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minseigle's review against another edition
4.0
I have now read and enjoyed this author's 3 books. I would rate this particular one 4-4.5 stars. It held my interest and I wanted to find out what would happen next with the characters.
alicemc25's review against another edition
3.0
A sweet story centred about autism. Felt a bit cheesy at times, wasn't such a fan of Beth's 'novel within a novel' (now that really was cheesy). I like Lisa Genova's books but this for me was nowhere near as powerful as Still Alice. Enjoyed it though!
jugglingpup's review against another edition
3.0
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So I am a huge fan of this author so the second I got a big boy job out of college, I went and bought this book on my break. It took me about a year to get around to actually reading it. I loved that it was about autism. My little brother is on the autism spectrum and the way the other books by this author are written I thought it would give some insight on how he sees the world.
Instead this is the story of the mother of a child with autism and a woman who is dealing with the breaking up of her family after her husband cheats on her. So the two women bond after they run across each other on the island. Then the story is told from alternating perspectives between the women and also the writing about a little boy named Anthony that has autism.
This is not the normal set up for this author. I much prefer her normal mode of telling the story from the perspective of the person with the psychological diagnosis. However, I can’t complain about the writing or what happened. As also this author was incredible. This book just didn’t live up to the other books.
I really wish I had more to say on this book. There was nothing actually wrong with it but there was also nothing that was amazing about it either. Read if you like “chick lit”.
So I am a huge fan of this author so the second I got a big boy job out of college, I went and bought this book on my break. It took me about a year to get around to actually reading it. I loved that it was about autism. My little brother is on the autism spectrum and the way the other books by this author are written I thought it would give some insight on how he sees the world.
Instead this is the story of the mother of a child with autism and a woman who is dealing with the breaking up of her family after her husband cheats on her. So the two women bond after they run across each other on the island. Then the story is told from alternating perspectives between the women and also the writing about a little boy named Anthony that has autism.
This is not the normal set up for this author. I much prefer her normal mode of telling the story from the perspective of the person with the psychological diagnosis. However, I can’t complain about the writing or what happened. As also this author was incredible. This book just didn’t live up to the other books.
I really wish I had more to say on this book. There was nothing actually wrong with it but there was also nothing that was amazing about it either. Read if you like “chick lit”.
karenicka's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful book about love, loss, and autism. I could't put it down.
mrsfligs's review against another edition
3.0
I was blown away by Lisa Genova’s first novel, Still Alice, which provided readers with an “inside” look at Alzheimer’s from the point of view of the patient. In her next book, Left Neglected, Genova (a neuroscientist by training), explored the strange affliction known as Left Neglect, in which patients don’t “see” anything on the left side of their body. In Love Anthony, Genova tackles autism—providing a glimpse into the mind of an autistic young boy and highlighting some of the difficulties of being a parent to such a child. However, for the first time, Genova branches out and doesn’t focus the entire book on the medical condition she is spotlighting. This is both good and bad. In some ways, I was happy to see Genova spread her wings as a writer. The bad news is that I don’t think it entirely worked—although I found the sections on autism to be fascinating.
The set-up is this: Beth, a wife and mother of young girls living on Nantucket, finds out that her husband has been cheating on her. She kicks him out of the house and embarks on a major identity crisis. As she beings to explore who she “really” is if she isn’t just a wife and a mother, she starts writing again (an activity she gave up when she got married and had kids). As she begins writing a novel, she begins “channeling” the thoughts and experiences of an autistic boy named Anthony. In alternating chapters, we meet Olivia, a grieving mother whose son Anthony recently died and is in the process of separating from her husband. She has fled her home in Boston for her rental property in Nantucket. As she struggles to make sense of her son’s life and death (he was autistic and dealing with the stresses of his condition led to the break down of her marriage), she reads the journals she kept during Anthony’s life. In the end, these women are brought together (in a way that you might be able to predict) and find healing and answers to their individual issues.
This “woo woo” approach was a bit of risk, and I don’t think Genova pulls it off. Although I found the book to be an “easy” read, I was skeptical of how she was tying Beth and Olivia’s stories together. It seemed just a little too out there. Plus the book has a “chick lit” feel that does it a disservice. From the wacky colorful friends that Beth relies on to get her through her separation to Olivia’s too easy transition into a successful beach portrait photographer, everything seemed too pat and neat to feel believable. As I said, the sections that felt most real and were most riveting were the parts where Beth channels Anthony’s view of the world as an autistic boy. It is here (as it always is) that Genova shines and shows her strengths as a writer. Although I applaud Genova for stretching her wings as a novelist, this book just didn’t work for me as much as her previous ones. Still, if you’re looking for something that gives you a better sense of what it might feel like to live in the mind of an autistic person, this book would probably be of interest and value. And the ending was so lovely and moved me to tears, which bumped it up from 3 stars to 3.5 stars.
The set-up is this: Beth, a wife and mother of young girls living on Nantucket, finds out that her husband has been cheating on her. She kicks him out of the house and embarks on a major identity crisis. As she beings to explore who she “really” is if she isn’t just a wife and a mother, she starts writing again (an activity she gave up when she got married and had kids). As she begins writing a novel, she begins “channeling” the thoughts and experiences of an autistic boy named Anthony. In alternating chapters, we meet Olivia, a grieving mother whose son Anthony recently died and is in the process of separating from her husband. She has fled her home in Boston for her rental property in Nantucket. As she struggles to make sense of her son’s life and death (he was autistic and dealing with the stresses of his condition led to the break down of her marriage), she reads the journals she kept during Anthony’s life. In the end, these women are brought together (in a way that you might be able to predict) and find healing and answers to their individual issues.
This “woo woo” approach was a bit of risk, and I don’t think Genova pulls it off. Although I found the book to be an “easy” read, I was skeptical of how she was tying Beth and Olivia’s stories together. It seemed just a little too out there. Plus the book has a “chick lit” feel that does it a disservice. From the wacky colorful friends that Beth relies on to get her through her separation to Olivia’s too easy transition into a successful beach portrait photographer, everything seemed too pat and neat to feel believable. As I said, the sections that felt most real and were most riveting were the parts where Beth channels Anthony’s view of the world as an autistic boy. It is here (as it always is) that Genova shines and shows her strengths as a writer. Although I applaud Genova for stretching her wings as a novelist, this book just didn’t work for me as much as her previous ones. Still, if you’re looking for something that gives you a better sense of what it might feel like to live in the mind of an autistic person, this book would probably be of interest and value. And the ending was so lovely and moved me to tears, which bumped it up from 3 stars to 3.5 stars.
meganpsick's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
rabbit_reads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
4.0
Oh, wow, this one was also beautiful, and requires tissues. This novel centers on the stories of two women, one of whom recently lost her son. The other one begins writing a novel, and their stories converge in an unlikely way. Lovely and heartbreaking and hopeful.
reagamh's review against another edition
4.0
"The spectrum is long and wide, and we're all on it. Once you believe this, it becomes easy to see how we're all connected."