Love Anthony, by Lisa Genova, 2012, Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)

Free download

An offer of a free e-book from Simon & Schuster popped up on Facebook, and from the handful of choices I picked this one. Several years ago I read Still Alice, by Lisa Genova, which I really liked. So, I already had an appreciation of this author, but the blurb told me that Love Anthony was centred around an autistic child. I wasn’t so sure I was interested in reading about autism at this point in my life, as currently there are several other personal issues at the top of my list of concerns.

Qualified author

Lisa Genova is well qualified to write about brain disorders, as she holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard. Still Alice centres around dementia, and because her books are novels, they bring a more personal understanding of a particular disorder than a textbook does. She gets right into the heads and emotions of not only the person with the disorder, but also the family members and others in their lives.

It’s about so much more than autism.

So, between syrupy Hallmark movies and scaled down COVID-19 Christmas activities, I cozied down with a soft blanket in my lazyboy and started reading. The novel begins with two women who don’t know each other, but both live on Nantucket Island. I learned that Nantucket is in some ways similar to Vancouver Island, where I live. Dark drizzly gray winters that go on too long and bring on depression. But amazing sunny beach summers that bring boatloads of tourists with their hustle and bustle.

Needs in marriage

These two women have a few things in common. Both are newly separated from their husbands and facing up to that turmoil. Both had set aside their creativity and writing/editing interests for years while raising children.

Anthony’s story is woven in as his mother reflects on his short life and reads her diary. Then he tells some of his own story through the other woman, as she is inspired to write about an autistic child.

Understanding traits

The author cleverly gets across the point that autism is a wide, wide spectrum, and everyone has some of the traits. As I read I saw some of the traits in myself: the need to escape from noisy crowds, the preference for quiet preoccupation as opposed to human interaction. But the difference with Anthony is that such traits are extreme. He doesn’t speak at all or make eye contact. His life exists outside of social awareness.

Looking to God for answers

His mother questions her faith in God as part of processing her son’s autism. She prayed and prayed for answers, to no avail. She quit going to church a long time ago, but a priest tells her to keep trusting God and the answers will come to her.

As Anthony inspires the other woman to write his story, he speaks to her about love and acceptance, universal needs.

Simply ‘being’, in love, is the best thing in life.

I was very glad I read this book. It’s message will stay with me, helping me to understand love in a new way. The book is about so much more than autism or the lives of these two women.

Anthony’s mother, in retrospect, has the happiest memories of simple moments she spent with him, seemingly doing nothing, but oh so meaningful. Talking, doing, and accomplishing take a back seat after all, to simply being together. I totally relate; my most precious memories are of time spent with the people in my life in silence, enjoying the sunshine, the blue sky, ocean waves, fresh air, even cozied up in warm blankets looking out at a drizzly winter day.

Suggestions to the publisher

I would recommend this book to anyone. Unfortunately the title doesn’t give any clues to draw readers. I think I would change the book cover as well. After reading the book the title and cover make sense, but readers need something to draw them to the themes found inside. It’s like hiding your light under a bushel, as the Bible story goes.

Simon & Schuster offer a free download of the Glose app for reading. I found it very good. The only glitch was that a few pages here and there came up blank. I discovered that if you tap on the blank page the words appear.

https://glose.com/book/love-anthony

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