Enjoy a review sure to wrap you into When Clouds Touch.
"I’ve never read Ey Wade’s work before, nor did I know what to expect from her most recent novel “When Clouds Touch.” I just knew what the description stated. Once I started reading, I realized the blurb barely covered what was to come… except I still didn’t know what that would be.
I knew there was a young woman named Paisley MuRong that had been dealing with severe medical conditions, including Albinism and congenital heart disease. I also learned Paisley shared a destiny with Malachi Dae, and this was determined way before they even took their first breaths. What I didn’t know was why their path toward each other was so powerful or what type of story this was going to be. Was this a romantic tale? Something mystical? A story where the author will somehow exercise creative license?
Should any of that matter? It did, until I made the conscious decision to simply let that go and that’s when I was able to relax a little more and not anticipate what could come on the next page. In the world of Paisley, that’s how it is… nothing is known or even guaranteed. Therefore her world is a very cautious one. With very overprotective and, understandably so, overbearing parents, Paisley has spent most of it hidden from the “dangers” that we would simply call life. For that, I was sad for her. I even became upset and disliked her parents for it.
Then I recalled the earliest pages in this novel where Paisley and Malachi’s mothers both have moments where they felt their babies… but more importantly they were so in tune that they “knew” their child by a reaction felt in the womb. As a parent myself, I got it… That life that grew from almost nowhere was everything and forever was there a connection between parent and child. An uncontrollable desire to protect at all costs happens that just can’t be explained… So when Paisley’s parents demonstrated their helicopter behaviors and then some, it was because they loved her so much that they didn’t want to lose her again. Yes… again.
Paisley’s health had many scares since she was born, including a time when they lost her and I am pretty sure that was something no one would ever want to experience again. So Paisley’s parents erected barriers and essentially created a safe place or bubble for their little girl to live in, except she is no longer their little girl. Paisley is an adult woman and she is feeling things that any one of us would feel that “bubbles” can’t keep us from experiencing.
Malachi – her soul mate – has been around her all her life, but it takes a chance encounter (or is it chance?) to finally allow their worlds to collide. At that point, there’s no turning back. Chemistry has taken hold of the situation and a curious Paisley and a love struck Malachi set out to help her experience life outside the safe cocoon that Paisley’s parents prefer to keep her in.
What I appreciated about this story is that Ey Wade was almost poetic with her descriptions and scenes. The scene that still stands out for me days after reading it was when Paisley and Malachi were lying under her wagasa, a large Japanese umbrella that Paisley carries everywhere to shield her from the sun. Malachi looks up at the filtered view of the sky through the wagasa and asks Paisley what she sees. Her response and view from beneath it saddened me, as she keeps her head down and moves quickly from place to place in her life.
It’s when something halts her or curiosity gets the better of her does Paisley get a closer peek at what’s beyond the bubble… but it always costs her a little more than she’s ready for.
Ey Wade brings life into the world of a young woman that has been isolated in a place that her parents feel will protect her – from the harmful sun, from the germs of the world, from the judging eye of people that will make stupid comments about her rare features or fear her enough to wish her death – and gives her life through Malachi.
Reading “When Clouds Touch” made me curious about the author and her other works, which I will be checking out as well, and something I felt through her writing was confirmed. Ms. Wade takes special care in education, caring, protecting and connecting people that aren’t likely to find each other otherwise. I felt that in her “When Clouds Touch” and it made me care even more about Paisley when she would twist Malachi’s arm to do something her parents would otherwise object to or if a hand-to-the-chest moment popped up in the story. She also managed to do that while bringing less than ordinary characters that are unfortunately missing in so many pages and giving a story with an outcome that was purely unexpected – one that held my attention until the last page. As an author, Ms. Wade took great care in showing all sides of the story and why no side or character was ever really wrong or right. Everyone wanted the best for all in this story. Thanks to the storytelling of Ey Wade, so did I. And when you step into the story holding onto empathy for the cast of characters until the very end, you’ve walked into a good thing."
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