(courtesy Simon & Schuster Australia)
Stepping out of comfort zones is easier for some people more than others.
But the truth is that no matter our willingness to push those envelopes and test those boundaries, all of us have well-mapped and comfortably known places that we prefer to inhabit over places that lurk, suffuse with greener grass, just in view but a thousand miles from what we know well.
Escaping comfort zones is possible, of course, with love & support, and the sense of encompassing mobile support those things give us, but it’s never easy as the protagonist in Helen Fisher’s (Space Hopper) latest novel, Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life, will quietly attest.
First things first though since Joe Nuthin’ is actually called Joe-Nathan, his titular name the creation of a small-minded bully at the Compass Store where both men work who makes sure that Joe-Nathan, who is neurodiverse though this is never explicitly stated in the book, feels small and stupid at every step.
But there’s the thing, and let’s be fair, it’s always the thing with bullies whose perceptive qualities and abilities to sum up a person are extremely limited to non-existent at best, Joe-Nathan is as far possessing as anyone could get.
He is sweet, kind, thoughtful and warm, a young man in his early twenties whose mother Hazel has raised him to be the kind of friend you would want by your side and who, though he doesn’t always get why people do things a certain way, is a damn sight more supportive and willing to give the benefit of the doubt than many neurotypical people are.
Janet opened her mouth and hesitated; attention-seeking was not something she associated with graves, but she could see where Joe was coming from. ‘In a way, I guess. Dad doesn’t need anything on his headstone except that he was loved, by us. In the end, that’s better than a joke and a lot of flowers from strangers, isn’t it?’
‘I guess,’ said Joe, thinking about mean Charlie at work, who was always making Owen laugh with his jokes. Can we go home now?’
He is brilliantly good at his job, responsible, on time and willing to do exactly what his manager, Hugo Boss (not the luxuty brand but Joe’s affectionately OCD-term for the man who leads the store) asks, and as long as he knows the rules and the expectations, he’s happy to try new things, as long as they are one at a time, and he can get used to them before trying another new thing, just like his mother instructs.
Her instructions fill two books – the blue book, full of practical advice, and the yellow book, full of social and life advice – and her patient dedication to preparing Joe for a future life without her means that he is well placed to launch himself out of his comfort zones should he do so.
But Joe-Nathan likes thing being normal and certain, and it’s only when something unexpected happens, that he has to learn that while staying where you know things well is, indeed, comforting, there’s also something to be said for stepping out of those places and going somewhere remarkably unknown.
While the title of Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life likely refers more to the books his mum has penned than to his ability to dispense life advice, paying attention to how Joe grows and develops when circumstances leave him no choice but to do so, is one of the chief delights of this overwhelmingly charming, sweet and muscularly lovely book.
Joe-Nathan is fortunate to be surrounded by a found family of beautifully understanding people who accept Joe precisely as he is and who give him the space, love and guidance, to be the person he is, but, also crucially, the person he might become.
Chloe is his best friend at work and in wider life, a fiercely swearing-prone woman who steps up to defend Joe even when he doesn’t realise he needs defending; she stands up to mockers in the pub – rather endearingly, every Friday night when Joe has week ending drinks with his mum, he shakes the hand of everyone there so they know they’re welcome; that’s kindness in practical form and it’s Joe all over – and at work, and along with Pip, means that while Charlie and his sniggering friend Owen do make life hard for Joe at times, that he is also defended in ways that matter.
His mum is there naturally too but then so are her friends Janet and Angus, both relatively newly single after the death of their friends, who take Joe under their wing as though he is their own son.
Joe is loved and in turn loves others, without question and fully, and though some of the hallmarks and markers of emotional intimacy befuddle or elude him with their significance, he is always willing to place kindness and thoughtfulness over just about anything else making one of those rare and wonderful people you want to know.
‘I am going for a walk,’ said Joe.
“I’ll come with you,’ said Chloe.
But Joe said, ‘No,’ and made his way alone …
The great pleasure of Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is not so much that he is beautiful human being, though he is (but also grounded and normal too with Fisher taking care not to turn him into some sort of flawlessly perfect human being simply because of his likely neurodiversity), but that she doesn’t wrap him in cotton wool and lets him out into the real world, where, yes, some cruel things can happen but also some quite delightful things too.
That’s the key lesson here, beyond, of course, taking people exactly as they are; while comfort zones can provide great pleasure and soothing sanctuary, leaving them can be quite wondrously good too, changing things for the better in ways you might never have happened.
Comfort zones restrict your view of the world and life beyond them, and the only way to see what else might be out there, is to take a bold step out in the unknown, and while Joe isn’t happy to do it at first, he has his books, and his family and friends and that, in the end, makes all the difference in his life-changing, unexpected adventure far from the safety and security of certainty and routine.
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is far more than just an inspirational read, though it most certainly is that; it’s a love letter to the power of taking risks and venturing beyond, and to the community of people who makes those kinds of great leaps into the unknown not only possible but also often highly successful and how they make life possible every bit as much our willingness, and bravery, to see what else might be out there.