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zybes's review
5.0
I love this book. The author did a wonderful job with this great novel. It's just a touching story about something I had never even heard about. I cried my eyeballs out, but I know from experience that whether the book was happy or sad, it's usually the best ones that are tear-inducing. Anyone and everyone should read this.
rchluther's review
4.0
Fascinating novel about synesthesia. I really enjoyed the story, and found it a quick and easy read. I especially enjoyed hearing about the many different forms of synesthesia.
salmaa's review
4.0
3.5
great great great! i'm not sure if it presented synesthesia in an accurate way but i much more enjoyed the relationships and general colorful-ness in this book
also the ending was very wholesome
great great great! i'm not sure if it presented synesthesia in an accurate way but i much more enjoyed the relationships and general colorful-ness in this book
also the ending was very wholesome
lindseymbm's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Lovely middle grade book. Highly recommend!
colorwriter's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
For a book meant for children and younger readers I enjoyed this even as an adult. I remember enjoying this book as a child but reading through adult eyes with recent experiences with grief this book does an excellent job of presenting grief and growth as an individual through the eyes of a pre teen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Grief
Minor: Bullying
libraryjen's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was an easy read, and I wasn't bored while reading it, I just wasn't excited to pick it back up again after putting it down. I never connected with Mia despite feeling sorry for her struggles. Having no experience with synesthesia, I have no idea how accurate the portrayal is. I'd be interested in seeing it through virtual reality, though!
The book itself was well-written! If you enjoy realistic middle grade literature, give it a try.
The book itself was well-written! If you enjoy realistic middle grade literature, give it a try.
ash_ton's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wish I could rate this higher, but a few things annoyed me. I know in her acknowledgments she says she talked to people with synsthesia, but I'm really wondering...
I have synesthesia and while I can't speak for all synesthetes, I have never heard of real life people saying that it affects their life this badly. Or that it's that intense. Mia is full on hallucinating shit at points like be so serious. Mine isn't as intense as some people's but good lord ain't no one lost in some LSD-like haze. I also hate that even Mia's doctor and therapist were acting like synesthesia was just so outlandish. Here are a couple quotes I found in this article from MIT:
"Modern scientists have been studying synesthetic children in depth, including neonates, since 1980."
"By the early 2000s, the brain pictures that a critical establishment had demanded for decades were at last at hand, and in abundance. Critics were silenced, and long-standing dogmatic notions of how the brain is organized were out. The meaning of the paradigm shift lay in realizing just how consequential synesthesia is. Far from being a mere curiosity, it has proven to be a window onto an enormous expanse of mind and brain."
This article was literally the 4th result of the Google search "when did synesthesia become known."
Here's the article link if anyone cares: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-200-year-history-of-synesthesia/
Also the Adam kid was kind of a freak. Team Roger or wtvr.
I have synesthesia and while I can't speak for all synesthetes, I have never heard of real life people saying that it affects their life this badly. Or that it's that intense. Mia is full on hallucinating shit at points like be so serious. Mine isn't as intense as some people's but good lord ain't no one lost in some LSD-like haze. I also hate that even Mia's doctor and therapist were acting like synesthesia was just so outlandish. Here are a couple quotes I found in this article from MIT:
"Modern scientists have been studying synesthetic children in depth, including neonates, since 1980."
"By the early 2000s, the brain pictures that a critical establishment had demanded for decades were at last at hand, and in abundance. Critics were silenced, and long-standing dogmatic notions of how the brain is organized were out. The meaning of the paradigm shift lay in realizing just how consequential synesthesia is. Far from being a mere curiosity, it has proven to be a window onto an enormous expanse of mind and brain."
This article was literally the 4th result of the Google search "when did synesthesia become known."
Here's the article link if anyone cares: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-200-year-history-of-synesthesia/
Also the Adam kid was kind of a freak. Team Roger or wtvr.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent and Bullying
emmerama's review
5.0
I cried
EDIT: Feb 20, 2018
I feel that these two words deserve a explanation.
Let me begin by saying four things:
1) I don't typically write book reviews, and if I do write them, they aren't very lengthy,
2) I don't have experience with something like synesthesia so I'm not sure how it truly affects someone's life,
3) It's been two (2) years since I read this and I can't remember anything much other than the ending,
4) This review is mainly going to be about how the ending affected me (and I hope I don't cry in my family living room while writing this)
So. Let me preface by giving a bit of background on myself. It's been about 4-5 years now, but one of my first family dogs, Watson, had to be put down due to a stroke, seizure, and the fact that his body wasn't taking in nutrients anymore.
The decision to put him down came after realizing this condition of his wasn't going to change.
This hurt me and my family.
Bad.
We'd only had him about two years and Watson himself was only just reaching his fourth birthday. So he was a pretty young pup. For a while afterwards, I had actually been blaming myself for his death due to something that had happened minutes prior to his stroke. Of course I told nobody that I thought this until months later, but I've stopped.
