Book Review
Title: Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas
Author: Andrea Pyros
Genre: YA/Family/Terminal Illness
Rating: ***
Review: The opening to Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas was great, we are introduced to Josephine and her twin brother Chance, whose parents are divorced which is hard on any 12-year-old. However, Josephine also wants to get invited to the party of the year, but we know from the synopsis that a lot of going to happen in Josephine’s life which will force her to re-evaluate her priorities.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Josephine and Chance find out that their mother has stage 2 breast cancer and the twins have radically different approaches to this, Chance is so supportive asking questions and making sure his mother is ok, while Josephine tries to bury her head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist although it is constantly playing on her mind. She doesn’t even tell her best friend Makayla who lets her know she is invited to Autumn’s party and that everyone has to invite a boy they like which is hard for Josephine as she likes Diego her brother’s best friend.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the twins are dealing with their mother’s diagnosis and treatment plan very differently which is actually causing Josephine to lash out at her brother and mother. Josephine also wants to keep her mother’s diagnosis a secret so it doesn’t affect her life and social standing which is something Chance just can’t understand. On top of all this, she is dealing with all the drama of being a pre-teen with an active social life.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we can see that Josephine is really struggling to deal with her mother’s cancer especially since she is going in for a breast removal 3 days before Autumn’s party which she hasn’t asked if she can even go to yet and given the state of the family situation right now, I don’t think her mother is going to let her go. Josephine seems to be lingering under the impression that if she ignores the fact her mother has cancer that it will go away and while this is a very childish attitude to take into this kind of situation, we have to remember that she is only 12 but at points her behaviour and lack of empathy are unacceptable in my opinion.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, things take a different turn when Chance dyes his hair pink for breast cancer awareness month and Josephine realises that people are going to ask questions about it and Chance will tell them that their mother has cancer which is the very last thing Josephine wants. Despite screaming and shouting about it, their mother takes Chance’s side because what he has done is extremely supportive and shows his mother that through everything, he is going to be there for her, while all Josephine can think about it how this is going to affect her.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the school is coming down hard on Chance for violating the dress code and he is basically ordered to change his hair back to a more natural colour. With their mother’s surgery approaching both the twins are nervous about what will happen afterwards, but all seem to be going well. However, I have to say despite Josephine’s slight change in attitude, I hate her as a character. For most of this novel she has been the most selfish, self-centred and heartless child who has no regard for how anyone else feels and doesn’t care about anything unless she is thinking about how much it is messing up her own life and I need a lot more than “she changed” to make me believe that.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Josephine finally realises what her brother has been trying to do and follows his lead despite the repercussions for her personally. The ending of Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas was pretty good and thought provoking I seriously couldn’t overlook Josephine’s attitude for most of this novel as the novel is told for her perspective. I felt that there were a lot of other books that look at a terminal illness that do it in a far better way with more likeable characters.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley.
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