Genre: Adult, Magical Realism
Source: I
received a copy to facilitate my reviews. The opinions expressed here are my
own.
Johan Twiss
has created two characters that anyone could relate to. You want to cheer them
on.
Aaron is a
young teen who is living in a nursing home. His body doesn’t work right but his
brain does. He has created a place in his mind he calls his “Mind Palace” to
keep himself from going crazy. Unfortunately, his parents are unaware of this
since he can’t communicate with them. I
felt so sorry for him. When he described
his condition as being turned to stone by Medusa, you truly understand how it
is. His character reminded me of the character Shawn in Terry Trueman’s book, Stuck
in Neutral. For me having a working mind but not body would be horrible. I
guess I feel this way because I had a cousin who was in a terrible accident.
Her eyes were open and she could hear the nurses talking about how she was
nothing but a vegetable. They had no idea until a month or two later how much
her brain processed.
Solomon is
the other main character in this book. He is elderly and has been placed there
due to dementia. Solomon can hear Aaron’s
thoughts. Because they can communicate through their minds, Aaron gets to learn
about Solomon’s earlier life. There is a historical aspect to this book as we
learn about Solomon. The connection between Aaron and Solomon was simple. Aaron
played trombone in his school’s jazz band and Solomon was a Jazz musician. Solomon
takes Aaron on trips back into his past.
I have read
several books by this author and this
one is right at the top of my list. I highly recommend it.