Review

The Beautiful Miscellaneous is a coming-of-age story about Nathan Nelson, the teenage son of a physicist. He has modest intellectual abilities and is unable to meet his father’s expectations, and has gotten tired of trying.

He has a near death experience when riding in his grandfather’s car. The accident left his grandfather dead and Nathan in a coma. When he comes out of the coma he finds that he has near-photographic memory and synesthesia - a sort of cross-connect between his senses, so that words and sounds have colors. He spends time at a school for the specially gifted where his new talents are to be developed. He discovers, though, that great intellectual ability offers little of interest to him.

The book was fairly engaging, and would be a great read for someone in the 15-19 year old range. It follows a classic pattern of juvenile fiction: the boy who overcomes his family’s dysfunction and is better afterwards for the experience.

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