Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
If you only read one novel that is released during 2016, I would recommend that it be Shtum by Jem Lester.
Ben and Emma have a severely autistic son, Jonah. They are forced to take the local authorities to a tribunal to get him into a residential school that will be the best option for him rather than the day school that will be by far the worst for all concerned. To help with their appeal Emma convinces Ben that they need to look like they have separated, so even though he doesn't agree Ben and Jonah move in with Ben's father Georg. Ben and Georg have a strained relationship but Georg idolises Jonah and Ben can't help but feel jealous when he overhears Georg tell Jonah about growing up in Hungary. Something that he has never done with Ben.
I will be the first to admit my lack of knowledge regarding autism and even after reading the novel I still know very little. However this had no negative impact on what I read. The story of three different generations of a family, two who had their differences trying to do the best for the third. Ben and Emma had their faults and both dealt with their situation without much regard for each other. But they dealt with it in the only way they could.
I went through the the whole range of emotions whilst reading. I laughed but I also cried. I felt anger, mainly towards the councils, schools and social workers but also at times towards Ben. And I had a huge amount of sympathy towards a family who were trying to do the best thing possible for their child, and were being let down by a system and a feeling of betrayal towards absent 'friends'.
I have read two books this year when I have felt bereft when I have finished it. This was one of them. Totally different to my usual choice of fiction but I think it's a book that will be enjoyed whatever your tastes are. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel to anybody who loves to read.
Thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
Shtum will be released in April 2016.
Ben and Emma have a severely autistic son, Jonah. They are forced to take the local authorities to a tribunal to get him into a residential school that will be the best option for him rather than the day school that will be by far the worst for all concerned. To help with their appeal Emma convinces Ben that they need to look like they have separated, so even though he doesn't agree Ben and Jonah move in with Ben's father Georg. Ben and Georg have a strained relationship but Georg idolises Jonah and Ben can't help but feel jealous when he overhears Georg tell Jonah about growing up in Hungary. Something that he has never done with Ben.
I will be the first to admit my lack of knowledge regarding autism and even after reading the novel I still know very little. However this had no negative impact on what I read. The story of three different generations of a family, two who had their differences trying to do the best for the third. Ben and Emma had their faults and both dealt with their situation without much regard for each other. But they dealt with it in the only way they could.
I went through the the whole range of emotions whilst reading. I laughed but I also cried. I felt anger, mainly towards the councils, schools and social workers but also at times towards Ben. And I had a huge amount of sympathy towards a family who were trying to do the best thing possible for their child, and were being let down by a system and a feeling of betrayal towards absent 'friends'.
I have read two books this year when I have felt bereft when I have finished it. This was one of them. Totally different to my usual choice of fiction but I think it's a book that will be enjoyed whatever your tastes are. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel to anybody who loves to read.
Thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
Shtum will be released in April 2016.
emotional
medium-paced
A tricky one to rate as I'm aware it's very much drawing off the author's own experiences with his profoundly autistic son. When it comes to reading about people's experiences with autism (both people who are autistic and those who care for autistic children), it's important to remember that no one book can ever encompass 'the autistic experience' because it doesn't exist. It's a spectrum and people's experiences fall all along it. But the issue can be, there's not *that* much fiction out there (that I've come across anyway!) that deals with it, although publishing is getting slightly better with prioritising own voices.
But for non-verbal children like Jonah in this book, they rely on their parents to tell their story for them, and I worry that people who maybe don't think too critically about what they're reading will just take this book and think, wow that's what living with an autistic child is like, when really it's just one experience. And Lester does a great job depicting his own struggles, getting very real and very uncomfortable at times. But it's definitely a book that is about the father, Ben, rather than Jonah which the back cover suggests. There are a few parts where Ben discusses Jonah as a person, but mainly it's his own experiences, feelings and struggles with alcoholism that are the main point of focus.
But it does do a great job of highlighting the utter lack of support that parents of disabled children get in the UK, as well as stigma around disability in general.
The ending also sort of threw me.
