A Mango-Shaped Space

First of all, this book has a central character who is a cat named Mango the Magnificat. So. I pretty much was set up to adore this book.

That being said, this really is a great book for a few reasons. The first is that it's about a young teen who is different and is growing up and getting to know herself better. I really liked that she got extremely self-involved when she finally put a name to her colors and she was not longer hiding her secret. I liked this because it was fairly accurate of teenagers. And I liked that a lot was happening to her all at once--something that happens in life very often but in the beginning especially is overwhelming and difficult. Mia illustrates how life changes and how good things (two boys liking her, learning about her synesthesia) can sometimes also happen during traumatic times (growing apart from her best friend, mourning the loss of her grandfather, growing up)

Second, I really liked that this book illustrates that it's OK to grieve however it is that you grieve. So often in this culture we tell people that it's not okay to be sad years later, that it's not okay to cry, that it's not okay to be angry. For Mia she feels like she doesn't get to grieve because she has Mango but when Mango is gone she finally confronts the grief of losing her Grandfather. Her best friend, Jenna, also shows that grief can come in all different shapes and forms. And I think that it's nice that Jenny tells Mia that it's okay to grieve however she wants.

Third, this book is about dealing with something that makes you very different. Mia's colors are something that she's ashamed about and wants to keep as her own. When her friends and classmates are curious about it she feels like they are going to make fun of her but eventually realizes that they think it's great and want to learn more.

Fourth, this book deals with the pangs of growing up without making Mia seem overdramatic. I loved the fights she had with her friend (didn't we all worry about other girls stealing our best friends while we were fighting?) and how authentic they seemed. Mia doesn't want to acknowledge that boys like her until she realizes that they do and she let's herself get carried away with it.

Lastly, I liked this book for that way that Mia's family is portrayed. Everyone is loving and genuinely interested in each others lives even though they sometimes argue. They all support her sister when she becomes a vegetarian, they support their father's constant building and his helicopter flying, they support their mother and help her around the house, they accept Zack for who he is, and they all support Mia when they find out that she has been living with a condition all by herself. They grieve together as a family and they emerge from that grief together.

This was a really well written and wonderful book for young teens to read, especially in times of grief over a grandparent or a pet. This would also be a great book for teens dealing with something that makes them different. Lastly, I would recommend this book to young girls who may be shy or who have low self-confidence. I think that this book illustrates how even when you feel invisible--other people see you and care for you. ( )

This book was fan-tastic.

I haven't cried like that over a book since... *looks at read list*... [b:Texas Glory|1438359|Texas Glory (Texas Trilogy, Book 2)|Lorraine Heath|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183590369s/1438359.jpg|1814105] by Lorraine Heath in July 2008. It's been a while since I was REALLY moved to tears like that. Others books that made me bawl like a wee bairn: [b:The Second Summer of the Sisterhood|5454|The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, #2)|Ann Brashares|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165522276s/5454.jpg|841331] by Ann Brashares (literally had to put the book down to cry for about 30 minutes before I could keep going) and [b:The Alison Rules|501783|The Alison Rules|Catherine Clark|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175288873s/501783.jpg|489874] by Catherine Clark... WOW.

Anyway, this book was the perfect combination of UTTERLY FASCINATING (I think neurological conditions are wicked-awesome... ever since I read [b:The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat|897651|The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Picador)|Oliver W. Sacks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179281873s/897651.jpg|882844] and [b:An Anthropologist on Mars|64666|An Anthropologist on Mars|Oliver W. Sacks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170623971s/64666.jpg|77298] by Oliver W. Sacks when I was a senior in high school.) and EMOTIONALLY STIRRING.

I've already talked about the emotionally stirring part, but the utterly fascinating part... The main character in the book has synesthesia, which is a neurological condition where, essentially, your brain processes the signals you get from your senses differently than a normal brain would. The wires get crossed. In Mia's case, she can hear AND see sounds. She also sees letters (and names) and numbers in different colors (A and 2 are yellow, 4 is blue, etc.). It's wacky, and totally awesome. And Wendy Mass does an EXCELLENT JOB at helping us, as normal-sighted reader, see what Mia sees.

So Mia grew up thinking something was wrong with her (which it sort of was, but it's just a condition, not a disease or brain tumor or anything)... She realizes at the age of 8 that she's not like other kids, and she finally caves and tells her parents at 13 when she starts failing Algebra and Spanish. (Algebra is hard for her because X, which is a letter of distinct color CAN'T be a different-colored number, too... and the colors in general make math hard. Spanish is hard because the word DOG in English is one color-combo and the word PERRO in Spanish is NOT the same color. That WOULD be hard....)

This story is about how Mia deals with the new knowledge that she's not a freak after all... that there are other people who see things like she does... It's really a very colorful coming-of-age story... :) I loved it. ( )

Awesome, awesome, awesome! I loved this book enough the first time to want to buy it, but I just got around to re-reading it. SO GOOD!

Mia is a great little character. She's just... teenagery enough to be believable, without it being overdone. She seems like a NORMAL kid (hence the "realistic-fiction" shelving). (In other words, she's doesn't make so many ridiculously stupid decisions that you want to bang your head against a wall, like a lot of "teen" characters I've read.) Sure, she's naive, and whatever—she's only 13 after all—but it's not ridiculous.

Mia's condition is FASCINATING. I find this sort of thing (neurological craziness) SO INTERESTING! I could never BE a neurologist, because WOW, that's a LOT of science, and the one chemistry class I had to take in college almost killed me (I got a B!!!), but it's still so intriguing how much we DON'T know about the brain, you know? (That was a lot of all-capital letters. Sorry about that! My enthusiasm got away with me, I guess!)

And then there was the last part, with the tear-jerkiness.... *le sigh* I read it, hugging my dog, with tears running down my face! I would have snuggled my cat, but (1) I like my dog better and (2) yeah right, like my cat would have tolerated that!

I liked the ending though. Not so neat and tidy that it was sparkling with a pretty pink bow on top, but a little past hopeful, you know? The thing that happens causes her to be able to sort things out fairly quickly (within 3-5 days?), but not in a way that felt rushed. It was just right.

Anyway, this is a GREAT book. Don't be discouraged by the fact that your library might have it shelved in the juvenile section. Mia is 13, but not annoying, and the book is interesting on so many levels that I would recommend it to anyone! In fact, if I ever join another real-life book group (I might have to start one around here), I'll recommend this book for it! :) Clean, a quick read, and super interesting AND touching. Loved it! ( )

I think synaesthesia is fascinating (I have it a little bit--numbers have colors to me) but this book was not especially great. Too much of a YA "problem novel". ( )

dayum i want to read this so much! >.