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The Anti-Romantic Child (2011)

by Priscilla Gilman(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0061690279 (ISBN13: 9780061690273)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Harper

review 1: I had high hopes for this book since I am a parent of a special needs child. While I could recognize some of my own child's issues in the author's descriptions, the author struck me as a whiner and a braggart about her own accomplishments. The tone seemed to be one of dismay that her son is not as "perfect"as she is, and now, how can she deal with all her academic friends in light of her son? At times it was a struggle to finish between my eye rolling and wanting to throw the book across the room.
review 2: A Yale-educated former professor of British literature reflects on her experiences raising a special needs child. This memoir is remarkable for the writer's passionate desire to understand and love her son without the reductivism of labels. Although she ma... morekes use of a full spectrum of medical, social, psychological and educational resources--really, anything that helps her son thrive--she never allows her son's diagnosis, which appears to be borderline Asperger's, eclipse his truly individual self. Throughout the book, the author quotes sections of William Wordsworth's poetry. She says that these verses helped her more than anything else to appreciate her son's uniqueness. The poems, generally, fit right into her story, though at times I felt that she included more than necessary for her purpose of illustration. On the other hand, I ended the book wanting to read more Wordsworth and was grateful to find the excerpted poems printed in full as an appendix. An excellent work that gave me a sense of a mother's deep devotion to her son. I recommend it to anyone for this universal theme, and I recommend it especially to readers interested in learning more about the early development of a child with Asperger's or Asperger's-like Syndrome. less

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