Autism

This was a decent story - the supernatural element went a bit too far for my tastes. The author clearly has a good understanding of autism and did a great job describing what it might be like to be a boy with autism (or autistic boy, if you prefer!). The descriptions of the emotions and experiences of a mom of a child on the autism spectrum particularly resonated with me. ( )

I know too many people in the spectrum of autism....yes, I guess everyone is somewhere in there. This was sweetly told about having and losing a child with rather severe autism. The ending really was perfect. ( )

I actually liked this one. I thought it was better than the previous book I read by the same author. I wasn't sure where she was going with the story at first but once she developed the characters a bit more, I loved the idea of how the women connected. I can't say much more than that without spoilers but this one was pretty good. ( )

Love Anthony may be my favorite of all of Lisa Genova's books. I went through a list of her books and now I have read all of them. My brother is similar in many ways to Anthony. Anthony had epilepsy and my brother does not. My brother was non-verbal until the age of six. His word was refrigerator. He does not talk in sentences, but can answer questions with a "yes" or "no" if you are patient enough. He does initiate conversation. When we took him to eat at a fast food place. I was shocked that he said. "Ketchup please". He was 52 at the time.

Anthony has a minimal part in this book but I am very grateful for it and now I have a longing to connect with parents, brothers and sisters to share experiences. The way that he was in those few pages was true and so similar to my brother. My brother had the same reactions to when there was too much noise or too people.

The marital problems between Olivia and Dan were typical, my parents separated and eventually divorced. Olivia was very like my own mother. I would loved it if my my mother had lived long enough to read this book. The marital problems between Beth and Jimmy was very good for me to read. My first marriage also ended similarly.

I hope that anyone who has a child with autism reads this book. I bought this book myself to see how Lisa Genova portrayed autism. ( )

What an awesome book with parts read in Anthony’s voice. It really made me think about autism in ways I never had. A very emotional and wonderful book! ( )

I loved how Genova gave voice to a boy with non-verbal autism and that the voice felt authentic and true. I’ve never had to consider what it would be like to be unable to easily communicate my needs with those around me. Thus was a glimpse behind the curtain and it’s very eye-opening and heart warming to see the person inside. I also loved that the story conveyed the messiness of all relationships and how we all have to make our own way in the world. ( )

I loved how Genova gave voice to a boy with non-verbal autism and that the voice felt authentic and true. I’ve never had to consider what it would be like to be unable to easily communicate my needs with those around me. Thus was a glimpse behind the curtain and it’s very eye-opening and heart warming to see the person inside. I also loved that the story conveyed the messiness of all relationships and how we all have to make our own way in the world. ( )

Like Genova's other works, heart breaking and thought provoking. I thought I knew a little about autism, and the spectrum from books and friends. After reading this I realized I never really considered what it must be like to have a child who can't express their love the way we expect them to. Of course every family's experience is different, but I think she did a great job giving readers a glimpse into the world of autism. ( )

I've enjoyed the Lisa Genova books I've read of listened to, but this one started out a little too “women's fiction” for my tastes. However, it didn't take me long to get into this story of love (love, not romance – this isn't a “romance” novel), loss, autism. One of the turns really did stretch credulity a bit for my tastes, but it was still a lovely book and I think fans of Ms Genova will enjoy it. ( )

This novel is not only the story of Anthony who has Autism but of two other women, his mother Olivia Donatelli and a writer, Beth Ellis. Their lives become intertwined in the telling. As in her other books, Lisa Genova gives the reader much insight into the topic of the story, in this case Autism. Her look at how someone with Autism would possibly feel is very enlightening. The only reason I couldn't give this novel a rating of five stars was that I felt that the connection between the book written in the novel about Anthony and how it transpired seemed a little contrived. I know the insight into the condition would have been made difficult without that proposed connection, but I still felt it detracted from the overall appeal of the book. ( )

I purchased this book from Half Price Books to read. All opinions are my own. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Love Anthony by Lisa Genova. I have read Left Neglected, Every Note Played and Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova before I read this one Love Anthony. This is a heart breaking and heart warming story of Beth, a mother of three daughters struggling to decide if she wants a divorce or if she need to rebuild her family by picking up the shattered pieces of her broken marriage she never even knew was in trouble. And also a story of Olivia who is very determined that her life should have been different and was treated extremely unfair by God. The two of them are brought together under very strange circumstances both finding the answer they needed to hear from a boy on the autism spectrum. The details are oh so important and her portrayal of the child was spot on. I love how everything I have read by this author is spot on for the medical situation she is writing about. My next read by this author will be Still Alice. And then I must wait until she writes a sixth one. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com ( )

I received this copy from a goodreads giveaway first reads. This was a beautiful novel about autism. I loved the characters of Beth, Olivia and Anthony. I don't have first hand knowledge of autism. I know people whose child is on the spectrum, but do not see or interact with them on a daily basis. My knowledge of autism is very limited, but I feel that Lisa Genova made me understand the struggles and joys. This is a story of love and forgiveness.

