"Love Anthony" by Lisa Genova

     Synopsis:  Olivia, a young mother mourning the loss of her autistic son and the subsequent break up of her marriage, has recently moved to the island of Nantucket.  Also in Nantucket is Beth, a mother of three, who recently separated from her cheating husband.  Although the two are strangers to each other, their lives become connected when Beth rekindles her passion for writing and begins work on her first novel about a boy with autism, a boy eerily reminiscent of Olivia's son, Anthony.

Review:  It's quite ambitious to write from the perspective of a severely autistic and non-verbal child, but Lisa Genova does just that in "Love Anthony."  It might help that she is a Harvard-educated Neuroscientist who also has an autistic family member, surprisingly or not, named Anthony.  Whatever the reason, she is able to bring the title character's emotions and quirks to life, many of which are typical for people with autism (Anthony likes routine and cannot tolerate change,  he has an obsession with the number three, and "flaps" his arms to show his emotions).  This book serves as a great introduction to autism despite being fiction.

   Genova's writing is simple and the book is an easy read.  Most of the novel is dedicated to Olivia, struggling to understand the purpose of her Anthony's short life, and Beth, unsure whether or not to forgive her cheating spouse, with Anthony's story weaving them together.  All in all, it was an interesting book and I recommend it, especially for anyone interested in learning a bit more about autism.

    Spoilers:  Initially, I wasn't wild about this book, but Anthony's final chapter won me over.  Olivia was so desperate to know what purpose Anthony's life had served and I wasn't sure there would be a satisfactory answer to her question, but for Anthony to have taught her (and Beth) unconditional love is truly a life well lived.  I could see that with Anthony's message, Olivia could move forward with her life and perhaps find another loving partner and, hopefully, have another chance at being a mother.

   I found Genova's chapters written from Anthony's perspective to be very interesting.  I found myself wondering if someone so severely affected by autism, no matter how bright, truly views their voice as "broken" or if they are even aware that this is something they are missing.  I liked the idea that Anthony's brain is like a house divided into rooms and he can only go into one room at a time (be it the sight room, the hearing room, etc.  I loved the scene when Olivia sees Anthony lying in the grass and she decides to lie with him.  The love he feels for her is very apparent despite his inability to say so.

   The book's synopsis also led me to believe that Beth and Olivia would form a friendship and I wish Genova had developed this part of the story a bit more thoroughly.  It seemed so strange (and mostly unbelievable and creepy) that Beth was channeling Anthony and even more bizarre that Olivia didn't immediately ask how Beth knew so much about her son.  If the two had formed a friendship and Beth had been a bit closer to Anthony through his mother, this part of the story would have made better sense.