Boy Alone

Book excerpt: “Boy Alone unlocks the heart and lets the emotions pour out: grief, despair, anger, love, devotion and wonder. Whether you are a parent or a sibling of someone with autism or just looking in from the outside through this rarely opened window into the complex life of a family coping with autism, you will never forget this book.” —Portia Iversen, Co-Founder of Cure Autism Now Foundation and author of Strange Son A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year In this literary tour de force, Karl Taro Greenfield, acclaimed journalist and author of China Syndrome, tells the story of his life growing up with his brother, chronicling the hopes, dreams, and realities of life with an autistic sibling. Karl Taro Greenfeld knew from an early age that his little brother, Noah, was not like other children. He was unable to communicate verbally or tie his shoes, and despite his angelic demeanor was prone to violent outbursts. No doctor, social worker, or specialist could pinpoint what was wrong with Noah beyond a general diagnosis: autism. The boys' parents dedicated their lives to caring for their younger son—a challenging, often painful experience that their father detailed in a bestselling trilogy of books. Boy Alone is Karl Taro Greenfeld's unforgettable memoir of growing up in Noah's shadow, revealing the complex mix of rage, confusion, and love that defined the author's childhood—a beautiful, haunting, and wholly original exploration of what it means to be a family, a brother, a person.