Love Anthony By Lisa Genova - the working of the brain is such a many splendored thing

Love Anthony By Lisa Genova

From brain surgery in my last read, to an exploration of the different ways in which brains are wired in individuals.

I live near a fabulous local bookshop, Pages & Pages in Mosman, run by the aptly named Page family.  Amongst the many book related activities they conduct is a monthly bookclub and a couple of years ago, the American writer Lisa Genova came along to talk to the group about her first book ‘Still Alice’.  She was an inspiring speaker, both on the topic of early onset Alzheimer's,  and on how she effectively self published, self publicised this book before being picked up by a mainstream publisher.   Both ‘Still Alice’, which has just been made into a film and her second book about partial paralysis called ‘Left Neglected’  resonated with me.  I didn’t have quite the same reaction to this book in that I didn't buy into the fictional plot to quite the same extent, but I did enjoy it, and was fascinated by glimpses of the life of an all year dweller on Nantucket.  More than anything, 'Love Anthony' reinforced for me what amazing reservoirs of love are demonstrated by parents of autistic children, or indeed any child who falls outside the expected norms of childhood and society.  Easy to love an engaging toddler who holds out their arms to be picked up and whose face lights up as you walk in the door, harder to love without reserve a child who doesn't respond in the same way.

Lisa Genova has a Ph.D in neuroscience and so writes with an easy familiarity and authority that engages and educates seamlessly, she is someone whose books I would pick up automatically in a bookstore, knowing that it is going to be a worthwhile read.