This has to be one of the most amazing books I've read! Fictional yet feels quite possible. How often do we hear a survivor of a coma hears and remembers what was said while he/she remained comatose, and yet they actually do. I have seen it. But this warmhearted story is not due to coma as such.
An extremely rare, possibly untreatable case of meningitis is what has shut down most of his system: Cryptococcal Meningitis. This has left this fourteen year old boy, Aaron, in complete and utter paralysis, vision, talking, blinking, all lost to him and has been for a very long time. But what he hasn't lost is his imagination. Since he is trapped, he creates a "mind palace", a place in his brain where he can go. Author Johan Twiss is about to take us on a strange but fascinating journey.
When he gets a room-mate, his life is about to open up in ways he could never have guessed. An elderly man with some type of dementia, is now ensconced in his room. This is where the real story begins, an amazing chance to return to a life with meaning from the wealth of history and music his new room-mate, Solomon, a Jewish Jazz musician, brings with him.
This is a turning point for Aaron, because he has just learned he can "hear and respond" in a very special way. He has a connection with Solomon between the two of them. This is a wonderful story, surprising, sad, yet uplifting. A fulfilling adventure all their own, that leaves with it a curiosity: Who was Aaron who played Jazz with Solomon in the '30s?
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