Nothing can crush a parent like the discovery that his child suffers an incurable disorder--and nothing can strain a marriage like the demands of and potential conflicts in caring for such a child. A meaty saga of a Seattle couple's struggles in raising a son born on "the autism spectrum," Stephanie Kallos's third novel, Language Arts, tackles head-on the life-changing impact of the diagnosis that confirms their worst fears.
Son Cody is born to Charles and Alison Marlow shortly after they marry and move into a quaint "storybook cottage" in Seattle, where Charles begins a career teaching high school Language Arts. When Cody's growing vocabulary seems suddenly to vanish, "Charles and Alison looked on, useless." They join support groups. They read the latest medical studies. They investigate special care facilities and treatment options. And they argue. Charles prefers to think of Cody as he is, not as a patient. Alison wants to attack his condition aggressively with the latest weapons. They divorce. Cody settles into the circumscribed world of institutional rules and routines. Nobody is particularly happy. On this basic framework, Kallos builds a more complex story.
As the novel unfolds, the importance of language connects the digressive stories of the Marlow family and those who intersect it--the therapists, students, colleagues, neighbors, caregivers and Cody's institutional housemates. Language, however, is not the only path to communication and understanding. Kallos closes the circle and knits the novel's disparate threads into a place of modest contentment for Charles, who writes, "just because one has no expectations doesn't mean one has no hope." --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.