Showing posts with label Magical Realism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magical Realism. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2020

4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss



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.