Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Icy Sparks
by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. This covers a wide range of disabilities and our library is working with the ARC of Steuben County to bring information on these issues to light. That immediately brought the novel, Icy Sparks, by Gwyn Hyman Rubio to mind for me.

I picked up Icy Sparks years ago when I was substitute teaching and needed something to read while a class took a test. I found it fascinating. Icy Sparks details the onset of Tourette’s Syndrome for young Icy. Growing up during the 1950’s in rural Kentucky, Icy’s condition is inexplicable to most people. Her loving grandparents, who are raising her, are at a loss as to what to do. As the symptoms become more and more pronounced, she ends up being sent to a state asylum where her grandparents hope they will be able to make her better. They aren’t able to cure her but in the end they do give her some ways to cope a little better. Back at home, life goes on. They still don’t really know what to do with her. Growing up is never easy for a teen and it’s no different for Icy. First love, losing her grandfather, finding her place in the world - Icy does it all in her own style.

After reading through many reviews on Amazon.com, I found the reviews weighted towards five stars, but spread throughout the five star system. I find this often happens with a book which challenges your thinking. Reviews from people who have Tourette’s Syndrome, or live with someone who has it, differ widely on whether they thought the author was realistic in her portrayal. I suspect this is because Tourette’s Syndrome has many different symptoms and levels of severity. It would be impossible to say what the “typical” manifestation is.

Much of the dissatisfaction with the book voiced by reviewers came from the ending, feeling the religious angle was too blatant and the ending too abrupt. I had the feeling that the reviewers wanted a happy ending where she was fixed but, from the reading I’ve done, Tourette’s Syndrome isn’t like that. It may get a bit better as people age and they learn to cope, but it simply is. It doesn’t make you sick and it generally isn't curable. You simply learn to get on with life. In the end, Icy learns what her condition is, to cope with it and not let it define her. To my mind, it was a very affirming ending.

We all have different abilities and challenges in life. This author took on a challenging topic and created a fascinating character learning to deal with something that is outside the scope of most people's experience. Icy Sparks is at once different, unique, and also like every other teenage girl growing up. I think that makes it a perfect novel for people who want to experience something outside their own limited life experience.