Olivia is broken. Broken by having had a child with autism, by his untimely death, and by the end of her marriage. She moves to Nantucket to escape and hide. What happens there is that she starts to heal.

Beth is mother of three who has put her life on hold. It is a infidelity in her marriage that makes her see she has given up on her dreams. She decides to start writing again and is given the insight to write about a boy with autism.

I loved the story this book told. It made me want to understand autism and offer support to those moms and dads facing it daily. I know that the parents of these children wouldn't change them for anything, but I think it has to be difficult to deal with the challenges. ( )

Two women, both struggling with life changes, are brought together by a chance encounter and they help each other move on. One is the parent of an autistic child that has died and the other is facing the end of her marriage. I thought the voice of the autistic boy was very authentic and the struggles of his parents very real. This author really does her research. If you like this book read her other book Still Alice. ( )

Not nearly as wrenching as Still Alice, but a good book. Follows a year in the life of two women, one who deals with a broken marriage, one who deals with a son's death, both dealing with personal identity. A bit of a beach read -- especially because the beach is so often referenced in the story! -- but serious enough not to be flippant or ridiculous.

Debra Messing's read is good, but she has a tendency to swallow or get quiet at the end of her sentences/clauses, which means the volume needs to be rather high. ( )

Love Anthony is an interesting book. The title implies it's about a boy named Anthony who had autism and died at age eight. His mother, Olivia, comes to Nantucket to start over when Anthony's death also ends her marriage. Meanwhile, another woman living on the island, Beth, has to start over too, when she learns her husband is cheating on her with a local woman. Beth goes back to her first love, writing, inspired by a little boy with autism she observed on a Nantucket beach some years before.

You can probably figure who that little boy was. While I liked many things about this book, the premise that Beth could write so accurately about a child with autism without knowing anything about it was both unbelievable (I'm not much for the concept of channeling), and puzzling, as it lessened the importance of Beth returning to an earlier passion (was she writing or channeling?).

I didn't like this one as much as Lisa Genova's Still Alice or Inside the O'Briens. It works much better to have the afflicted person tell his/her own story about one's illness, but that's not really possible with autism. Still, it's obvious this neuroscientist author knows her stuff.

© Amanda Pape - 2017

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.] ( )

Read it, loved it, can't recall a darn thing except I believe this is the first (could be 2nd?) Lisa Genova book I read. The hazards of forgetting to write a report directly upon reading the book. ( )

I think this is more of a 3.5, but the ending was such a contrived gift-wrapped one, that it kind of diluted the entire book. Sure, there is a lot of willing suspension of disbelief, and you so know where the whole marriage issue in the book is going, but it read well. No point comparing it to the marvellous Still Alice. That was a classic. ( )

Another good book by Lisa Genova. Once you start you'll want to finish it as soon as you can.

Love Anthony tells the story of Olivia, whose eight-year-old autistic son has passed away. She comes to Nantucket to find some answers to questions that have been nagging at her about Anthony. "Why my son?" "Why my family?"

It also tells the story of Beth, a stay-at-home mom who is recently separated from her husband after finding out about his cheating. Alone, she rekindles her passion for writing. A passion she can share with Olivia. ( )

4.5 stars

I loved both of Lisa Genova’s previous books and this one is no exception. It’s not only a book about autism but it’s also about love, grief, friendship and marriage. She writes beautifully in Anthony’s voice and brings a new understanding about autism.

There is an element of the “otherworldly”, which could be cheesy in the hands of a lesser author, but Genova handles that element well. Parents of children with autism have praised Genova’s novel as one that provides an imagined window into the thoughts and feelings of their children and also highlights the emotions and challenges of parenting such a child. The author knows her subject well and interviewed many parents prior to writing the novel. It certainly will make me think twice before silently criticizing the parent of a child who is acting up in public.

As always, there is a double meaning in Genova's title, and one that brought tears. The ending packs quite a punch.
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Such a heart wrenching read about Anthony a little boy that has Autism, but written with such empathy and warmth.
A beautiful story as all that Lisa Genova's are. (less) [edit]

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I greatly enjoyed this book. It is not my favorite book by Lisa Genova, but I still enjoyed it. Her other two books are written as narrated by the character with the “brain issue” whereas this book is only partially done that way. And without giving anything away, the way those parts are written is done by a concept that I didn’t expect from this highly educated author. Because she chose to use a non-verbal autistic child as her character, she was obviously limited as to how to get his viewpoint into the book though. Overall, I did like it and recommend it and her other books. When compared to "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" or "House Rules", I liked them better but really, I don’t know that you can compare them because they are completely different stories. ( )

I really enjoyed Still Alice, Lisa Genova's novel about a woman facing early onset Alzheimer's. Her next novel, Left Neglected, about a woman suffering from the neurological condition of left neglect was another good read. When I received Love Anthony in the mail as a part of my postal mailbox book club, I was quite pleased to read a third novel of hers, this one centered on non-verbal autism. There's so little we actually know for sure about how our wonderful, amazing brains work that Genova's insights into specific functioning and the people living with the conditions or results is interesting indeed. But unlike her previous two novels, this one didn't work as well for me at all.

