Author Larry Center delivers a heartwrenching story of a father’s love for his son in Like No Other Boy.
Chris Crutcher is navigating a messy divorce, fighting for custody, and trying to do what’s right for his autistic son, Tommy, who wants to be with his beloved chimpanzees at the San Francisco Zoo. The chimps are very special to Tommy – he finds them to be kindred spirits, and they help alleviate his pain. Even though they are unable to communicate, the relationship between Tommy and the chimps is brought to life tenderly with great sympathy and emotion.
Told from the point of view of Chris, the story locks you into this father’s struggle with a broken marriage via his brutally honest, yet at times droll, narrative voice. He is a father to truly look up to, and the sensitive descriptions of Tommy’s behavior are handled masterfully. The danger would be to create spectacle, or even a sense of condescension, but Chris’s honest emotional reactions to his son make the story both melancholic and uplifting.
A brave and realistic portrayal of autism, and a timeless tale of the healing wisdom of mother nature, Like No Other Boy is a uniquely powerful novel, and begs to be adapted for the big screen.
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