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A review by onetruenorth
When My Heart Joins the Thousand by A.J. Steiger
5.0
this was the type of book that makes time warp: you don’t even realize how much has passed because you’re so absorbed in it, until the world within its pages feels more real than the world that you actually occupy.
i highly recommend that you read this book, and here’s why:
it has both autism and disability rep (osteogenesis imperfecta, to be exact. basically, his bones break really easily.) i have neither, so i can’t speak from a place of knowledge that this representation was spot on. but i’ll admit that, as a reader, it (felt) immersive. the characters were the perfect place between flawed and perfect. they were lovable, and their pain felt like my pain. alvie’s autism is shown not only through the way she thinks and interacts with people, but also through her panic attacks and stimming.
there are several subplots tied in with the most gorgeous writing. we begin with alvie, a seventeen year old girl who is hoping for emancipation. she has a job at the zoo, which is perfect for her, because she relates more to animals than she does to other people. for the most part, she is alone. she finds it hard to communicate with others, and we have a lack of characters who truly understand her autism. instead, they label her as different and other. then, we are introduced to stanley: he is both a friend and a love interest, and he is more patient with and understanding of her than anyone else in her life has ever been. as a generally sex-repulsed asexual, i don’t typically enjoy mentions of sex within novels, but i appreciated the way that it was handled in this one.
this book is not just a love story, but an exploration of what it means to be different in a world that is so often harmful. it is a book about loving, and letting yourself be loved. it is a book about grief and loss and trauma and mental health. it is a book about sex and vulnerability and a one-winged hawk and rabbits. i recommend reading a list of the trigger warnings before reading it, but i thoroughly enjoyed this book. (it won a nutmeg book award, and i can see why. there should definitely be more fanfare about it on platforms such as this one, though!) it tore my heart to shreds and then gently glued it back together.
i highly recommend that you read this book, and here’s why:
it has both autism and disability rep (osteogenesis imperfecta, to be exact. basically, his bones break really easily.) i have neither, so i can’t speak from a place of knowledge that this representation was spot on. but i’ll admit that, as a reader, it (felt) immersive. the characters were the perfect place between flawed and perfect. they were lovable, and their pain felt like my pain. alvie’s autism is shown not only through the way she thinks and interacts with people, but also through her panic attacks and stimming.
there are several subplots tied in with the most gorgeous writing. we begin with alvie, a seventeen year old girl who is hoping for emancipation. she has a job at the zoo, which is perfect for her, because she relates more to animals than she does to other people. for the most part, she is alone. she finds it hard to communicate with others, and we have a lack of characters who truly understand her autism. instead, they label her as different and other. then, we are introduced to stanley: he is both a friend and a love interest, and he is more patient with and understanding of her than anyone else in her life has ever been. as a generally sex-repulsed asexual, i don’t typically enjoy mentions of sex within novels, but i appreciated the way that it was handled in this one.
this book is not just a love story, but an exploration of what it means to be different in a world that is so often harmful. it is a book about loving, and letting yourself be loved. it is a book about grief and loss and trauma and mental health. it is a book about sex and vulnerability and a one-winged hawk and rabbits. i recommend reading a list of the trigger warnings before reading it, but i thoroughly enjoyed this book. (it won a nutmeg book award, and i can see why. there should definitely be more fanfare about it on platforms such as this one, though!) it tore my heart to shreds and then gently glued it back together.