Karl Taro Greenfeld always knew that his little brother, Noah, was not like other children. He couldn't converse, use the toilet, or tie his shoes, and he often had violent outbursts. Even after Noah was diagnosed as autistic, his family struggled to find solutions. Now, acclaimed journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld speaks out with brutal honesty about growing up in the shadow of his autistic brother, revealing the complex mix of rage, confusion, and love that defined his childhood.
Karl Taro Greenfeld always knew that his little brother, Noah, was not like other children. He couldn't converse, use the toilet, or tie his shoes, and he often had violent outbursts. Even after Noah was diagnosed as autistic, his family struggled to find solutions. Now, acclaimed journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld speaks out with brutal honesty about growing up in the shadow of his autistic brother, revealing the complex mix of rage, confusion, and love that defined his childhood. Greenfeld weaves together the social history of autism and autism research with the moving story of two very different boys growing up side by side. Haunting, tragic, and unforgettable, his compelling story gets to the heart of what it means to be a family, a brother, and a person.
Karl Taro Greenfeld's new memoir Boy ALone is a searing account of growing up in a family with an autistic sibling. In a world where autism is rising exponentially, we hear all too rarely from the brothers and sisters of autistic children. Here Greenfeld describes, sometimes in harrowing detail, the strains of living with someone who is severely autistic. The family's attention inevitably centers on Noah, the autistic brother. Greenfeld deals honestly and compassionately with his family's struggle to find a..
Greenfeld has written a powerful, maddening book, pitting sentences that are a joy to read against a raw honesty that is almost impossible to accept. It is a work of philosophy as endurance contest. The story of his profoundly autistic younger brother, Noah, is a descent by degrees, the deterioration of a child who begins with all the ordinary promise of his big brother but then slides irrevocably to become a mute and sometimes violent and possibly insane adult.In the burgeoning field of works on autism, th..
"Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping,Into the future.I want to fly like an eagle, till I'm free.Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me."----Steve Miller Band, 1976At last! For years I have hoped Karl Greenfeld would share his experiences of growing up with his younger brother, Noah, whom Karl describes as "the most famous autistic child in the United States." Karl's father, Josh Greenfeld wrote a trilogy of brutally honest books about life raising his boys. The Noah Trilogy, as "A Child Called ..
