... by Rebecca L. Brown, published in 2018 by Penguin/Thorndike. Another of those I randomly picked off the shelf when wandering through the stacks of recently printed, newly acquired tomes at the library. It was large print, with a synopsis on the back cover that was appealing, making me think I would give it a try, read a few pages before deciding 'yea' or 'nay'. It was interesting, and I found myself staying up later than usual to turn the pages, immersed in the lives of the characters.
Piper is the primary voice, a woman who set aside a career as a watercolorist in order to take care of her son. Her husband is Issac, an attorney to whom she has been married for years. Issac spends many hours focusing on his work, primarily research to assist those in prison who have been wrongly accused and railroaded into serving long sentences. Their son, Fred is autistic, undiagnosed early on in the story, though already in the education system, struggling with a lack of social skills and bizarre mannerisms associated with children on the spectrum. Issac is devoted to his work, or possibly using it to avoid devoting more time to his family. Piper is very protective of Fred, and often frustrated and angry with Issac for his absence and lack of support.
I've read a number of books on autism, some novels like this, and some first person accounts, written by those diagnosed, in the form of memoirs. It is an intriguing problem, and as you might expect, every individual who has been assessed exhibits the symptoms in unique ways, differently struggling to meld into the mainstream from all others who have behavioral/learning disabilities. All seem to be challenged, but none fit into a tidy succinct diagnosis to provide a formulaic solution for resolving the multitude of symptoms they need to overcome.
A teacher in Fred's school has been observing Fred, along with several other students who could be considered misfit, youngsters who do not easily conform to the expectations of educators. Jack Butler meets with Piper and confesses that he too is on the spectrum, had been evaluated and diagnosed as autistic. Jack feels he can be helpful to Fred, providing advice and assistance for direction Fred needs to adapt, adjust to the classroom teachers' methods and style of instruction. Piper is desperate for someone in her life who is supportive, understanding of her distress and anxiety over her son's lack of progress, acceptance in the classroom, failure to develop necessary social skills to be able to function in society as a whole. She finds herself attracted to Jack, who is on the school staff to provide support for those students who are marginal. Jack, being autistic himself, cannot see or respond to her needs.
Issac and Fred go off on a day trip, planned by the guys, when Piper needs to devote a day to caring for her dad, who as moved into their home after suffering a medical mishap. Issac gives Fred a knife: bad idea. An accident occurs, Issac and Fred gloss over the trip to the ER, not telling Piper about the knife. Then Fred takes the knife to school: another bad idea. Incident ensues, reported to teacher and principal. Fred is suspended from school.
All this time Piper is also struggling with a dysfunctional family she was born into: abusive father, abused mom, distant older brother. Her dad is released from the hospital after his heart attack, but her mother refuses to care for him, leaves town to stay with her sister. What a mess.
There is no clear resolution at the end of the book. It is a sweet, revealing story of how families can love and hate at the same time. Reminding me we all come from dysfunction. Told from perspective of the characters, an interesting read, and well worth your time.
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