Plums for Months: Memories of a wonder-filled, neurodivergent childhood

by Zaji Cox

"A poetic lovesong as big as the cosmos." ―Lidia Yuknavitch
As a neurodivergent child in a hundred-year-old house, Zaji Cox collects grammar books, second-hand toys, and sightings of feral cats. She dances and cartwheels through self-discovery and doubt, guided by her big sister and their devoted single mother. Through short essays that evoke the abundant imagination of childhood, Plums for Months explores the challenges of growing up mixed race and low-income on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

144 pages, Paperback

Published May 9, 2023

About the author

Zaji has been creating stories since she was old enough to read at age three. Her poetry, prose and essays can be found in Cultural Daily, Pathos Literary Magazine, Entropy Magazine, and others. Along with being a writer, she is also a dancer and animal lover.

Reviews

[Zaji]

I mean…I think it’s pretty great. =)

[Sara]

Loved the evocative, spare writing. A pleasure to read.

[Amanda]

Lovely and important, just not my vibe

I thought this book was beautifully written. The descriptions were very evocative and I felt deeply for the sweet, young girl that Zaji Cox was growing up and into herself. Seeing a neurodivergent child experience joy and love and support from her family was soul feeding.

The format of the book with short, descriptive mini-essays/free form poems was not my particular cup of tea, but if you like that style then this book would easily be a five star for you!

I’m so glad I read this!

[Sam]

This memoir thouroughly surprised me in the best ways possible.

To preface, I am someone who primarily reads fiction (mostly fantasy) and I've never once been drawn to a memoir before. But I saw this book on display at Powell's during February (Black History Month) on a bookcase that was dedicated to works written by Black authors. Upon seeing that this was authored by a fellow biracial, neurodivergent, and local woman, I felt called to buy it. Although I didn't know what to expect, I thought it would at least resonate a bit. And it absolutely did.

I'll admit that it sat on my shelf for a couple of months, but once I finally picked it up to read in late April I eagerly danced through it. I actually just finished it a few minutes ago, and my eyes are still wet from crying tears of grief, love, joy and more as this memoir came to a close. I felt called to write this review due to how moving this read was for me.

This is a treasure trove of vignettes that take you on a magical journey through Zaji's early childhood into her young adult life. It is a beautiful collection of bite-size pieces that are not only enjoyable in and of themselves, but quite wonderful together. It is like a coming-of-age soundtrack that whimsically flows through Zaji's past experiences and memories, each a unique song in the score, while graciously taking us along for the listen. It is raw. Real. Written in a way that illustrates Zaji's unrelenting fearlessness in acknowledging, developing and being exactly who she is. And then she so freely shares that authenticity with us.

I think that above all, my inner-child felt seen. As I read bits from Zaji's childhood, albeit being full of entirely different experiences than my own, I felt that I was looking into a mirror. I felt understood. Appreciated. Oddly, yet truthfully, connected to this person that I've never met. And with my inner-child feeling seen in that way, I think she also felt soothed. As if she was no longer alone and knows not only that there are indeed others out there like her, but that there always have been and there always will be.

I believe that anyone who reads this memoir, regardless of who they are, will find that they relate to it. After all, we were all children once, with dreams of our own. And I find it damn-inspiring that Zaji went after her dreams of writing and cultivated them into a beautiful reality.

If you are on the fence, I encourage you to just bite the bullet and read it. It's entirely worth it.

[Moonkiszt]

Zaji Cox's book Plums for Months: Memories of a wonder-filled, neurodivergent childhood charmed me entirely. . . I've even bought a copy of my very own. She's got a way of looking at the world differently, and has developed her voice and found a lovely way to share her melodies and harmonies with words - below is her observation after observing an interaction of her mother and sister facing a neighbor (white) who had accused the sister (mixed race) of breaking and stealing from his property. . .in pondering about who she and her sister are. . .

What We Are

IN THE TWO OF us we are many: Irish, Danish, French, German, Native American, Black, white, and more that we don’t know, buried in history like our Native ancestor who was kidnapped from her tribe. So when my sister tells me about all the people who squint at her and ask what is she, or my classmate draws a picture of me and her in class and I am colored the darkest, chocolate brown, I want to hold out my arm, my sister’s arm, and peel back every layer to show the white, the Black, the Native American, the German, the French, the Danish, the Irish, the many.

Cox, Zaji. Plums for Months: Memories of a wonder-filled, neurodivergent childhood (p. 36). Forest Avenue Press. Kindle Edition.

Her piece called "The Scholastic Book Fair" swept me right back to my school days, when the scholastic book fair order sheets landed on our desks. I wanted every one, was told (if we were lucky that month) that I must make my choice. . .

