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"In this darkly funny and emotive debut, Ben Jewell has hit a breaking point. His profoundly autistic ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken, and Ben and his wife Emma are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separationa strategic, yet ill-advised, decision to further Jonah's case in an upcoming tribunal to determine the future of his educationfather and son are forced to move in with Georg, Ben's elderly and cantankerous father. In a small house in north London, three generations of men one who can't talk; two who won'tare thrown together. As Ben confronts single fatherhood, he must battle a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons to advocate for his son, learning some harsh lessons about accountability from his own father along the way. As the tribunal draws near, Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history, and misunderstanding are finally untangled."--Amazon.com
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Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It draws you in from the very first page and tells a heartbreaking story of a family with an autistic son. One thing I found really interesting what that though this story is about a child with autism, it's really more about the father and how he copes with a child who is unable to talk and look after himself.
This book is an emotional rollercoaster from the very beginning and it's a rollercoaster you won't want to get off. Once you're introduced to Jonah you become fascinated with this life he lives and you won't want to put the book down till the story is over.
However my one tiny complaint about this book would be that the ending dragged on quite a bit. I assumed that the story would conclude with the results of Jonah's tribunal, but it did not. The father still had some issues to work through (because it really is the father's story). But I did feel that it had been tacked on at the end life an afterthought after what felt like the natural conclusion to the story.
But this still managed to be a very enjoyable read. I've seen it compared to The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time (though I haven't read either of those so can't verify those claims). Either way this is a story that is definitely worth a read.
