‘Love Anthony’? You might
Genova’s newest novel beautifully tells a tragic story
Lisa Genova’s novels ring true. A neuroscientist who worked in research before trying her hand as a novelist, she wisely decided to hang around the world she knows well.
Still Alice, her highly acclaimed debut novel, was about a woman battling Alzheimer’s. Left Neglected dealt with those suffering a rare brain condition called “left neglect,” which affects the left side of the body.
And now she’s back with a novel that focuses on one of today’s hotbutton medical issues: autism.
Love Anthony, like Genova’s two previous novels, is beautifully written and poignant to the point of heartbreak. It revolves around the life of a boy (Anthony) who dies before he reaches 10 years old, and his family, which struggles with the challenges of raising an autistic child.
Here is Genova talking about the agony of Anthony’s parents celebrating their son’s birthday. “March seventeenth was the one day each year when they were forced to stare the severity of Anthony’s autism straight in the eye, to be fully cognizant of how much progress he hadn’t made . . . There it was, printed on too many Fisher Price boxes — Anthony was impossibly behind for his age.”
Genova is aware of the fact she does not have all the answers on autism. In fact, she has none of the answers. Like everyone, she and Anthony’s family grapple with the why of his condition.
But once again she has done her research, thanking the families and members of the medical community who shared their autism experiences with her, experiences that worked their way into the novel and give it such credibility.
Anyone who has had even a passing contact with an autistic child will relate. As she did so successfully in her first two novels, Genova once again gets into the mind of her subject. Much of the novel is from Anthony’s point of view.
If nothing else, read the epilogue, a letter from Anthony to his mother. The topic: unconditional love.
Try not to weep.