But for non-verbal children like Jonah in this book, they rely on their parents to tell their story for them, and I worry that people who maybe don't think too critically about what they're reading will just take this book and think, wow that's what living with an autistic child is like, when really it's just one experience. And Lester does a great job depicting his own struggles, getting very real and very uncomfortable at times. But it's definitely a book that is about the father, Ben, rather than Jonah which the back cover suggests. There are a few parts where Ben discusses Jonah as a person, but mainly it's his own experiences, feelings and struggles with alcoholism that are the main point of focus.
But it does do a great job of highlighting the utter lack of support that parents of disabled children get in the UK, as well as stigma around disability in general.
The ending also sort of threw me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Excrement, Antisemitism
Minor: Murder
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
There is an unbelievable amount of hype out already about this book even though it isn't due out until April. Hearing so many great things about it, I had to get hold of a copy to see what all the fuss was about.
Shtum gives the readers an insight into life with an autistic child. Jonah has a severe form of it and his parents, Emma and Ben are really struggling. Even though I don't have an autistic child myself, I could still very much understand the frustration and emotions that the parents themselves were feeling. There are certainly so many struggles that I wasn't aware of and I have certainly learned more about autism from reading this novel.
I don't know if it was the way it was written, but for some reason even though I felt compassion for Ben and Emma, I just couldn't connect with them. It could be because the author is probably quite brutal with the honesty of the thoughts of Ben in particular. At times it shocked me to how he was thinking but when I sat back and thought about it I am sure at one time or another all parents have thought and felt the same.
The relationship that really grabbed me in the story was with Ben and his dad. I really enjoyed the parts of the story that go back to Georg's past as it is a time that has always fascinated me and I love learning more about that time in history,
I found Shtum to be overall an enjoyable read, It bordered on a darker sense of humour for me and did pull on the heart strings though not as much as I thought it would do. I did really like Shtum and even though I didn't love it as much as others seem to, I can still see this book being a huge hit with readers.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Shtum gives the readers an insight into life with an autistic child. Jonah has a severe form of it and his parents, Emma and Ben are really struggling. Even though I don't have an autistic child myself, I could still very much understand the frustration and emotions that the parents themselves were feeling. There are certainly so many struggles that I wasn't aware of and I have certainly learned more about autism from reading this novel.
I don't know if it was the way it was written, but for some reason even though I felt compassion for Ben and Emma, I just couldn't connect with them. It could be because the author is probably quite brutal with the honesty of the thoughts of Ben in particular. At times it shocked me to how he was thinking but when I sat back and thought about it I am sure at one time or another all parents have thought and felt the same.
The relationship that really grabbed me in the story was with Ben and his dad. I really enjoyed the parts of the story that go back to Georg's past as it is a time that has always fascinated me and I love learning more about that time in history,
I found Shtum to be overall an enjoyable read, It bordered on a darker sense of humour for me and did pull on the heart strings though not as much as I thought it would do. I did really like Shtum and even though I didn't love it as much as others seem to, I can still see this book being a huge hit with readers.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
emotional
funny
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s very hard to review this book without being harsh and judgmental.
On the back cover, we learn that “Ten-year-old Jonah lives in a world of his own. He likes colours and feathers and the feel of fresh air on his skin. He dislikes sudden loud noises and any change to his daily routine.”
Unfortunately while reading the book we barely learn anything else about him. Except that he’s incontinent: his “soiled nappy” must be mentioned more often than he himself.
In the interview to the author in the appendix, he states that he’s “opposed to writing fiction as personal therapy”, for “it’s too easy for the tone of the novel to become overwrought and self-pitying and that was the opposite of what [he] was aiming for”. Too bad that the novel reads in fact quite self-pitying: Ben, father of Jonah and first person narrator, is an alcoholic. Most of the time we’re dealing as readers with his self-pitying thoughts for everything that is going badly in his life (which is, admittedly, a lot) and his need for a drink.
And I’m not even going to open the can of worms that is Jonah’s mother.
Halfway through my read, I wrote the following note in my reading journal.
