#I want to say something about language surrounding neurodiversity

[wren-likethe-bird]

lil rant in the tags

[touretteinmedia]

A Taxonomy of Love

[Image: a light blue-green book cover. In the middle are giant black cursive letter that say “A Taxonomy of Love”. Underneath in smaller, print black letters it says “a novel by Rachael Allen”. Surrounding the words is a Taxonomy of Love with different words and drawings related to Love in circles and squares all interconnected.]

Book: A Taxonomy of Love

Author: Rachael Allen

Summary: Spencer is used to feeling like the weird one, the not-quite-right one, the alone one. Between having a perfect-at-everything older brother and being teased about his Tourette’s syndrome, it’s just the way things are. But the moment Hope steps out of the moving van next door, Spencer feels different.

Like his neighborhood is an entirely different place, now that he has a friend.

Like he could tell Hope anything — maybe even everything.

Like he finally belongs.

And then that grow up. Life gets messy, and clear labels like “friend” her messy, too.

Through sibling feuds and family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts, the two grow together and apart, and Spencer, an aspiring scientist, tries to map it all out using his normally trustworthy system of taxonomy.

But unlike science, love doesn’t always fit into easy-to-manage boxes. And if Spencer can’t figure it out soon, he risks losing Hope completely.

My review:

I give the book four out of five stars (4/5 stars). The book is very well written. It has different topics like racism, the confederate flag (it takes place in southern Georgia), death, relationships, bullying, and there was even an lesbian relationship (mentioned for like a few pages, but still).

The book is focalized (told through) two points of views. The main one is Spencer. He has Tourette, a hyperfixation/special interest (adhd/autism words respectively. I’m not sure if we have one for Tourette) involving bugs. Spencer is the guy who will stand up for what is right and for anybody being bullied. Because of his Tourette his dad doesn’t really want his help with some things and instead makes Dean do them, giving them a closer relationship without Spencer. Often Spencer’s chapters will have taxonomies drawn somewhere.

The other ‘narrator’ is Hope. Her side of the story is told through emails, I-messages, letters, but not a chapter like Spencer has. Hope also deals with relationships and crushes. The first half of the story that she tells is her and her sister talking back and forth about guys (no, it doesn’t really change, so it does not pass any tests.) A completely unexpected plot twist occurs part way through the novel (one I did not see coming until I went back and read closer. Cliché but very well done) and her chapters sort of dip off and don’t come back till the end.

Like I said, the book deals with topics like racism. During a dinner, the topic of the Confederate flag being banned from school is brought up. The way it is dealt with is pretty cool. There’s a black female character who says something that gets the racist person to think. And it helps change his mind. However this was only a few pages long and is never discussed again. There are also a few paragrpahs about the theater teacher not wanting an interracial relationship on stage, but no in depth discussion. They are just brief snippets. I kinda wished there was more to these subplots.

Minus the not going into depth when it should the book is very good. The portrayal of Tourette is amazing. I tried to look up to see if the author had Tourette, but I only found one source that said she was neurodiverse and had ADHD, nothing about her being Tourific (having Tourette). She chose to write about Tourette because she wanted kids to pick up the book and see a character that’s like them.

The books is rated Young Adult for language and because it talks about sex a bit.

Trigger warnings:

Death

Attempted Suicide

Ableist slur (one part that stood out)