In my early youth, I loved strolling on my terrace looking at stars, enjoying cool breeze and letting my mind wander off in random thoughts. This favourite pastime got interrupted when I entered PhD. But I remember that day when, without any thought or intention, I climbed up the stairs to the hostel terrace and spent not just couple of minutes, instead around 2 – 3 hours. However, this time they were not random thoughts, instead I was looking at my life lived till that day. It had been a long journey and hopefully I still had a long way to go. To my own surprise, I had a strong memory and recollected quite well all the major and minor incidents of my life. It was a refreshing experience as it put my whole life into proper perspective showing the journey of life as a single showreel.

The book All The Colours Of Life by Lisa Aisaton is a similar attempt. It doesn’t just tell or narrate the poetry of life, instead shows it graphically in all its varied colours. The story of life is told directly in your face in a matter of fact manner. With that I mean, the book holds a mirror before you and shows you the various stages of your life — childhood, adolescence, youth, family, old age, bringing up the next generation, living the life all over again through your children or may be grand-children, witnessing them doing the very same things that you used to do in a slightly different manner. For example, looking at an argument you had with your parents in your childhood in retrospection later in life but this time from the perspective of your parents. This is the outline of the book; however, the book is much more than that. Every stage of life is depicted with an appropriate and accurate illustration. A very short sentence complements the non-verbal ‘narrative’.

Youth going through this book would easily identify with the journey they have travelled so far and as depicted in these pages. At the same time, they will also understand what more to expect in the coming years of their lives. People in the evening of their lives will get an opportunity to relive their whole life all over again, recalling the different stages and moments of their lives, thus appreciating the colourful painting called ‘life’ in all its shades.

This book can have two major applications. First, you can try it yourself. In your leisure or free time or when you are in a pensive or contemplative mood, you can leaf through its pages. It would offer a spring board or a prompt to take the first few steps in your recollections. After that you can simply unleash your memory and let it fly in the vast sky of past. Else you can gift it to somebody who will use it in the same aforementioned manner. This book will never lose its charm and will never grow old. If you are exploring what to gift someone on their forthcoming birthday, then this picture book is a good option.

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Title: All The Colors Of Life
Author: Lisa Aisato
Publisher: Arctis
Print Length: 192 pages
Price (Hardcover): $21.49
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