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5th out of 67 books
—
65 voters
Daniel Isn't Talking
Melanie Marsh is an American living in London with her British husband, Stephen, and their two young children. The Marshes’ orderly home life is shattered when their son Daniel is given a devastating diagnosis. Resourceful and determined not to acceptt what others, including her husband, say is inevitable, Melanie finds an ally in the idealistic Andy, whose unorthodox idea...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
May 8th 2007
by Anchor
(first published 2006)
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I really enjoyed this book - so much of what Leimbach described about dealing with having a child with a disability made me think while I was reading that she must have dealt with this on a personal level. And since the book cover didn't tell me, it wasn't until I read about it on Amazon that I realized that Daniel was based on her own autistic son. Which certainly explains how she really nailed the emotional frenzy accompanying such a diagnosis. It was a sad book, but really, probably eye-openi...more
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Le indagini e le testimonianze che hanno come tema l’autismo sono sempre un’arma a doppio taglio: l’argomento è ancora nebuloso e in corso di studi, e di conseguenza se viene a mancare una solida base scientifica è facile arrivare a tentativi e congetture che scantonano nella superstizione.
È questa l’impressione che ho avuto leggendo questo libro.
Il punto di vista è quello, in prima persona, di una madre disperata che dopo la diagnosi di autismo al secondogenito si vede abbandonata dal marito e...more
È questa l’impressione che ho avuto leggendo questo libro.
Il punto di vista è quello, in prima persona, di una madre disperata che dopo la diagnosi di autismo al secondogenito si vede abbandonata dal marito e...more
May 04, 2012
Wahidah
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
No one - unless you're a parent with an autistic child
I didn't quite like this one. I usually savour books about people/kids with disability, poverty or war but this one lacked flavour.
It's simply about this mother with an autistic kid. I feel like her character's too whiny, and autism isn't the worst thing that can happen to your child. She's negative and paranoid - which is quite annoying because she's white, living comfortably in London with food on her table and a roof over her head. In the book however this is addressed - with one of the char...more
It's simply about this mother with an autistic kid. I feel like her character's too whiny, and autism isn't the worst thing that can happen to your child. She's negative and paranoid - which is quite annoying because she's white, living comfortably in London with food on her table and a roof over her head. In the book however this is addressed - with one of the char...more
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In "Daniel Isn’t Talking", Marti Leimbach has written a novel about a mother discovering her son has autism and trying to find him treatment. I must say, it got quite an emotional response from me. I was ready to kill the asshole husband and all the doctors who wrote off Daniel as untreatable. I really liked it, though I haven’t got a lot to say about it. What did really resonant with me was the following quote:
“When Stephen left, it was like an emptying out of my life, of all our years together...more
“When Stephen left, it was like an emptying out of my life, of all our years together...more
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For me, this book simply did not live up to all the hype. Neither in content nor style.
The plot of the novel (and that is what this is a NOVEL, not a memoir) was acceptable. Given the difficulty of taking on a subject such as autism, you have to give the author some credit. But it just didn't shine. It seemed to me that the book focused around the main character's overwhelming sense of loss: of her child, of her husband, and of all sense of normalcy. Which would be fine, but she doesn't make any...more
The plot of the novel (and that is what this is a NOVEL, not a memoir) was acceptable. Given the difficulty of taking on a subject such as autism, you have to give the author some credit. But it just didn't shine. It seemed to me that the book focused around the main character's overwhelming sense of loss: of her child, of her husband, and of all sense of normalcy. Which would be fine, but she doesn't make any...more
I don't even remember how this book made it onto my shelf. I picked it up the other day, because I wanted a paperback to carry with me. And strangely, it took me about 50 pages to realize that this wasn't a memoir. Instead, it's a novel about a woman coming to terms with her child's autism (and coming to terms with the fact that not everybody is willing to do what's necessary to support him).
I'm pretty sure that if I were a part of the autism community, this book would have been somewhat infuria...more
I'm pretty sure that if I were a part of the autism community, this book would have been somewhat infuria...more
Sep 04, 2012
Jasmine
added it
I am unsure if this novel is a true story, however the way it was written I wouldn't be surprised.
Daniel is our main character, a small boy. He has a mother, a father and a sister. It is a happy family, until Daniel is diagnosed with autism and the happy family starts to unravel at the seams.
Mum visits every possible doctor and specialist, hoping for a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of people who tell her that not much can be done for little Daniel.
Dad runs back to an ex girlfriend and leaves the...more
Daniel is our main character, a small boy. He has a mother, a father and a sister. It is a happy family, until Daniel is diagnosed with autism and the happy family starts to unravel at the seams.
Mum visits every possible doctor and specialist, hoping for a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of people who tell her that not much can be done for little Daniel.
