sephipiderwitch's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very unexpected book! I'm not sure where I learned of it. I believe it was through Kirkus. At any rate, I remember that the description was a bit elusive but for some reason caught my attention and it got put on my "to read" list. And I am very glad I did.
Ava and Fred are siblings being raised on a farm/ex-commune by parents who "free-ranged" them. Believing that children will thrive best in such an unfettered environment to learn in their own ways and their own time.
Fred has always been uncommunicative for the most part. Rarely talks, avoids eye contact and touch, sucks his thumb, flaps his hands and likes to wander the woods alone. It becomes quite obvious early on that he suffers from quite probably some form of autism, and though the author alludes to this herself, she never really states it flat out. I think this may be because she didn't want to single out a specific disorder, or add another shadow to an already misunderstood disorder.
The story is told in dual time frames, when they were children on the farm and the current day. Fred has been arrested for a horrific crime and Ava is trying to figure out what happened, if he really did it, And as she begins to try and work with his attorney to help in the case, she also realizes that her parents free form parenting that precluded having Fred diagnosed has added to the difficulty in presenting a defense for him.
During her stay near the prison, she begins to reminisce about their childhood, offering a glimpse into the mind and shaping of Fred. Including an incident where play with a young boy almost resulted in tragedy that shines a beam of genuine understanding into the naivete of the mind of one like Fred and how often the story is much more than it seems to be.
The book is a fascinating glimpse into life and scratching the surface of the mind of autism. But, not only of autism, but simply how another mind can so differently process the world around them. It is also about the families of the "challenged", the fears and realities of what could befall them when they are left behind with the parents die, when they are turned over to the care of strangers, or turned out by society.
There seems to be a lot of people who didn't like this book and I have to wonder if they really gave a chance to the story that it really told and not the one they expected to hear. Or maybe because the story was a difficult one to open to. Giving humanity to the discarded is often difficult for many to accept. We want the simple and quick judgement, not the understanding that takes time and patience. Or maybe it is that we are afraid if we take the time to truly explore beneath the surface to understand, we may find the differences between us is not so great as we previously imagined.
"No Book But the World" is an amazing work of fiction. A wonderful and heart wrenching view into both the darkness and light in the depths of human experience, in love, family and responsibility. Leah Hagen Cohen is a beautiful voice in the land of literature and I look forward to reading more of her in the future.
SephiPiderWitch
06/04/2015
http://sephipiderwitch.com/no-book-but-the-world-leah-hager-cohen/
Ava and Fred are siblings being raised on a farm/ex-commune by parents who "free-ranged" them. Believing that children will thrive best in such an unfettered environment to learn in their own ways and their own time.
Fred has always been uncommunicative for the most part. Rarely talks, avoids eye contact and touch, sucks his thumb, flaps his hands and likes to wander the woods alone. It becomes quite obvious early on that he suffers from quite probably some form of autism, and though the author alludes to this herself, she never really states it flat out. I think this may be because she didn't want to single out a specific disorder, or add another shadow to an already misunderstood disorder.
The story is told in dual time frames, when they were children on the farm and the current day. Fred has been arrested for a horrific crime and Ava is trying to figure out what happened, if he really did it, And as she begins to try and work with his attorney to help in the case, she also realizes that her parents free form parenting that precluded having Fred diagnosed has added to the difficulty in presenting a defense for him.
During her stay near the prison, she begins to reminisce about their childhood, offering a glimpse into the mind and shaping of Fred. Including an incident where play with a young boy almost resulted in tragedy that shines a beam of genuine understanding into the naivete of the mind of one like Fred and how often the story is much more than it seems to be.
The book is a fascinating glimpse into life and scratching the surface of the mind of autism. But, not only of autism, but simply how another mind can so differently process the world around them. It is also about the families of the "challenged", the fears and realities of what could befall them when they are left behind with the parents die, when they are turned over to the care of strangers, or turned out by society.
There seems to be a lot of people who didn't like this book and I have to wonder if they really gave a chance to the story that it really told and not the one they expected to hear. Or maybe because the story was a difficult one to open to. Giving humanity to the discarded is often difficult for many to accept. We want the simple and quick judgement, not the understanding that takes time and patience. Or maybe it is that we are afraid if we take the time to truly explore beneath the surface to understand, we may find the differences between us is not so great as we previously imagined.
"No Book But the World" is an amazing work of fiction. A wonderful and heart wrenching view into both the darkness and light in the depths of human experience, in love, family and responsibility. Leah Hagen Cohen is a beautiful voice in the land of literature and I look forward to reading more of her in the future.
