him. Winona was also able to find happiness; after years of searching for love and not finding it, Luke came back and asked her for a second chance.

This past week...

This week was one of the most laid back weeks during the past school year. On Monday, there wasn't much to do since we were settling back from spring break. I thought Schindler's List was an interesting movie, but it was depressing to watch. I cannot understand how people can treat other humans so unhumanely; they are shot just by the point of a finger from a German officer. Even though Schindler saved 1100 Jews, I have a hard time seeing him as a hero. Because he is a womanizer, I can't see the good things that he did.

On Wednesday, the sophomores continued the Holocaust week by listening to survivors of the massacre of the Jews. One of them was Helen Fargus. Even though I should have given her my undivided attention, I had a hard time sitting still. I am amazed how people are able to survive in concentration camps, toiling long hours with consumption of only meager amounts of bread, soup, and coffee. Helen said that she asked a boy if he ever felt really hungry before and he said that he did when he forgot his lunch. I started questioning myself that question. The only time that I ever felt hungry was when I participated in World Vision's 30 hour famine. I almost fell walking from lack of energy. It 's painful to imagine how hungry those at the concentration camps; they had to endure mental and physical craving of food day after day.

Yesterday , I got to hang out with Michelle afterschool, which I haven't done in almost two weeks. I really missed her while she went to Italy. I didn't have an eating buddy Thursday and Friday afterschool on the week before spring break. On the night before she left Michelle, Elaine, Ryan, Priscilla, Grant and I were suppose to have dinner together, but Michelle ended up not coming. She said that she was going to make it up to me by treating me. Right afterschool, she went with me to my dance rehearsal and then we went to her place to pick up her brother. We went to Kai's and she treated me to teriyaki chicken.

Today was the Unity Week Assembly. I was so excited for the performance of Jai Ho. However, my morning began horribly. I couldn't find my leggings, so I frantically looked around. Later I had to call a friend and thankfully she let me borrow hers. I ended up being late for zero period and not being able to dress, but at least I took the test. The assembly was so fun; I never got tired no matter how many times I watched the acts. My favorite ones were the Chinese fan dance and the salsa. Michelle and Frank did such a good job dancing together. It was fun wearing the costumes even though it felt kind of weird putting the red dot on the forehead. The two assemblies went by so fast and so did the rest of the day.

True Colors 1&2

"Somehow, impossibly, Vivi Ann had broken all those rules, and a good man's
heart, and still paid no price. Golden." (p192)

I really sympathize with Winona. Like her, I developed a hate towards Vivi Ann. It's unfair that she is so beautiful and gets everything that she wants. She even cheats on Luke for Dallas and is accepted back by her family and the community with little harsh gossip. She is favorited by her father and karma never seems to get her. She is a perfect example of how unfair life can be. The situation Winona is in, being jealous of her sister is something that I can relate to easily. I constantly feel jealous of those around me, thinking why I couldn't have the life of this person or that person. Jealousy is an ugly thing and it brings out the worst in people like it did to Winona.



Even though I feel pity towards Winona, there are many flaws in her character that can make people hate her and that she needs to change. She is malicious trowards Vivi Ann; while Vivi Ann was dating Luke , she often fantasized that they would break up and he would come running to her for a shoulder to lean on. She always boasts of her inteliengence and therefore is unwilling to accept other people's ideas or criticism. Her greatest weakness is her pride. When Dallas saw through her like transparent glass and knew that she was jealous deep down inside, she tried to deny it. She even stains his reputation by spreading his criminal records around.See complains that she fat, but yet she does nothing about it. She continuously binge eats when she is stressed.

"During the course of the trial , the state will prove beyond reasonable
doubt that Dallas Raintree... went to Catherine Morgan's home and killed
her."(p273)"

"It was the clearest picture of his past that she'd ever s gotten: she imagined
him as a young boy, abused for a long time and then suddenly alone in the world
being told by adults that he was bad to the bone. Abuse can make an animal
mean."(p221)

I have a hard time siding with Vivi Ann that Dallas did not murder Cat Morgan. All the eveidence points to him as guilty of charged. Coincidentally, the gun in his car was gone, he had given the gun to Cat, and he did not attend the Grey family gettogether on the night of the killing. Based on his past criminal records and how he was abused as a child by his father, it is hard not to assume that he is the obvious killer. It is true. Abuse does make an animal mean and humans too. Since had been beaten with electrical cords, burned with cigarettes, and watched his father kill his mother while he was only a child, he should be emotionally scarred. With a record of having seen a psychiatrist , it is likely that he has anger management issues or is mentally ill. I also thought of the possibility that it might be one of those incidents in which the shock of murdering someone caused him to forget the whole thing all together.

" "Luke but ... I love you. If you'd just try, we could be happy together."..."I
love you. tpp" he said, lowering his voice to add, "as a friend." "(p210)

Winona finally admits her true feelings instead of trying to to hide them like before. I feel so bad for her though, being rejected after conquering her pride. I don't understand why he loves Vivi Ann so much when he should like Winona; they had been best friends for like forever and he only asked Vivi Ann out in the first place becuase she was beautiful. He shows how weak he is by later moving away again to avoid his pain of losing Vivi Ann to Dallas. I wonder if he will come back later in the story and if he does what will happen.