Never before have I wanted to swear when writing a review, but I really feel like it now. I shan't of course, but in case you are in any doubt, this book is amazingly brilliant.
I have laughed and cried, I think in equal measure, and I'm left with a sense of having read something really rather special. It's a bit like I felt when I read Wonder (R.J. Palacio) for the first time with my son.
I don't have any experience with autism - I mean I've heard of it of course, read about it a little, and yes, I've seen Rain Man. But as Keith Stuart writes that is "NOT a documentary. Autistic children do not all have special powers." So I won't even pretend to understand what living with autism is like, the difficulties that both adults and children face. I can only accept then, that A Boy Made of Blocks goes some way to showing us a fair representation of a child trying to find his way in what must be a very confusing and sometimes, terrifying, world.
Minecraft plays its own role in our house too. I have seen for myself the ability it has to transport children into a whole other block-filled landscape. I tried to play it myself once to see what all the fuss was about, but I just couldn't understand it. That obviously says more about me than it does the game though. It is quite astonishing the power Minecraft has to give children like Sam a voice; a way to build a path to communication. How utterly empowering that must be.
To say the characters are exquisite would somehow miss the mark. They are so wonderfully written that they were totally absorbed into my brain as real people. Real 3-dimensional characters who are filled with all the complexities of life. Narrated by Alex, the estranged husband of Jody, it never seems to shy away from the pressures having an autistic child can bring to a marriage. Actually forget that, the pressures any child can have on a marriage. Life isn't always a bed of roses, and marriage is something that has to be worked on; it's easy to forget yourselves as two people who came together because you actually liked each other amidst the chaos and unpredictability of family life. I'm pleased then that Stuart wrote this with that pressure underpinning the split rather than a split caused by infidelity or anything else. It felt right, just as I truly felt like I knew everyone contained within these beautiful pages.
I have absolutely no qualms in telling you all that several tears were shed whilst I read this book. Not just tears of sadness though, but of happiness and also poignancy. The scene between Alex and his mother in particular was so lovely and touching. But at its heart, this is such an uplifting and immensely heart-warming tale of a Father actually finding his son. It is so engaging that I truly did not want to put it down, plus it had the sort of dead-pan humour that appeals to me!
Most of all though, and I think this is what I really take from it, I could feel the love emanating from it as bright as the beacon Sam builds in Minecraft. I could guess that this is filled with fictional portrayals of real-life events and emotions, the devotion is there silently underlying every word.
I loved this book, I'm going to rave about this book, and when some film company sign up the rights to it, I'm going to sit smugly, safe in the knowledge that I knew it was going to happen.
A Boy Made of Blocks is A Book Made with Love - truly fantastic.