Beth is a married mother of three whose world comes crashing down on her when she discovers a note in the mailbox telling her that her husband Jimmy is cheating on her. She kicks him out and has to start the process of healing and of adjusting to life as a single mom. Her questions about how they got to where they did and her grief and despair are palpable in her story. Slowly she discovers that she must find the self she hid away long ago before she can consider what the future might hold. One of the things that she allowed to fall by the wayside in her marriage and motherhood is her love of writing, something she determines to reclaim even as she continues going about her daily life as a year rounder on the island of Nantucket.

Olivia has just separated from her husband and moved to Nantucket to the vacation home they once shared. She is not only mourning the loss of her marriage but she is still deeply frozen in grief over the death of her non-verbal autistic eight year old son. Anthony suffered a subdural hematoma after falling during a seizure and his loss has left her with so many questions, foremost among them whether he knew she loved him if he himself didn't have words and what the meaning of his short life was. The extreme isolation of Nantucket in the winter turns out to be a perfect place for Olivia to escape from the sorrow of Anthony's loss and the sadness that caring for him exhausted she and David so much that they couldn't find their way back together in the shared wake of his death.

While these two story lines do eventually come together, getting there took altogether too much time. Initially the parallel seems to be the women's disintegrating marriages but there's really no similarity to them at all. Of course, there's also the prologue where Beth adds a round white rock to Anthony's line of white rocks on the beach years prior, meant to convey Beth's sympathy for this unknown and clearly unusual child and perhaps lays the groundwork for a later fantastical occurrence. The narrative jumps back and forth between Beth and Olivia, with Olivia's portions also containing reminiscences of life with Anthony. Beth's portions come to include pieces of the novel she starts to write, a novel from the perspective of an autistic boy. Neither Beth nor Olivia was really all that well fleshed out as characters and the jumps in time in the narrative compressed feelings, moving Olivia and Beth along their own timelines without giving any sense of the hard work they had to be doing. Olivia's sense of alienation and her sorrow over the end of her marriage is more examined than Beth's feelings about her marriage, perhaps because David is rarely present in the narrative while Jimmy, still living and working on Nantucket, is. And if Genova hadn't gone farther, it would have been an okay but not great book centered more on marriages and how they fall apart than on autism. Instead, she uses Beth's book to turn the focus entirely. Beth writing about a child with autism without any direct experience of such didn't bother me at all. That she could so easily capture such a child without any research at all did. And the twist offered to explain this was a bridge too far.

The parallels between the boy in Beth's book and Olivia's Anthony started small enough but soon ballooned into absurdity. That Beth was in actual fact channeling Anthony rather than writing a book of her own cheapened Beth's effort to re-connect with writing and with her former interests. In fact, it is clearly Anthony's book, not Beth's. Can she really be said to have started writing again if it is all because she is his conduit? I can certainly buy the idea that Anthony had an active internal voice and unexpressed (because of his non-verbalness) reasons for his outward actions but the passages in his voice felt contrived and inauthentic, reading more as if this is what the author hopes is true than as a true possibility. As if this isn't bad enough, the excerpted parts of Anthony's story are actually rather dull after a while and unlikely to be the kernel of a viable novel. The ending of the larger novel was a let down as well. Beth's sense that the words "you don't have the right ending yet" referred to more than just the novel was a trite about-face after all her measured thinking and hard fought conclusion about her marriage to Jimmy. Maybe getting back together with him was the "right ending" but it was too easy and too unexplained after all that went before it. Olivia's ending was equally easy and unearned. As for Anthony's final letter presented in the epilogue, call me heartless, but I felt manipulated rather than satisfied but maybe this was residual annoyance with what had gone before

Obviously this had major problems for me and I'm sorry for that because I wanted to be amazed. Maybe the problem was that Genova had to channel her most interesting character (Anthony) and his thoughts through another character rather than him telling his own story, all of his own story, through his perspective. Having Anthony dead for the entire narrative made it more obvious the toll it can take caring for a child like him, who needs so much that giving to a spouse and even keeping a sense of yourself, is wildly difficult, but it also meant far less of him, his thinking, and the daily life he led in a world not designed for him. The subject of autism is a fascinating one and I wish this had delivered on it so much more than I felt it did. On the other hand, there are many rave reviews of the book so you might want to discount my opinion entirely! ( )

I have greatly enjoyed all of Lisa Genova's books. They take a topic that can be sensitive or hard to understand and put a face to it, help us understand a little more of an affliction. This deals with autism, but all of her books are so much more. This deals more with faith than the others. The books deal with personhood - how do we define our humanity. It deals with true unconditional love. Her books show how an affliction affects the entire family. This is a tough but wonderful book. It is almost impossible to put down. Pick one of her books and you won't be disappointed. ( )

Love Anthony infuses the depression of loss, abandonment, death, and divorce with the magical voice of an autistic child.

With only a borderline stretch, it all feels strangely real.

A welcome sequel would bring a happy baby nine months from David and Olivia's last clear night in November.

He would hopefully become less of an "I signed the papers" deserter as he evolved into co-parenting ... ? ( )