I enjoyed what I read of The Wanting Way: Poems (Multiverse) by Adam Wolfond, but was unable to actually finish. I was not in the right mind frame for such an intense, deceptively simple story created from poems. This is a personal read as I have family and friends on the spectrum. I kept putting it off reading for that reason and I started it a few days before it was due as it was an interlibrary loan title. I could not renew it, so I did not want to rush and just returned it. That said, I still think I can do a decent job of reviewing.
A lot is going on and one needs to take their time with it, to savor it. The use of the blue string and occasionally blue word or phrase on the shocking white page was a unique touch. I will go back to it when I can give it the emotional time it needs. The author is a non-verbal autistic person who seems to have an almost otherworldly understanding of what that means to things and people around him. It made me wonder, did he really write this or is someone taking advantage of him? Having watched an autistic person grow, I know they can be amazingly talented, but also know that people might not have their best interests at heart.
My conclusion was I know that Wolfond is the author as the poems have an underlying meaning and connection to how one connects to the neurotypical world when you have a neurodivergent mind. If nothing else, the few poems opened me up to learning more about the world of autism. This is a thinking book on many levels and one I (as mentioned) want to explore more. Therefore, I see a purchase of a book in my future.
The Wanting Way (from 2022) is one of two titles I was able to locate by Wolfond. Open Book in Ways of Water is the second from 2023.
