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sarahs_bookish_life 's review for:
Shtum
by Jem Lester
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.