That these essays are set in my home world, the Pacific Northwest, specifically the country where I live also pulls at my heartstrings - her descriptions dive deep for me, filled with a tenor that I hear, living on these same roads, moved by these same winds, breathing the same air.

yes. I bought my own copy of this graceful book. It makes me smile and think differently.

26|52:7a

[B. Goodwin]

In “Wildflower Bouquet,” which is one of the prose poems in Plums for Months, author Zaji Cox says, “I love the way mismatched things will fit perfectly together to make something imperfect.” In so many ways that statement sums up the unique observations of the neurodivergent author. She lives in a rambling and crumbling old house, then when the mother moves to an up-to-date condo where her boyfriend lives, she has no wind whistling through cracks, but far less space. She knows, first-hand, that we are all imperfect, and she accepts that fact without letting it lower her aspirations. She’s a girl who wants her braids to bounce and swing, a gymnast who wants to move from level 6 to level 7, and an astute observer of nature.

Because she processes input differently, she doesn’t have a lot of friends or the confidence of her older sister. When there’s no one to talk to, she takes great comfort in confiding in Jerry, her cat. She says, “He’s there when I can’t communicate right with the human world to which I supposedly belong…. Appearing whenever I need to talk but not talk with his curly-smile tail.”

Like many women who find themselves without a true listener, she handles the void by writing. Her worldview, seen through both her eyes and her heart, is laced with her evocative perceptions. She sees beauty where others see ordinariness. She offers new juxtapositions like “…I fashion a temporary stage on the blue carpet of the gym’s springboard floor with my compulsory-level routine and think about ways to destroy a brick wall,” and, when she’s speaking of her mother, “Too far to hear, we see the calm inside her work to guide and tame the anger, tame the my daughter to a volume that won’t shake the trees with the white noise of woman-yell.”

This is a beautiful memoir that shows the wonders of childhood and allows readers to get inside the head of someone who processes the world through autistic eyes and ears. I’ve noticed her verbal illustrations of what she sees, hears, and feels affecting my daily writing in positive ways.

Most of Cox’s short pieces are written in the style of prose poems. While they may impact readers differently, the lyrical language of these isolated moments is likely to stay with each reader.

[Becky]

I read this book because I was looking for a small press book set in Portland, Oregon and I was peripherally familiar with this from local indie bookstores. This collection of short, poetic essays reflects on Zaji Cox’s childhood in a coming-of-age memoir encompassing everything from the big (schooling, neurodivergence- Asperger’s) to the mundane (hair, gymnastics). While many reviews laud the unorthodox, lyrical writing, I found it juvenile at times and prosaic. This audiobook narrated by Stephanie Weeks is a super short read and was largely what I was looking for, but I found it forgettable.

[Kim Davis]

It made me feel again. Maybe against my will.

[Olliesf]

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put this book down and stayed up way too late over the course of two nights to finish it. The writing was beautiful and I felt like I could envision the images being painted on the page. There were many moments where I connected so much to what Cox was saying, especially in regards to language and feeling emotions so deeply yet not knowing how to express those words in the confines of what is considered "normal." I highly recommend Plums of Months!

[Lauren Mendez]

I deeply enjoyed Plums for Months. Zaji’s memoir is full of stories from her childhood navigating friendships, finding her passions, her experiences with school, growing up biracial, autistic, and low income, and processing changes within herself. This memoir felt relatable, accessible, and genuine.

[Jason Arias]

There are some books that are so honest, vibrant, and fully embedded with the author's sense that you feel your own perspective shift. You somehow feel bigger and smaller, better and humbler after turning the last page. More observant. This is one of those books.

[Maddie]

this book is told in short, poetic chapters. the author cleverly and beautifully explains life as a nuerodivergent kid while also describing her life as a kid

[Gilion Dumas]

Zaji Cox's new memoir is a collection of impressionistic essays about her childhood, living in a 100-year-old house with her single mother and sister. It is intimate, beautiful, and moving.

[Erica Baker]

Gorgeous writing even though I'm not usually a fan of lyric essays. A nice peak into a neurodivergent mind of a child.

[Lorraine]

Honest and funny

[Audra]

This is a lovely collection of writings and photos that are little snapshots of growing up. I really like how the forms vary from poems to short essays. It feels like flipping thru someone’s journal.

I did pick this up based on the title, but neurodivergence is a very small part of it. I suppose that is true of everyone.

Book connections:
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Maybe An Artist by Liz Montague
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir by Margaret Kimball
A Different Kind of Normal by Abigail Balfe

[Morgan Clingan]

I genuinely enjoyed "Plums for Months" by Zaji Cox. She captures the wonder of childhood in exquisite and loving detail. I would highly recommend this to any poetry lovers who appreciate reminiscing.