A Kind of Spark

WOW, just wow! This book was soo good. It's written by an actual neurodivergent author so this was great!
It's about Addie an autistic girl who is obsessed with sharks and reading and the Scottish witch trials. It was soo cool to read about someone who knows soo much about her neurotype. She used all the right words, including being called autistic not someone with autism. She talked about her stims, her special interests, how masking is soo deliberating. I loved that her big sister was also autistic! I don't see that often, especially one who is an adult at university but still struggles! I loved how they mentioned they don't want any cure, autism isn't an illness, not a superpower either! I mean this was as if my own opinions on these topics were here. I also hate what happened to those poor mostly women but men too who were accused of being witches for simple things that made them different, as being neurodivergent, left-handed, read-headed, queer, or something. So Addie wants to do something, to make a memorial to commemorate them as they were falsely accused and killed in a way to apologize as these things should never happen. Also, Addie has some struggles with a teacher at school who is basically a real witch who is very mean and bullies her, she also bullied her older sister Keedie too before. Also, a school bully who turns out to be dyslexic herself, what a shame to bully some other ND... It was a very nice book, and I'd say the most accurate one about autistic people I read until now! I'm so impressed!!! I did relate to some parts with Addie including her obsession with books, lol, and her vibing and saying the truth to others. While I never told anyone outside about me being neurodivergent though... It's a harsh world here, people still judge, I'm like Keddie, not ready.

“The ocean needs all kinds of fish. Just like the world needs all kinds of minds. Just one would be really dull, wouldn't it?”

It's Autism Awareness week so I figured it was the best time to finally pick up this book.

I wasn't expecting this to touch me so profoundly in the way that it did. I was diagnosed when I was four years old and it took me a while to understand that I was viewing and experiencing the world differently from others. I went through school being ridiculed by teachers and fellow students for the way I handled things or acted in some moments and it wasn't until I was much older that I understood it was because I was different.

A Kind of Spark felt like a warm hug. I think that's the best possible way for me to articulate how this made me feel. It felt like it was healing my inner child to see someone, like Addie, like me, in a book like this. If I could go back in time and hand this book to my younger self, I would.

Reading Addie's experiences throughout this book were raw, and revealing and felt like reading my own experiences as an autistic person through a magnifying glass. The masking, overstimulation, meltdowns, hyper fixations and special interests... are just some of the things that are portrayed fantastically. Honestly, reading this book made me just want to give Mcnicoll a huge hug to say thank you.

I believe A Kind of Spark is an important read for other autistic people to feel seen and for neurotypical people to attempt to understand what life is like through our eyes.

Automatic comfort read.

It was a beautiful story that brought tears to my eyes. I love it when an author brings a different kind of character, but also that they know how to write them. I've read some fictions about neurodivergent characters but it's the first time that I've read a story written by one. And it was a delight. I love Addie. I love how she thinks, how she talks. I love her family, her connections with each of them. I love her new friend. I hate her teacher, I hate how she tries to push Addie away for being different, how she bullies her for that.

Of course, it's not a textbook on autism. But I really think it's a good novel to see how it is to be in the mind of an autistic person. The scene where the class goes where the witches were hanged was gut-wrenching. I really love the parallel between the witches and Addie. And the ending was chef's kiss.