A Boy Made of Blocks

Moving: autistic isolation to family integration

An informative, interesting and ultimately very moving account from the perspective of the father (Alex) of an autistic child (Sam). We see the frustrations and challenges of the parents and the resultant relationship strains. We feel the pain, anger and guilt that accompany the nurturing of a seemingly unresponsive and 'disruptive' child... would we cope any better?

Interesting insights and strategies re managing children on the spectrum are peppered across the text, identifying mechanisms through which to facilitate communication, achievement and satisfaction, building on strengths, identifying and controlling some of the triggers to the child's isolation and frustration.

Alex is a distant and perhaps selfish father, unable to find the means of communicating with his son... until he discover's Sam's brilliance in playing an online game Minecraft. This game and Alex' slowly developing understanding and respect for eight-year old Sam, is central to this story. Alex himself had a traumatic youth having lost his older brother in a tragic traffic event while both were still at school. We experience also the pain of not having dealt with prior traumas and of the lasting strain this places on daily life.The route to improved outcomes in this troubled family is the discovery of the computer game that requires agility, planning, strategy and more - this becomes the vehicle for the all important lines of communication between father and son.

This is a fascinating, engaging and very moving book. It's well written and sensitively narrated. While I never stopped and rewound the audio to contemplate how beautifully a sentence was crafted or an idea conveyed, it is certainly a compelling end enjoyable read. Step out of your comfort zone and into a set of troubled relationships, frustrations and difficulties for a while.

Spoiler alert ... many of the frustrations, challenges and losses come right in the end.... While this might not reflect much of real-life, it is a tonic and feel-good outcome to the understandable daily tensions and strains.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Similar to 'Me before You' by JoJo Moyes

I had never heard of this author and chose this as on Richard and Judy bookclub.
Keith Stuart has a son diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum in 2012. This is his debut novel. I felt the narrative was good.
This is a fictitious tale of a family with a child on the spectrum based on his experiences.
Alex the father has virtually no relationship with his autistic son. This causes severe disharmony within his marriage to Jody and he leaves the family home.
I found it hard to warm to the character of Alex as I felt he was somewhat lacking in any emotional connection to anyone. This made his relationships feel directionless. Maybe this was because of his past life experience with his brother’s death.
Having worked with children on the spectrum I felt Sam was represented well with his autism simply explained.
I thought there were too many characters and it felt so ‘full on’.
The following are all going on simultaneously
* Alex is not bonded with his son
* Alex and his friend Dan living together and all that entails
* Emma Alex’s sister returns home after 10 years travelling fleeing past experience
* Alex and Sam bond over Mindcraft
* Alex struggles with the death of his brother
* Alex’s mother has a health problem
There were other sub plots but the above were the main ones. I think it would have been better if less was going on so the focus could have been on Sam and his autism.
In my opinion it started off well with autism as its focus and then merged into a version of Jojo Moyes ‘Me before you’.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Brilliant

I loved this book!! Yes, its predictable and yes it its a bit soppy in bits but then dont we all crave that sometimes. Pick this book and read!! You wont be disappointed just warm hearted.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Very high functioning and predictable but very enjoyable

This is indeed a heartwarming story like "about a boy". The boy is very high functioning and is not that much of a problem compared to some other autistic boys, and you can see what's coming very often, but it is still engaging and I certainly enjoyed it.
The first person narrative from a bloke who finds it achingly difficult to process and express emotions but is capable of funny cynicism chimes well with this English man.
It's read very well.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Wonderful

A Boy Made of Blocks is a truly wonderful book! It takes you on the journey of a father-son relationship between Alex and his autistic son Sam.
Alex is struggling and Sam seems unreachable, but they eventually manage to find some common ground through the medium of Minecraft - yes, the pixelated computer game.
It sounds ludicrous but it's beautifully done. As someone with two children who are very much into this game week, I can completely relate. It's actually given me some understanding of it and conversation topics. Real life has imitated art once again.
For me, it isn't a book about autism. It's about families. It is a book about relationships. About how lost we all feel at times. How we're all winging it, pretending that we know how to be a grown up. About grief and how we deal with it. But, most of all, it's a book about being a parent and how challenging that can be sometimes.
It's eye-opening, touching, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. It's wonderful.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Building bricks to cross the dividing line

Eight year-old Sam is on the autistic spectrum and the cruel exhaustion of dealing with his daily meltdowns and difficulties has driven his parents Jody and Alex apart. Alex has de-camped to a blow-up mattress on the floor of his best friend Mat's flat, desperate to make it work between him and Jody and the little boy he loves, but clueless about how to do it. For anyone who has an autistic child, as does the author himself, the story of Alex's hard slog to get back could be some kind of life-saver, and it also teaches understanding to those who do not have first-hand experience of the life-sapping struggles and strains involved in raising a child to whom the environment can be a frightening puzzle.
The story is told by Alex and it's refreshing to have the father's point of view, but this doesn't mean Jody is side-lined. She's just as important. The breakdown of their marriage is painfully detailed and because it's so real, heart-breaking. The whole story is very much right now. This immediacy is helped by being firmly rooted in real Bristol with all its familiar typography and its recent physical and social developments. The core of the story involves Sam and Alex building their relationship brick by brick, block by block through the virtual world created through the computer game Minecraft. It is perfect for them as they interact socially and build a real relationship with each other as they build landscapes and castles together building their own world in this virtual one offered by Minecraft which Sam can understand and thrive in.
It's a wonderfully heartening story with genuinely tear-jerkingly moving scenes and moments as characters (not just Sam and Jody) find ways of re-connecting with love they thought they'd lost. Alex learns with joy the 'patterns and surprises' within Sam, and finds the blocks on which to cross the chasm which had divided them. The plot (and it's much more complex than this) does get a bit unrealistic, but never mind, it's such a genuinely moving ending, without ever down-playing the anguish and sheer hard work that has gone into it, that it leaves you uplifted and hopeful.
The 'right now-ness' of the story is also in the writing which is blokey: Alex and Dan call each other 'dude', they go 'bat-shit crazy' and Alex's sister Emma doesn't go travelling, but 'legs it to the other side of the planet'. But this works well: beneath all the blokey drinking and watching football and the language which goes with it are vulnerable human beings searching for answers, just as Sam strives to understand what is around him.
The narration is exactly right in capturing the seriousness beneath the dialogue. I didn't give it a full 5 because I thought it was a mistake to introduce the Bristolian accent for some of the characters. It's very difficult not to introduce the stereotypical through accent - and also why has Alex not got a Bristol accent, but his mother has? But that's a small quibble.
Download it - you won't be able to stop listening!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

wonderful

I loved listening to this. I have a son with autism just like Sam. The author's own experience with autism shines through in the details and observations. Brilliantly written from the fathers point of view. I think it has taught me a lot about what my own son's father may feel.

A little predictable plotwise but satisfying nontheless.

sad to have finished

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I loved it

could so relate to this, would definitely listen to this again.( there is some swearing)

Enjoyable uplifting listen!

Well narrated, easy listen ultimately uplifting tale if living and coping with autism.
Have to admit I had a little weep towards the end!

Strikes a chord

This story is disturbingly similar to the reality of our household as we have a 7 year old autistic son who is obsessed with Minecraft (and amazingly good at it!). A must read, I really related to it