At the moment of me writing this review, Overlap may be the most underrated hidden gem on this site. The author (so-far) adeptly explores body sharing, sensory experiences, and disabilities from the perspective of a struggling middle schooler in 2010 rural Georgia.
A few specifics that I appreciated:
The authors use of first person leaves the reader to make their own assumptions about whats actually happening. I wouldn't go so far as to call Reed an unreliable narrator, it's more that we see everything exclusively through his young and limited perspective.
I see alot of authors write about being overstimulated, but this is the first work I've seen where a character struggles with being understimulated. As someone with ADHD and Autism, I appreciate the depictions shown in this work. This depiction is made better by being worked into the more fictional aspects of the story. By making parts of it fictional, the author has the freedom to depict more of it with whatever symptoms would make sense thematically instead of being constrained by ensuring a 100% realistic and tasteful depiction. The manga Good Morning, Sleeping Beauty depicts dating someone with a personality disorder using this method and it has remained one of my favorite works for that reason.
The discussions Reed shares with his brain roommate are alot of fun. It truly feels like listening to a bible belt middle schooler talk to a [redacted for spoilers] with their own personalities included.
Ultimately, I beg anyone who comes across this review to give this story a shot. Its quickly turned into one of my favorites and I hope it will for you too.
At the moment of me writing this review, Overlap may be the most underrated hidden gem on this site. The author (so-far) adeptly explores body sharing, sensory experiences, and disabilities from the perspective of a struggling middle schooler in 2010 rural Georgia.
A few specifics that I appreciated:
Ultimately, I beg anyone who comes across this review to give this story a shot. Its quickly turned into one of my favorites and I hope it will for you too.
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