New Book Alert: Like No Other Boy by Larry Center; A Book Like Many Others But A Sweet Moving Story About Love Between Father and Son

 New Book Alert: Like No Other Boy by Larry Center; A Book Like Many Others But A Sweet Moving Story About Love Between Father and Son

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Books about children with physical, psychological, and neurological disorders are nothing new. Books about the bond that children develop with animals are nothing new. Books about the relationship between single parents and their children are also nothing new.

In substandard hands, Larry Center's Like No Other Boy would be a glurgy piece of tripe filled with cliches that would make even the most ardent Hallmark Channel fan roll their eyes. Thankfully, Center is not that author. Instead he wrote a sweet, moving, and at times heartbreaking novel about the love between a single father and his Autistic son.

Chris Cutcher's son, Tommy is Autistic. He has limited communication with anyone and while verbal often has verbal tics and becomes agitated. On one of his weekends in which Chris has custody (Chris and his ex wife, Cheryl have joint custody.), he takes Tommy to the zoo. Tommy does not react much until they pass by the chimpanzee enclosuree. Fascinated, Tommy begins to communicate with the primates and even reveals one is pregnant. A sign outside the enclosure confirms it. 

Chris is stunned and when they return, records a second encounter between Tommy and the chimps. He is impressed that Tommy has opened himself up so he looks for a program that studies chimpanzees so Tommy can talk to them. Chris takes Tommy to the Weller Research Institute which studies primates. The researchers are able to study how Tommy communicates with the chimps while the boy makes new animal friends. We learn that

a combination of mental pictures, sign language, and laser focusing on one thing allow Tommy and the chimpanzees the ability to understand and relate to each other.

Chris's ex, Cheryl is less than enthused and wants Tommy to go to a school in Houston so he can be with her and her new fiance. Besides the stress of a divorce, raising a special needs child, and a not so lucrative career in voice over work, Chris also has to take care of his aging father so he cannot move to Houston. He wants Tommy to stay with him in San Diego, so a custody battle looks to be on the horizon.

There are some very touching moments between father and son that reflect the difficulties of raising a special needs child and the love that a good parent has for that child. In some passages, Tommy loses his temper only to be calmed by the promise of a token or a visit to the chimps. Sometimes Tommy withdraws so much into himself that Chris can't follow or understand him though he tries. We also see the realistic frustrations and exhaustion someone has in raising such a child. These moments make the sweet parts like when Chris makes his son laugh by imitating Tommy's favorite cartoon characters or when Chris watches with pride and delight as the chimpanzees help him open up even more beautiful.

I am not qualified to judge the accuracy of how Tommy's Autism is written (and people on the spectrum react differently to stimuli so what applies for one may not apply for another). However, the emotional crux of the story between the father and son is something that is earnest and sincere.

There are other characters that are equally as well written, both human and animal. Chris gets assistance from an animal researcher, Rachel who is amazed and encouraging towards Tommy's conversations with the chimpanzees. Chris's father is crotchety, stubborn and doesn't like being reminded of his diminished faculties but is fiercely protective of his son and grandson.

Cheryl, Tommy's mother, could be written as a villain and there are moments when she is pretty antagonistic like her insistence that Houston is the best option for him and her refusal to see that Tommy's time with the chimps is working even when she sees the results for herself. Cheryl also loves Tommy and advocates for him. She is just one of those types of people who think only she knows best and no one else.

Even the chimps are brilliantly characterized. There is Mikey, a little mischief maker who loves to run around the enclosure. Obo was a shy primate brought out of his shell by Tommy's arrival. Albert has heart problems from a lifetime of abuse and sometimes withdraws to paint but he is able to communicate through Tommy a longing for freedom. Of course Tommy's interactions with his primate friends are  deeply felt as many animal lovers can testify sharing a bond with their furry companions that goes beyond speech. It goes through thought, emotion, and understanding. This book shows that.

Like No Other Boy may be a book that tells a familiar story but it does it in a way that is touching, honest, sincere, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.