4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace
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Average rating4.7
Diagnosed with a rare form of meningitis, fourteen-year-old Aaron Greenburg is paralyzed from head to toe. Doctors believe he is essentially brain dead and unaware of his surroundings, but Aaron is very much aware—trapped in his own mind with no way to communicate. To cope with his imprisonment, he retreats to an imaginary world called his Mind Palace, but the lines between reality, and time itself, start to blur when he receives a new patient as a roommate—an old, outspoken, Jewish jazz musician, named Solomon.
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Fourteen-year-old Aaron is paralyzed due to a rare form of meningitis. His parents have moved him to a nursing home for care, and everyone around him thinks he's in a vegetative state. But Aaron is very much alive inside his immobile body. He sees his parents coming to visit less and less often, and he sees the strain in their relationship. He gripes about the nurse leaving the same thing on the TV all the time. But he can't communicate with anyone until he gets a new roommate. Solomon, a jazz musician, is in the early stages of dementia, and somehow he can hear Aaron's thoughts. And not only can Solomon communicate with Aaron, Aaron gets pulled into Solomon's retreats into his past.
I'm not sure what I really expected when I picked up this book. Whatever I thought it would be, it is so much more. Johan Twiss writes with such wonderful turns of phrase. He captures both the attitude of a teenage boy stuck in a prison not of his own making and the crusty exterior and heart of gold of an elderly Jewish man who's somewhere he doesn't really want to be. And this story takes us so many places! We see Aaron's relationship with Sarah, Solomon's granddaughter, grow and take shape. We get a tour of history through Aaron's travels in Solomon's dementia dreams. And the characters are so believable, so well written. They felt like friends. I cheered as people started to realize that yes, Aaron could hear and could think and was still there. This story made me laugh, and gasp, and roll my eyes, and want to hug the characters. Well done, Mr. Twiss.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary advance review copy from BookSirens and the publisher. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.
What an amazing, heartfelt, and emotional read. There wasn't anything about this one I didn't enjoy. My absolute favorite parts of this were the interactions between Solomon and Aaron. The Sci-Fi element that links them together is a twist that makes this a very fun read.
I also loved the emotional journey that both Solomon and Aaron have to undergo. Solomon with his ever-present dementia and Aaron with his inability to speak, move, or do anything to show he's fully aware. That they need each other, while one is slipping away and the other is returning, had me on an emotional roller coaster.
Their journey is filled with all the feels and I loved every second of it. I sincerely appreciate the publisher and BookSirens for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.
