The Boy Who Fell To Earth (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Deserted by her well-to-do husband Jeremy shortly after the birth of their son Merlin, diagnosed as autistic, Lucy has to battle on alone caring for Merlin while trying to hold down her job as an English teacher. When Merlin is in his teens Archie turns up on Lucy's doorstep - he's come to stay. An ageing Australian rocker the complete opposite of the refined Jeremy Archie is a mixed blessing, lazy and uncouth Lucy wants shot of him, but he seems to be able to work magic with Merlin, and maybe his magic will extend further? Inevitably Lucy succumbs to Archie's questionable charms, but no sooner does she fall into his arms than Jeremy returns claiming to be a reformed character and hoping to win back his former bride.Lucy tells her own story of raising her difficult but adorable son, aided and supported by her widowed mother older sister and occasionally by the men in her life - that is when they are not part of the problem, men do not generally come off well here; a story that covers sixteen years.The Boy who Fell to Earth is very well written, the sentences flow with consummate ease. Kathy Lette provides Lucy with an abundant supply of imaginative and witty similes and metaphors which go a long way to establishing Lucy's acerbic character, a character for whom sarcasm comes as second nature. Other characters tend to be fall into stereotypes: the devious cad, the good hearted rascal, the pompous snob, compassionless officials; against these Merlin is a compete contrast, open and appealing.I found this a very funny and very entertaining novel, yet while enjoying it on one level I was disappointed with it on another. I had hoped that this would provide some meaningful insight on living with an autistic child. It does offer some information on the subject, but the story in its telling does not convince. It is first of all much more Lucy's story than Merlin's, how she copes with the trials set before her and the effects they have upon her, but I did not feel we really came to understand the complexities of Merlin and his difficulties. The account primarily seems sets to play for the humour, and all else has to service this, as a result it tend to be shallow when it comes to the offering up any comprehension of life with autism.If you simply want a good read this will not disappoint, but if you are hoping for a believable account of raising an autistic boy I think this will let you down. I am not commenting on authenticity here, that I cannot comment on (after all I was hoping to learn with this novel), the difficulty here is with realism, it is on this count that I feel it fails. That it often handles Merlin's problem with an inappropriate air of flippancy some may also find distasteful. I've never been a big fan of Kathy Lette as an author. Apart from Puberty Blues, I have never managed to finish one of her books. I read this on the recommendation of a friend who has a young child with high functioning Autism. I mention this because it did colour the way I read the book.I don't have a child with special needs. I have taught children with a variety of special needs - either physical, intellectual of behavioural. I have many friends who have children with autism, ranging from you wouldn't know the child had a diagnosis unless you had spent a lot of time with them through to the child who will need care for the rest of his life. I have seen people who react (for want of a better word) to children with special needs in atrocious ways and those who don't react any differently than they do with any other kid. I've dealt with the education system as a teacher, trying to provide the best opportunities and I have heard stories of an education system that want to wash their hands of anything out of the ordinary that make me so angry. I'd like to thinking that I have at least a basic understanding of autism and the challenges faced by families with children with autism, but I know I have no real idea of what it like day to day.I had some issues with this book. I had some issues with Lucy. I has some issues with Lucy's mother, her mother-in-law, her boyfriend and her ex husband. I had no issues with Merlin. My thoughts can best be summed up by another reviewer over on Goodreads, Sam Pope, who has a daughter with Asperger's. Additionally, if [Lucy] is meant to be portrayed as a sympathetic character, Lette has failed miserably. She talks constantly of how much she loves her son but doesn't properly inform her army of lovers of his difficulties and when he puts his foot in it and talks inappropriately she just feels embarrassed rather than protecting him. I have a child who at times blurts out things that are best left unsaid and try to gently steer her away from a topic of conversation if it is inappropriate. What we see with [Lucy] is her just sitting there and indulging her own embarrassment rather than shielding her son. And that was my issue. For all of her talk of love, for all of her trying to get Merlin into a decent educational setting, she never seemed to sooth the way for Merlin in social situations. Even I know you don't take someone to meet someone with Asperger's without first explaining the person's quirks, their lack of filter, their inability to pick up social cues. It astounded me that she continued to have conversations with people within Merlin's hearing, saying things you really don't want repeated (like the fact your MIL is two faced and you wonder which one she will be wearing today), knowing there is a really good chance he WILL repeat it. I was infuriated by Archie's inability to understand that Merlin would take things literally - that if you told him to play in the traffic he would.And yet, despite all of that, I did enjoy the book.It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me wince. I do think it gave insight into what life with a child with Asperger's could be like. However I don't think it took any time to celebrate the joy a child with Asperger's can bring as well - and for that it is a poorer book.
What do You think about The Boy Who Fell To Earth (2012)?
The Boy Who Fell To Earth....The Book That Fell In The Bin......
—cool2