Now, I went into "A Mango-Shaped Space" just looking for a bit of enjoyment. I had been reading a lot of adventure/fantasy/action books and wanted to see what Wendy Mass had published besides "The Candymakers" (a book which I really enjoyed), so when I found she did "Mango" I decided Why Not.
The book was pretty okay, I liked it well enough, but the scenes where there was a problem with Mango, the main character's cat, would sometimes set me on edge. Now I'm an animal lover so whenever an animal would die (i.e. Marley, Hachi) I would bawl my eyes out. I had a hunch that Mango would have to die at some point in the story so I prepared myself. I had a feeling I would be sad since I didn't have too strong a connection with Mango the cat, but I didn't expect to cry.
Within the final chapters of the book, the main character, Mia, gets home and wakes up in the middle of the night to a storm and no Mango. She searches and can't find Mango until she goes outside and sees the small, wet heap that is her cat. She desperately tries to save Mango by warming him and making sure he's okay but all proves futile in the end when Mango is pronounced dead in her dad's helicopter.
By this point I was silently crying in my bed, tears in my eyes blurring the words on the page as I desperately hoped none of my family members would walk in.
Why? Because in that moment I related to Mia's situation and it brought a lot of emotions to the surface. Losing an animal is hard. But reading someone's story that connects so much it feels as if you're losing the animal all over again is a new wave of pain.
Mia's desperate struggle to save Mango and her thoughts afterwards when she blamed herself felt like the times when my Watson had been struggling to survive and I blamed myself for months after? They felt so similar to me. The connection to her sorrow felt so familiar.
So, yes, I cried. I cried and cried and cried a bit more. I was even still sniffling when I finished the book a couple minutes later.
Overall, I'm not sure if the 5 stars I gave this book came from the story and interaction between characters or just those few gut-wrenching chapters that made me remember and relate to the loss of a best friend.
EDIT: Feb 20, 2018
I feel that these two words deserve a explanation.
Let me begin by saying four things:
1) I don't typically write book reviews, and if I do write them, they aren't very lengthy,
2) I don't have experience with something like synesthesia so I'm not sure how it truly affects someone's life,
3) It's been two (2) years since I read this and I can't remember anything much other than the ending,
4) This review is mainly going to be about how the ending affected me (and I hope I don't cry in my family living room while writing this)
So. Let me preface by giving a bit of background on myself. It's been about 4-5 years now, but one of my first family dogs, Watson, had to be put down due to a stroke, seizure, and the fact that his body wasn't taking in nutrients anymore.
The decision to put him down came after realizing this condition of his wasn't going to change.
This hurt me and my family.
Bad.
We'd only had him about two years and Watson himself was only just reaching his fourth birthday. So he was a pretty young pup. For a while afterwards, I had actually been blaming myself for his death due to something that had happened minutes prior to his stroke. Of course I told nobody that I thought this until months later, but I've stopped.
Now, I went into "A Mango-Shaped Space" just looking for a bit of enjoyment. I had been reading a lot of adventure/fantasy/action books and wanted to see what Wendy Mass had published besides "The Candymakers" (a book which I really enjoyed), so when I found she did "Mango" I decided Why Not.
The book was pretty okay, I liked it well enough, but the scenes where there was a problem with Mango, the main character's cat, would sometimes set me on edge. Now I'm an animal lover so whenever an animal would die (i.e. Marley, Hachi) I would bawl my eyes out. I had a hunch that Mango would have to die at some point in the story so I prepared myself. I had a feeling I would be sad since I didn't have too strong a connection with Mango the cat, but I didn't expect to cry.
Within the final chapters of the book, the main character, Mia, gets home and wakes up in the middle of the night to a storm and no Mango. She searches and can't find Mango until she goes outside and sees the small, wet heap that is her cat. She desperately tries to save Mango by warming him and making sure he's okay but all proves futile in the end when Mango is pronounced dead in her dad's helicopter.
By this point I was silently crying in my bed, tears in my eyes blurring the words on the page as I desperately hoped none of my family members would walk in.
Why? Because in that moment I related to Mia's situation and it brought a lot of emotions to the surface. Losing an animal is hard. But reading someone's story that connects so much it feels as if you're losing the animal all over again is a new wave of pain.
Mia's desperate struggle to save Mango and her thoughts afterwards when she blamed herself felt like the times when my Watson had been struggling to survive and I blamed myself for months after? They felt so similar to me. The connection to her sorrow felt so familiar.
So, yes, I cried. I cried and cried and cried a bit more. I was even still sniffling when I finished the book a couple minutes later.
Overall, I'm not sure if the 5 stars I gave this book came from the story and interaction between characters or just those few gut-wrenching chapters that made me remember and relate to the loss of a best friend.
alexasaltzman's review
3.0
Started off slow but eventually became invested in the character’s story line. No big surprises - more of a sustained coming of age novel. Cute, but not necessarily one I’d go around recommending UNLESS you know someone who has synesthesia and are trying to better understand this condition. In that case, this would be a great book to become more familiar with it.