The Only Boy in the World: A Father's Quest to Unravel the Mysteries of Autism
The Only Boy in the World is a memoir, an investigation into what makes us human, a study of aberration, and a love story. It's about all the odd ways journalist Michael Blastland's autistic son, Joe, has of seeing the world and understanding others, and what that tells the rest of us about how we also tick. Through the strange stories of Joe's scrapes and confusions, he makes luminous the routine skills by which the rest of us mostly avoid the disasters that befall him. The book strives to...
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The Only Boy in the World is a memoir, an investigation into what makes us human, a study of aberration, and a love story. It’s about all the odd ways journalist Michael Blastland's autistic son, Joe, has of seeing the world and understanding others, and what that tells the rest of us about how we also tick. Through the strange stories of Joe's scrapes and confusions, he makes luminous the routine skills by which the rest of us mostly avoid the disasters that befall him.The book strives to this understanding by combining Technicolor scenes from Joe's bizarre life, from the long catalog of his social accidents, with scientific and psychological understanding of how we normally relate to other people. Illuminating the emotional core of the book are the ways that Joe and his father relate through all the turbulence to one other. Publishers Weekly BBC Radio journalist Blastland offers the heartfelt and honest story of his 10-year-old autistic son, Joe. Unlike some memoirs, which tend to focus on diet changes and medication trials and caretaker failures, Blastland uses each chapter to raise broad philosophical issues that define what it means to be human-such as intention, innocence, self-consciousness-in order to evaluate where Joe stands. Does Joe consider himself the "only boy in the world," with everyone else-even his dad-more like some "universal vending machine" that he pokes repeatedly to get what he needs? How does Joe think about himself, if he has so little awareness of others, and no capacity for imaginary play? What is it like to live completely in the literal world-with no fantasy, no jokes, no lies? At times, Blastland comes to profoundly sad conclusions. With Joe craving the familiar to the point of obsession, it's difficult for him to learn anything, since learning involves novelty. In the end, though the big philosophical issues remain unclear, Blastland knows he's learned a lot from trying to understand his son. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
\ Publishers WeeklyBBC Radio journalist Blastland offers the heartfelt and honest story of his 10-year-old autistic son, Joe. Unlike some memoirs, which tend to focus on diet changes and medication trials and caretaker failures, Blastland uses each chapter to raise broad philosophical issues that define what it means to be human-such as intention, innocence, self-consciousness-in order to evaluate where Joe stands. Does Joe consider himself the "only boy in the world," with everyone else-even his dad-more like some "universal vending machine" that he pokes repeatedly to get what he needs? How does Joe think about himself, if he has so little awareness of others, and no capacity for imaginary play? What is it like to live completely in the literal world-with no fantasy, no jokes, no lies? At times, Blastland comes to profoundly sad conclusions. With Joe craving the familiar to the point of obsession, it's difficult for him to learn anything, since learning involves novelty. In the end, though the big philosophical issues remain unclear, Blastland knows he's learned a lot from trying to understand his son. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalWhile many personal narratives about autism illustrate successful therapies, this one has a different aim. Instead, Blastland, a producer for BBC Radio, offers a heartbreaking account of his severely autistic ten-year-old son, Joe, whom he first told us about in a 2005 radio program called Being Joe. This exceptionally well-written narrative shows that sometimes the severity of autism trumps all the services that we might provide for a child. Blastland not only clearly demonstrates Joe's behaviors, but he also discusses the effects on the family and how his son fits into the larger scope of our understanding of autism. For example, when writing about Joe's obsession with tortellini and videos, Blastland takes the opportunity to address obsession from both the autistic and the neurotypical points of view. He also explores storytelling, innocence, and self-consciousness in a similar fashion. What results is one of the finest books written on autism and what it does to the child as well as the entire family. Highly recommended for public libraries and academic libraries with autism spectrum disorders collections.-Corey Seeman, Kresge Business Administration Lib., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
