2.5 rounded up.

While it is technically written well, this firmly occupies the intersection of preachy self-help in fiction that I will never get on with, because in a word it is “unbelievable”. Ironic. Given they’re always concerned with inspiration and fostering belief and positivity in something. But they’re also so concerned with that aspect it becomes necessarily solipsistic in order to maintain its self-generated fantasy.

That said, I can see why people who can fall into this voice and perspective really enjoyed this book. For me, it bordered on the fetishistic in its language around neurodivergent people, science in general, and an almost disturbing veneration and enshrinement of pretty much the only woman that appears. Though, I don’t think we could call her a character.

Mostly this is a feel-good fever dream that feels far too idyllic for my taste, which tends to define and make sense of the world through the human condition. The old roller coaster that this is, where you hear the distinct *click* with each increment to the summit of the roller coaster as you wait for the inevitable fast-paced descent, is not my idea of a good time. But it is a perfectly fine way to tell this kind of story. Like I said: it is technically well written, for what it is. But I can never bring myself to get on this ride.