An amusing but hardly revelatory story of life as a mother to an autistic child.
Katy Cox is the author behind “Carry on Katy”, a comedy blog known for its focus on parenting an autistic child and her debut novel expands on this, following the lives of Lucy Wright, husband Ed and their two sons, one of whom Lucy realises is autistic. Thirty-three-year-old Lucy is a professional musician but after nine years and two children with husband Ed, she has lost sight of the woman she once was and is starting to feel overwhelmed. Four-year-old Stan is a little bit different to other children his age and Lucy can no longer bury her head in the sand. He’s fiercely intelligent, very particular about routines and the way he likes things and is also obsessed with letters, numbers and body parts. Stan also has trouble socialising and frightening meltdowns that can turn heads. Ed’s passive-aggressive mother, Judith, is quick to advocate “tough love” and tell Lucy that she shouldn’t pander to Stan but Lucy has long suspected there might be something more significant behind Stan’s behaviour after Dr Google led her to the term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
I expect most readers will have an understanding of the autism spectrum given how many families it affects, so what Lucy faces is unlikely to surprise or enlighten many, but I expect it to be deeply reassuring for those who recognise their own family life reflected in the Wright’s struggles. From having to prepare for handling party games that Stan won’t always win to drawing up bullet-pointed lists for babysitters and attention grabbing violent meltdowns, Lucy faces it all on the road to acceptance and ultimately embracing Stan’s differences. The novel could have really overegged the portrayal of Stan’s autistic traits and it is to Katy Cox’s credit that this is very much a realistic story of wider family life with autism. What is patently obvious from the first chapters are the similarities between Ed in childhood and Stan, Ed’s difficulty communicating and the lack of support that Lucy receives from him in regard to their joint parental responsibilities.
The novel is written in the first-person by Lucy and was rather hit and miss for me as I found it frequently tipped over into too sweary and crude and jarred with how sensitively Cox handled every aspect of Stan’s autism and how honest she was about Lucy’s vulnerability as her family threatens to fall apart. Despite not particularly warming to Lucy, her struggles with Stan and her growing recognition about where his autism may have come from do make her an extremely relatable character. Although the story itself isn’t uproariously funny it is gently amusing and very fast-moving with short punchy chapters that make for an easy, albeit predictable read. A solid mummy memoir but I wanted more of a focus on the autism aspect and less of Lucy getting drunk and her whole comedy show.
I expect most readers will have an understanding of the autism spectrum given how many families it affects, so what Lucy faces is unlikely to surprise or enlighten many, but I expect it to be deeply reassuring for those who recognise their own family life reflected in the Wright’s struggles. From having to prepare for handling party games that Stan won’t always win to drawing up bullet-pointed lists for babysitters and attention grabbing violent meltdowns, Lucy faces it all on the road to acceptance and ultimately embracing Stan’s differences. The novel could have really overegged the portrayal of Stan’s autistic traits and it is to Katy Cox’s credit that this is very much a realistic story of wider family life with autism. What is patently obvious from the first chapters are the similarities between Ed in childhood and Stan, Ed’s difficulty communicating and the lack of support that Lucy receives from him in regard to their joint parental responsibilities.
The novel is written in the first-person by Lucy and was rather hit and miss for me as I found it frequently tipped over into too sweary and crude and jarred with how sensitively Cox handled every aspect of Stan’s autism and how honest she was about Lucy’s vulnerability as her family threatens to fall apart. Despite not particularly warming to Lucy, her struggles with Stan and her growing recognition about where his autism may have come from do make her an extremely relatable character. Although the story itself isn’t uproariously funny it is gently amusing and very fast-moving with short punchy chapters that make for an easy, albeit predictable read. A solid mummy memoir but I wanted more of a focus on the autism aspect and less of Lucy getting drunk and her whole comedy show.