The Chocolate Man

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

It cannot be easy to write a novel in the voice of a man suffering from
severe cerebral palsy, but Jeremy Fox has succeeded admirably.
Narrator/protagonist Michael Hopkin lives in a Toronto clinic and sells
chocolates to help pay for his keep. At the restaurant where he hawks
his wares, Michael meets a waitress and his life changes dramatically.
Michael is an intelligent man in his mid–30s whose special tragedy is
that his clarity of mind cannot compensate for his fragility of body.
His body betrays him at every turn, most particularly in his passions.

Jeremy Fox is an excellent writer, capturing Michael’s tragedy in
terms that are at once human and symbolic. Fully aware of his situation,
Michael nevertheless refuses to accept it. The options are clear: you
can live within your limitations or you can fight, despite fearful
risks, to do better. This is a fine book.