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A review by donnaeve
Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb
4.0
Gottlieb did a superb job of imagining the mindset/thought processes of an autistic man. It was realistic, and highly entertaining. I loved how he would weave facts and statistics about autism into the thread of Todd's thoughts. Todd often referenced the encyclopedia, which he referred to as Mr. B. and in his mind, Mr. B had this calm, soothing tone that he used to speak to him - i.e. the voice in Todd's head.
The characters were all well done, from the brother (who was a total jerk, if I do say so) to Raykene, as well as Tommy Doon, Todd's roommate who liked to try and give Todd "the volts." Something to think about is how these facilities might be so understaffed they'll take anyone, as in the character, Mike Hinton. He seemed to have no clue at all about how to handle the individuals living there. He tried to drag Todd into his deceitful foray by attempting to blackmail him, as if he could depend on/trust Todd to do what he wanted. Mike "The Apron" (Todd's name for him - which was hilarious) reminded Todd of his father, and I thought the direction of this storyline could have been deployed a bit more.
There were funny parts (the breeze in his pants) and sad parts (his longing for his mother and home). I thought the ending was perfect, and was glad/happy to see how he wrapped it up, giving Todd something special that he'd needed throughout the story.
The characters were all well done, from the brother (who was a total jerk, if I do say so) to Raykene, as well as Tommy Doon, Todd's roommate who liked to try and give Todd "the volts." Something to think about is how these facilities might be so understaffed they'll take anyone, as in the character, Mike Hinton. He seemed to have no clue at all about how to handle the individuals living there. He tried to drag Todd into his deceitful foray by attempting to blackmail him, as if he could depend on/trust Todd to do what he wanted. Mike "The Apron" (Todd's name for him - which was hilarious) reminded Todd of his father, and I thought the direction of this storyline could have been deployed a bit more.
There were funny parts (the breeze in his pants) and sad parts (his longing for his mother and home). I thought the ending was perfect, and was glad/happy to see how he wrapped it up, giving Todd something special that he'd needed throughout the story.