This book is really testing me and my empathy. On one side, I want to empathize with the parents, because taking care of a disabled child must be incredibly hard. On the other side, I hear the autistic community online speaking up for themselves and asking for organizations and parents to stop picturing them like the worst possible burden, and I honestly cringe at how Ben and Emma cope with Jonah being on the part of the spectrum that includes an accompanying disability. At the same time, Ben is an alcoholic, and that’s an illness, so we can’t really judge him. Emma isn’t ill, but she’s a parent of a disabled child who coparents with an alcoholic. Can we judge her for checking out? I would’t have the nerve. The way she did it, through lies and manipulation, wasn’t cool, but the way it looks she had been trying to do things right by herself for a long time, and there’s only so much a person can take.
There’s no sides to take here, the situation is ugly and it’s not what I was expecting at all, but at the same time we also need ugly to be represented, rather than always picking the narrative of the superpowers à la Rain Man. Real life doesn’t necessarily always have a happy ending or a fun quirky side. So I’ll keep reading, but boy, is it a hard ride.
Interestingly I found out later that counteracting the Rain Man stereotype was exactly the author’s goal, so I get the point, I really do. It just still irks me that the first and only time we learn something about Jonah as a person is at pages 237-241. And that’s in a moment in the story that is supposed to be about him, but before this moment we get a good 25 pages of self-pity fest in the head of his father.
What this book is actually about is a severely dysfunctional family, which would have been such with or without Jonah. The communication issues are massive. Nobody is talking honestly, everybody is assuming and reacting to their own assumptions with manipulation and blame.
Georg’s “inspired” written speech on words and how they’re supposedly just a means to lie, other that an aggravating pile of platitudes is just a projection of his own communication issues.
Again, I do get the point the author wanted to get through, about non-verbal Jonah being the most honest among them and the best one at communicating his needs, but romanticizing his mutism by juxtaposing it to the dysfunctional behavior of a bunch of inadequate adults is just cheap.
Even more so because this cheesy praise comes literally two pages after his admission that he “could abuse him like that because he couldn’t tell anyone”. Bloody awful.
Also awful, towards the end: „You know Johan, you are the world’s best listener. You never judge or contradict and I know that whatever I tell you remains sacred. Telling you my fear and secrets helps me to deal with them.”
Yeah, sure! Burden your 11 year old with stuff you should be telling a therapist, just because you can take advantage of the fact that he can’t set a verbal boundary! It’s called parentifying, and it’s abuse.
The message could have been nice per se, but because of what Ben does with it, it got rather twisted.
All in all, it’s a story that probably needed to be told, but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. And none of it has anything to do with wanting to read about any “special talent”.
On the back cover, we learn that “Ten-year-old Jonah lives in a world of his own. He likes colours and feathers and the feel of fresh air on his skin. He dislikes sudden loud noises and any change to his daily routine.”
Unfortunately while reading the book we barely learn anything else about him. Except that he’s incontinent: his “soiled nappy” must be mentioned more often than he himself.
In the interview to the author in the appendix, he states that he’s “opposed to writing fiction as personal therapy”, for “it’s too easy for the tone of the novel to become overwrought and self-pitying and that was the opposite of what [he] was aiming for”. Too bad that the novel reads in fact quite self-pitying: Ben, father of Jonah and first person narrator, is an alcoholic. Most of the time we’re dealing as readers with his self-pitying thoughts for everything that is going badly in his life (which is, admittedly, a lot) and his need for a drink.
And I’m not even going to open the can of worms that is Jonah’s mother.
Halfway through my read, I wrote the following note in my reading journal.
This book is really testing me and my empathy. On one side, I want to empathize with the parents, because taking care of a disabled child must be incredibly hard. On the other side, I hear the autistic community online speaking up for themselves and asking for organizations and parents to stop picturing them like the worst possible burden, and I honestly cringe at how Ben and Emma cope with Jonah being on the part of the spectrum that includes an accompanying disability. At the same time, Ben is an alcoholic, and that’s an illness, so we can’t really judge him. Emma isn’t ill, but she’s a parent of a disabled child who coparents with an alcoholic. Can we judge her for checking out? I would’t have the nerve. The way she did it, through lies and manipulation, wasn’t cool, but the way it looks she had been trying to do things right by herself for a long time, and there’s only so much a person can take.
