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A review by bluejaybooks
Meet Me in Outer Space by Melinda Grace
5.0
The most important thing to know about this book going in is that it is, first and foremost, a fluffy romance novel. The synopsis plays it up as an activist book a little too much. That said, this book also means a lot to me.
I shied away from mentioning this in my first review because I wasn't sure I was ready to state this publicly, but as a child, I was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). APD is also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), the same disorder the main character in this novel has. Because I'm so used to having to explain, APD is a disorder that affects someone's ability to understand what they hear, especially spoken language. Note that most people with APD have average hearing.
As the push for diverse fiction grew, one thing I wanted to see were characters with APD, but it never seemed to happen. So imagine my joy at discovering this book, especially given its #OwnVoices nature.
I've gone back and forth in my rating of this book because I acknowledge that it isn't perfect, but this novel has occupied so many of my thoughts that I couldn't bear to give it anything less than a high rating.
Now on to the content of the book itself. I loved that the book started off with Edie misunderstanding someone. The extent of her misunderstanding is perhaps a bit exaggerated, but in my attempt at writing a character with APD, one of the things I had the most trouble with was that typically when writing dialogue, the writer will eliminate the misunderstandings that would have occurred in actual speech (because even people without APD have trouble understanding speech sometimes, but no one wants to read about that because it's boring).
The author seems to have taken the approach of, for the most part, only including Edie's misunderstandings when they're relevant to the plot. While I might have appreciated seeing Edie struggle a bit more, I can see why the author made this stylistic choice given the nature of fictional dialogue. I also feel this choice is reflective of the fact that my APD isn't something I think about most of the time. Were I recalling the story of my day, I would only include misunderstandings that were particularly funny or relevant. Given that this book is written in past tense, Edie only mentioning particularly relivant miscommunications makes sense.
I did feel, however, that perhaps the author should have made it so that Edie experienced more difficulties in a noisy environment as it's typical for many people with APD to have trouble in noisier places, but for Edie, it seemed almost as if the reverse were true. However, the author may have intended this to reflect Edie's personal verity of APD as it's my understanding symptoms can vary a great deal.
We see Edie struggle more with her APD/CAPD in her French class as she struggles to understand her instructor. I'll admit that this isn't something I could personally relate to well as my APD hasn't given me a great deal of trouble in my foreign language classes, but I had trouble initially learning to read and write in English, so I can easily see how it could affect someone's ability to learn another language. I also liked how Edie acknowledged that if she wasn't trying so hard to speak and just focused on the multiple choice questions she might do well. I've done a lot of that in foreign language classes . . . which may be part of why English is the only language I speak fluently. :)
Something I found odd was how much people seemed to care that Edie was looking at their mouths. In my experience, people can't really tell if you're looking at their mouths as opposed to their eyes. I also don't agree with Edie's insistence upon people not Googling APD. I would rather people Google APD to limit the number of times I have to explain what it is and answer basic questions. But *shrugs* to each their own. (But do be aware that there is a lot of misinformation out there. Also "Auditory Processing Disorder" and "Sensory Processing Disorder" are different diagnoses--Google seems to have an issue differentiating between them, and I've seen so much confusion as a result.)
I must admit that my primary motivation for reading the book was that this was an #OwnVoices book with a character who has APD, and romance isn't a genre I'm drawn to. It is, therefore, difficult for me to judge the quality of the romance. But it definitely has some hate to love qualities that I understand many romance readers enjoy. However, I also feel many readers may leave this book with a lack of closure. That said, I think it might also be read as open to future possibilities. :)
For me though, I think I just may go read this novel again because I'm just so happy it exists! :)
Initial Thoughts Funny story, when I was about 15, I wrote the first 20,000 words of a story in which the main character had the same disorder as the protagonist in this book. (Auditory processing disorder/APD or central auditory processing disorder/CAPD as it's called in this book.) I stopped writing because I became frustrated with my main character's inability to understand dialogue and disparaged that because of this APD would never be represented in fiction.
