A Mango-Shaped Space

OK, so this book was all levels of weird and cool... First off Mia seemed nice and her cool condition Synesthesia was described... well I suppose. I don't experience this and to be honest I may have aphantasia... so no colors for me... sigh. Her cat Mango was very sweet and Spoilerhis death was very touching and sad... I didn't get why Mia thought she was responsible for it... I mean she loved him soo much!!! Mia misses his deceased grandpa which makes sense (I never experienced the death of a grandparent, one grandma is dead but I never met her so...) and she thinks that a part of his soul is in heaven and the other in the cat Mango.... which is weird. I am not trying to offend anyone but the idea is so scientifically and religiously impossible in my opinion... I don't know if they had any religion themselves... Zach is the weirdest here and it's addressed that he is a believer of superstitions and I don't believe them any bit... so it was odd. His parents didn't seem to mind tho... and I suppose it could have been a phase. Beth was more normal she was just into spiritual stuff, yoga and vegetarian and into saving earth... which is nice of course. The thing that almost no one has ever heard of Synesthesia was odd to me... cuz I did pretty early on... And they kinda treated it like a disease or sth... Jessie was a nice friend. But I didn't like Adam at all.... he was a creep!!!
Anyways I kinda recommend this but not soo much!!!

I was given this book as a gift and was very interested in the plot, as the guy I'm marrying is a synesthete. It was really great to read about her experiences and the experiences that others with synesthesia have. What a cool way to live, huh?

I enjoyed Mia's voice, and her little brother Zack was a charmer. It was touching as well, and had me nearly in tears in a few spots.

I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this, as there were some things that I felt needed to be resolved. Still, I liked the book and I feel like I can understand my synesthete finacé just a little bit more.

Having never read a book from a synesthete character perspective, this provides a unique window into a different way of perceiving the world. Alas, I am a cranky OLD, so I wasn't enamoured of the obligatory middle grade book requirements: early teen figuring out how changing relationships with friends and family and responsibility of school work can be balanced with new priorities/self-interest, finding out which boy is a jerk and which isn't. 
Themes of dealing with loss, figuring out how your struggles can also be a point of commonality, something you can share, and even a way to help others, through grief, through isolation, felt more widely applicable across age groups.
As this book was written 20 years ago, with input from, but not by a synesthete, I am aware it may differ in reception by own voices. Some of the ‘what's wrong with our daughter?' and ‘it's okay she's normal' language reads like ableism from a modern viewpoint. 
⚠️Animal death, ableism