A Mango-Shaped Space
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| A Mango-Shaped Space | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wendy Mass |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Realistic Fiction |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Young Readers |
| Publication date | April 16, 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) & Paperback |
| Pages | 224 pp |
| ISBN | 0316523887 |
| OCLC Number | 50803170 |
| LC Classification | PZ7.M42355 Man 2003 |
A Mango-Shaped Space (2003) is a novel by Wendy Mass. It is about Mia Winchell, a thirteen year old girl living with synesthesia. Her synesthesia causes her problems in school, with friends, and winning the understanding of her parents and peers.
For example, Mia first experiences ridicule at the hands of her third-grade classmates when she is called to the front of the room to do a math problem. She uses colored chalk to make the numbers fit into the synesthetic form in which she sees them. Her teacher tells her to stop stalling by making up silly stories. Mia is left confused and alone, because she thought everyone saw this way. After that, Mia doesn't tell anyone about her colors and everyone soon forgets.
When Mia is twelve her most beloved friend, her grandfather, dies. During her grandfather's funeral, Mia finds a gray and white kitten with eyes just like her grandfather's. She immediately decides that part of her grandfather's soul is living in that kitten. She takes him home and names him Mango. Not because of his orange eyes, but because his meows and his heavy wheezing are different shades of orange and yellow to her; like a mango in different seasons. The wheezes are actually caused by a deep rip in Mango's lung, which cannot be repaired, but Mango copes with it.
One day, when Mia is at the grocery store with her mother, she meets someone who could very well share her condition. A little boy named Billy Henkle who sees her name as orange with purple stripes. Mia is shocked, but his mother quickly retorts that he has an overactive imagination.
When school trouble in 8th grade causes Mia to tell about her colors. Her mother takes Mia to many different doctors, but only one has an answer. Jerry Weiss is a doctor who demands they call him Jerry, nothing else. He tells Mia all about her synesthesia, and gives her loads of information about it. He even gives her a website where Mia can communicate with other synesthetes.
While online, Mia meets Adam - a boy from Boston - and quickly become friends over their similarities. Jerry invites Mia to a synesthesia meeting where she can meet fellow synesthetes, including her online friend Adam.
During the meeting, Adam appears very gentlemanly, invites her outside for a walk, but asks her (while really forcing) to kiss him. At first, Mia is amused, but her euphoria is short-lived.
Because she is so preoccupied with her condition and life, Mia forgets to give Mango his medicine. She wakes up in the middle of the night to find him outside in the cold. She brings him in but it is already too late, and Mango is dead by the end of the night. After Mango dies, Mia is extremely depressed and her colors disappear. She feels guilty and believes she killed her cat by being so preoccupied, even though no one is to blame for his death. Meanwhile, Adam emails her saying that "even though he's sorry about her cat, she still should have come to the meeting (the second one in which she missed) and that "kissing her was fun and that it would be fun to do it again sometime". She realizes that he is not the person she thought he was and describes that she wishes she could print out his email and crumple it up.
Soon, Billy Henkle, the boy that she met at the grocery store who shares her condition, comes back and Mia is able to offer him the help that she never received when she was young. She then realizes that she has to move on to be able to help other synesthetes.
Mango ended up mating with one of the neighbor's female cats before he died, and she gave birth to some kittens. Mia saw that one of the kittens sounded like the color of Mustard. She knew on the inside Mango would want Mia to have his son, so his spirit could live on.
[edit] Publication details
- 2003, USA, Little, Brown, and Company (ISBN 978-0316523882), Pub date April 2003, hardback (first edition)
- 2005, USA, Little, Brown, and Company (ISBN 978-0316058254), Pub date October 2005, paperback