This is one instance where I'm beyond thrilled to be proven wrong. :)
I shied away from mentioning this in my first review because I wasn't sure I was ready to state this publicly, but as a child, I was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). APD is also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), the same disorder the main character in this novel has. Because I'm so used to having to explain, APD is a disorder that affects someone's ability to understand what they hear, especially spoken language. Note that most people with APD have average hearing.
As the push for diverse fiction grew, one thing I wanted to see were characters with APD, but it never seemed to happen. So imagine my joy at discovering this book, especially given its #OwnVoices nature.
I've gone back and forth in my rating of this book because I acknowledge that it isn't perfect, but this novel has occupied so many of my thoughts that I couldn't bear to give it anything less than a high rating.
Now on to the content of the book itself. I loved that the book started off with Edie misunderstanding someone. The extent of her misunderstanding is perhaps a bit exaggerated, but in my attempt at writing a character with APD, one of the things I had the most trouble with was that typically when writing dialogue, the writer will eliminate the misunderstandings that would have occurred in actual speech (because even people without APD have trouble understanding speech sometimes, but no one wants to read about that because it's boring).
The author seems to have taken the approach of, for the most part, only including Edie's misunderstandings when they're relevant to the plot. While I might have appreciated seeing Edie struggle a bit more, I can see why the author made this stylistic choice given the nature of fictional dialogue. I also feel this choice is reflective of the fact that my APD isn't something I think about most of the time. Were I recalling the story of my day, I would only include misunderstandings that were particularly funny or relevant. Given that this book is written in past tense, Edie only mentioning particularly relivant miscommunications makes sense.
I did feel, however, that perhaps the author should have made it so that Edie experienced more difficulties in a noisy environment as it's typical for many people with APD to have trouble in noisier places, but for Edie, it seemed almost as if the reverse were true. However, the author may have intended this to reflect Edie's personal verity of APD as it's my understanding symptoms can vary a great deal.
We see Edie struggle more with her APD/CAPD in her French class as she struggles to understand her instructor. I'll admit that this isn't something I could personally relate to well as my APD hasn't given me a great deal of trouble in my foreign language classes, but I had trouble initially learning to read and write in English, so I can easily see how it could affect someone's ability to learn another language. I also liked how Edie acknowledged that if she wasn't trying so hard to speak and just focused on the multiple choice questions she might do well. I've done a lot of that in foreign language classes . . . which may be part of why English is the only language I speak fluently. :)
Something I found odd was how much people seemed to care that Edie was looking at their mouths. In my experience, people can't really tell if you're looking at their mouths as opposed to their eyes. I also don't agree with Edie's insistence upon people not Googling APD. I would rather people Google APD to limit the number of times I have to explain what it is and answer basic questions. But *shrugs* to each their own. (But do be aware that there is a lot of misinformation out there. Also "Auditory Processing Disorder" and "Sensory Processing Disorder" are different diagnoses--Google seems to have an issue differentiating between them, and I've seen so much confusion as a result.)
I must admit that my primary motivation for reading the book was that this was an #OwnVoices book with a character who has APD, and romance isn't a genre I'm drawn to. It is, therefore, difficult for me to judge the quality of the romance. But it definitely has some hate to love qualities that I understand many romance readers enjoy. However, I also feel many readers may leave this book with a lack of closure. That said, I think it might also be read as open to future possibilities. :)
For me though, I think I just may go read this novel again because I'm just so happy it exists! :)
Initial Thoughts Funny story, when I was about 15, I wrote the first 20,000 words of a story in which the main character had the same disorder as the protagonist in this book. (Auditory processing disorder/APD or central auditory processing disorder/CAPD as it's called in this book.) I stopped writing because I became frustrated with my main character's inability to understand dialogue and disparaged that because of this APD would never be represented in fiction.
This is one instance where I'm beyond thrilled to be proven wrong. :)