There’s no sides to take here, the situation is ugly and it’s not what I was expecting at all, but at the same time we also need ugly to be represented, rather than always picking the narrative of the superpowers à la Rain Man. Real life doesn’t necessarily always have a happy ending or a fun quirky side. So I’ll keep reading, but boy, is it a hard ride.
Interestingly I found out later that counteracting the Rain Man stereotype was exactly the author’s goal, so I get the point, I really do. It just still irks me that the first and only time we learn something about Jonah as a person is at pages 237-241. And that’s in a moment in the story that is supposed to be about him, but before this moment we get a good 25 pages of self-pity fest in the head of his father.
What this book is actually about is a severely dysfunctional family, which would have been such with or without Jonah. The communication issues are massive. Nobody is talking honestly, everybody is assuming and reacting to their own assumptions with manipulation and blame.
Georg’s “inspired” written speech on words and how they’re supposedly just a means to lie, other that an aggravating pile of platitudes is just a projection of his own communication issues.
Again, I do get the point the author wanted to get through, about non-verbal Jonah being the most honest among them and the best one at communicating his needs, but romanticizing his mutism by juxtaposing it to the dysfunctional behavior of a bunch of inadequate adults is just cheap.
Even more so because this cheesy praise comes literally two pages after his admission that he “could abuse him like that because he couldn’t tell anyone”. Bloody awful.
Also awful, towards the end: „You know Johan, you are the world’s best listener. You never judge or contradict and I know that whatever I tell you remains sacred. Telling you my fear and secrets helps me to deal with them.”
Yeah, sure! Burden your 11 year old with stuff you should be telling a therapist, just because you can take advantage of the fact that he can’t set a verbal boundary! It’s called parentifying, and it’s abuse.
The message could have been nice per se, but because of what Ben does with it, it got rather twisted.
All in all, it’s a story that probably needed to be told, but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. And none of it has anything to do with wanting to read about any “special talent”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Excrement, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Terminal illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Deportation
Cheap liquor and soiled nappies - I would say that this is an unvarnished fiction about life as a caretaker to a severely Autistic child, but that would be lacking on two fronts: (1) unvarnished seems wholly insufficient - perhaps gritty and chaffing (and poo smeared) gets the point across a bit better, (2) this isn't just about a man who is a caretaker, this father is an alcoholic, self-loathing man-child that is lost in life, the pressures of caring for an Autistic son just exacerbates his many problems.
Ben Jewell is the father to Jonah, the aforementioned severely Autistic young man. Ben's life is in shambles; he drinks too much, he shirks responsibilities, his marriage is in doubt, and his relationship with his father is enigmatic. Being Jonah's caretaker would be difficult for any parent, he is mute (or shtum if you prefer), unpredictable, incontinent, and occasionally violent, but he is also a sweet boy and Ben loves him very much. Ben's love for his son is the basis for every positive characteristic we see of him and possibly the sole catalyst that can get him to straighten out.
Ben and Jonah go to live with Ben's father, Georg, who is oddly silent (or again shtum) about their familial past. Their relationship is fraught with unanswered questions, resentments, and insecurities, but Georg is wonderful when it comes to Jonah. The dynamics between the three-generations becomes the real heart of the novel.
To me it would appear that Lester set out to demonstrate the daily frustrations, the isolation, and the helplessness of dealing with a severely Autistic child, which he does exceedingly well. This book is sad, funny, and endearing in turns. I do feel like there are elements added onto the the primary story that while interesting in their own right were superfluous and ended up wrapping up the themes a little too tidily for my taste - this was largely a messy, but determined story line, it did not need to end with a neat bow.
Ben Jewell is the father to Jonah, the aforementioned severely Autistic young man. Ben's life is in shambles; he drinks too much, he shirks responsibilities, his marriage is in doubt, and his relationship with his father is enigmatic. Being Jonah's caretaker would be difficult for any parent, he is mute (or shtum if you prefer), unpredictable, incontinent, and occasionally violent, but he is also a sweet boy and Ben loves him very much. Ben's love for his son is the basis for every positive characteristic we see of him and possibly the sole catalyst that can get him to straighten out.