SephiPiderWitch
06/04/2015
http://sephipiderwitch.com/no-book-but-the-world-leah-hager-cohen/
robforteath's review
4.0
Ava and Fred are raised outside of 'the system', in accordance with their parents' theory that children should discover the world instead of having it explained to them. Their father also dislikes conformity of all sorts, and discourages them from being part of any group of citizens.
Autistic Fred would have been an outsider regardless of how he was raised, but Ava has mainstream desires for friendship and belonging. Ava soon takes a stand for these things and receives a mainstream education, yet her early childhood has left her unable to do more than mimic the little behavioural 'tells' that would allow her to truly fit in. Fortunately for the needs of the book, this has left Ava in the position of a bridge between the 'normal' world and that of Fred.
From the very start, we know that Fred has been imprisoned for the death of a young boy who had disappeared. Such a crime would of course make the populace united in hatred of anyone, and Fred almost exactly fits the stereotypical description of someone they would expect to be guilty: a 'vagrant', a 'loner', 'drawn to children'. Even from our less emotional perspective, we readers can only go so far as to say that the blame is perhaps not on Fred, rather on the others in his life who failed both him and society.
Ava's husband is something of the opposite of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope ("Steady Helpful Acceptance Boy"?), and provides her with the stability and belonging she desperately wants -- so much so that she is terrified that Fred might spoil it. Does this cause her to neglect her responsibility to Fred? If she hadn't, might the boy still be alive, and Fred free?
The narration is third-person, with each section told from the point of view of one character, and very much sympathetic to that character's particular understanding. The narration is so sympathetic to each chapter's main character that it struck me as odd that it wasn't written as first-person narrative. There is a theme throughout of how poorly we communicate with each other. Experiences that are meant to be fun turn unexpectedly sour due to some misunderstood intent; experiences that seem doomed to misunderstanding occasionally become happy shared memories.
Overall, the book is not an exciting page-turner. It just sinks in slowly and gives you something to think about. The writing is excellent throughout, and there are no pointless sections -- it was pared down to the essentials. If you are in the mood to read something that is a slow burn, this book should be worth your while.
Autistic Fred would have been an outsider regardless of how he was raised, but Ava has mainstream desires for friendship and belonging. Ava soon takes a stand for these things and receives a mainstream education, yet her early childhood has left her unable to do more than mimic the little behavioural 'tells' that would allow her to truly fit in. Fortunately for the needs of the book, this has left Ava in the position of a bridge between the 'normal' world and that of Fred.
From the very start, we know that Fred has been imprisoned for the death of a young boy who had disappeared. Such a crime would of course make the populace united in hatred of anyone, and Fred almost exactly fits the stereotypical description of someone they would expect to be guilty: a 'vagrant', a 'loner', 'drawn to children'. Even from our less emotional perspective, we readers can only go so far as to say that the blame is perhaps not on Fred, rather on the others in his life who failed both him and society.
Ava's husband is something of the opposite of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope ("Steady Helpful Acceptance Boy"?), and provides her with the stability and belonging she desperately wants -- so much so that she is terrified that Fred might spoil it. Does this cause her to neglect her responsibility to Fred? If she hadn't, might the boy still be alive, and Fred free?
The narration is third-person, with each section told from the point of view of one character, and very much sympathetic to that character's particular understanding. The narration is so sympathetic to each chapter's main character that it struck me as odd that it wasn't written as first-person narrative. There is a theme throughout of how poorly we communicate with each other. Experiences that are meant to be fun turn unexpectedly sour due to some misunderstood intent; experiences that seem doomed to misunderstanding occasionally become happy shared memories.
Overall, the book is not an exciting page-turner. It just sinks in slowly and gives you something to think about. The writing is excellent throughout, and there are no pointless sections -- it was pared down to the essentials. If you are in the mood to read something that is a slow burn, this book should be worth your while.
Spoiler
I very much liked the reveal at the end of the book that explains the sympathetic narration.maureenmccombs's review against another edition
5.0
This book was another unexpected surprise. If you read the synopsis, you could think this was going to be a who-dunit or a crime novel - it is not. This book is truly what literary fiction should be. Expertly written and deeply felt. Cohen's placement of words on the page is akin to a master artist's application of paint on a canvas. Oftentimes her turn of phrase would make me stop in my tracks and say "wow". It took me a bit longer to get through this book, but in retrospect this is not a novel I would have wanted to rush through. The writing is just that good that the extra time to savor Cohen's superb craftsmanship was well worth it. I will not give any spoilers away but if you do not finish this book to the very last page, you will be missing out - big time. Highly recommend.
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