Ben and Jonah go to live with Ben's father, Georg, who is oddly silent (or again shtum) about their familial past. Their relationship is fraught with unanswered questions, resentments, and insecurities, but Georg is wonderful when it comes to Jonah. The dynamics between the three-generations becomes the real heart of the novel.
To me it would appear that Lester set out to demonstrate the daily frustrations, the isolation, and the helplessness of dealing with a severely Autistic child, which he does exceedingly well. This book is sad, funny, and endearing in turns. I do feel like there are elements added onto the the primary story that while interesting in their own right were superfluous and ended up wrapping up the themes a little too tidily for my taste - this was largely a messy, but determined story line, it did not need to end with a neat bow.
You are thrown into the midst of a family, Ben & Emma Jewell struggling to keep it all together with their profoundly autistic son Jonah. They are desperately trying to get a school that will find all of Jonah's needs. A suggestion is raised that perhaps a fake separation will really help their cause. Ben moves in with his father Georg with Jonah, to prepare for the battle to get the right school for Jonah's needs.
You will not like Ben (& your not supposed to) he is a alcoholic in denial, full of self pity which will & does annoy the reader, yet he redeems himself time & time again with his interactions with his son.
Emma seems to be pretty heartless and would prefer to be working than being with the family but don't close the door on her.
Then you have Georg, Ben's father, & Morris, Georg's best friend who will break your heart even though at the beginning you may not believe me.
Finally we have Jonah, who has no special talent, unless you call (to quote) writing on a wall with shit a special talent. Even though he doesn't speak, he does communicate, some of the times when he is beyond frustrated at not being understood or if the natural order of his day is interrupted you will be feeling for Ben and Emma as violent episodes are not glossed over, then you have the tender moments where he allows his parents to comfort him if only in a minor way to him yet for Ben & Emma this is huge.
If you want to read a book about a person on the autistic spectrum who has a specialised area of talent then this is not the book for you...If you do want to read about the warts and all realistic life of raising a child with a complex case of autism, with all the hilarious and heartbreaking moments then it definitely worth a read.
You will not like Ben (& your not supposed to) he is a alcoholic in denial, full of self pity which will & does annoy the reader, yet he redeems himself time & time again with his interactions with his son.
Emma seems to be pretty heartless and would prefer to be working than being with the family but don't close the door on her.
Then you have Georg, Ben's father, & Morris, Georg's best friend who will break your heart even though at the beginning you may not believe me.
Finally we have Jonah, who has no special talent, unless you call (to quote) writing on a wall with shit a special talent. Even though he doesn't speak, he does communicate, some of the times when he is beyond frustrated at not being understood or if the natural order of his day is interrupted you will be feeling for Ben and Emma as violent episodes are not glossed over, then you have the tender moments where he allows his parents to comfort him if only in a minor way to him yet for Ben & Emma this is huge.
If you want to read a book about a person on the autistic spectrum who has a specialised area of talent then this is not the book for you...If you do want to read about the warts and all realistic life of raising a child with a complex case of autism, with all the hilarious and heartbreaking moments then it definitely worth a read.
Shtum is a Yiddish word that means silent or noncommunicative. It's a theme that runs throughout the novel, between three generations of Jewish men who can't or won't communicate.
I was drawn to this book because of my interest in Autism. I've worked with many people on the Autism spectrum and find it interesting to see how they are depicted in literature. Most of the books I have read are about the more highly functioning end of the scale such as people with Asperger's or Savant's. My experience with Autism is more on the other end of the scale and I felt it was well depicted here with Jonah's character.
I found the story emotionally engaging. I really liked Ben, imperfections and all, and I hoped everything would work out for him.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was drawn to this book because of my interest in Autism. I've worked with many people on the Autism spectrum and find it interesting to see how they are depicted in literature. Most of the books I have read are about the more highly functioning end of the scale such as people with Asperger's or Savant's. My experience with Autism is more on the other end of the scale and I felt it was well depicted here with Jonah's character.
I found the story emotionally engaging. I really liked Ben, imperfections and all, and I hoped everything would work out for him.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.