Dad runs back to an ex girlfriend and leaves the...more
This book was great. It's about a woman and a marriage and a kid and a family and how they all bounce off of each other and collapse and grow. Daniel has autism. It's hard to understand what is happening with him at first because he is a normally functioning baby. Melanie takes on the challenge and holds on with all the courage she can gather. She goes to the doctors appointments seeks out other people tries to connect in her fragile world. Steven doesn't make it. This is not the kind of child h...more
I liked this book because it departs from the cliche of most books about children with autism. It still provides many insights about autism and its effect on the family, but rather than centering on the child's condition, the author chose to highlight the bumpy but realistic personal journey of his mother. She starts out rather insecure, and makes a lot of the classic relationship mistakes of the young (including being so blinded by her first real love affair that she fails to recognize her husb...more
Very enjoyable novel about motherhood and autism. As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, I found everything -- from Melanie's fear, guilt, and grief when she faces the diagnosis to the infuriating frustration of dealing with professionals -- believable and easy to relate to.
Memorable quotes:
I've begun to understand that once you are a mother there is just no safe place to cast a vote. Everything you do, the consequences of every action, you will take to the grave. And there is no point i...more
Memorable quotes:
I've begun to understand that once you are a mother there is just no safe place to cast a vote. Everything you do, the consequences of every action, you will take to the grave. And there is no point i...more
My fury. Let me show you it.
First, when I read that there was a "devastating" diagnosis, I assumed it was something terminal. ASD is life-altering, not devastating. ASD is not going to kill my child. There are worse things.
Second, when the MMR line came up? Book went flying across the room.
Third, and I am saying this as an ASD mother as well, stop stop STOP with the Jenny McCarthy warrior mother/tiger mother/whatever her line is crap. Parents do what they need to when their child needs help be...more
First, when I read that there was a "devastating" diagnosis, I assumed it was something terminal. ASD is life-altering, not devastating. ASD is not going to kill my child. There are worse things.
Second, when the MMR line came up? Book went flying across the room.
Third, and I am saying this as an ASD mother as well, stop stop STOP with the Jenny McCarthy warrior mother/tiger mother/whatever her line is crap. Parents do what they need to when their child needs help be...more
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Okay...I need to write my reviews as soon as I finish reading books. I've forgotten many of the characters' names now. Ugh! The Dad was such a selfish pig. It was disappointing to see how he just baled when his son was diagnosed with autism. I can see how it would be very overwhelming and upsetting, but that's still no excuse to up and leave! My heart went out to the wife/mother. I don't know that I cared for the romance between Daniel's 'teacher' and the mother, but I was happy to see her not g...more
I've read several fictionalized accounts of families dealing with an autistic child, and this one sounded so good. However, I was very disappointed. The protaganist just isn't believable and I'm not sure why. Her grief over her son's situation seems one-dimensional. I think if someone wants to read a really good account of coming to grips with being the mother of an austistic child, they should read "A Certain Slant of Light" or "Elijah's Cup of Tea." Both true stories written by the mother, eac...more
Good Book on autism and relationships that break down because of the strain and stigma of Mental Illness. The author has every authority to write so candidly about the subject, even though it is fiction based. She is the mother of an autistic child herself and so the story pulls on her real experience and therefore makes it more of a bio-drama than a complete work of fiction. I had to remind myself that it was actually a story at times - it was so realistic!
Read as a bookclub choice. An author I...more
Read as a bookclub choice. An author I...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I was originally going to give this book three stars, while I was still in the middle of reading it. Though I enjoyed learning about Daniel, and though the characters and storyline were well-developed, the case was too tragic and there didn't seem to be enough positive things happening in Melanie's life. But from Andy's appearance I couldn't put the book down. He was a shining beacon in a book that otherwise felt very heavy and depressing, and it was wonderful to see his influence on the rest of...more
Living with an autistic child, the subject of this novel, was bound to be of interest to me as the mother of a son with Asperger's Syndrome. I found the narrative gripping but the author sometimes made huge plot jumps without filling in how she got from there to here, so it gave something of the impression of a film rather than a novel. Lots of details, like the horror of going to paediatricians and the real community between autism parents, rang very true, though the characters were sometimes l...more
We first meet Melanie, the protagonist and narrator of Daniel Isn't Talking, at a particularly vulnerable point in her life. She's a new arrival in an unfamiliar country, having emigrated from the United States to England to set up house with her new husband in a cottage owned by his family; she's not working, and is dependent on her husband for both financial support and social ties; she doesn't really know her husband all that well, as she seems to have turned to him soon after losing her boyf...more
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Apr 02, 2011
Kristal Tucker
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
readers of: autistic fiction, gentle reads, women's lives, family relationships
Shelves:
kristal-tucker
Daniel Isn’t Talking, by Marti Leimbach is a first-person narrative of Melanie Marsh’s life. She is American, married to Stephen and living in England. A stay at home mom, Melanie enjoys her days with her children, Emily (four) and Daniel (three), until the day Daniel is diagnosed with autism, explaining his odd behaviors and confirming Melanie’s concerns for her youngest child. Melanie is devastated, but her friend Veena explains that autism is not the end of the world—Daniel is a healthy and h...more
When a young boy is diagnosed with autism, the whole family is affected.
The story is told through the eyes of the mother who has been aware that her older child is different from other children his age. The father doesn't want to acknowledge that there is a problem. As the mother searches for every possible way to help her child, her marriage falls apart and she finds herself falling in love with Daniel's therapist.
This is a very readable and realistic portrayal of a family in crisis dealing wit...more
The story is told through the eyes of the mother who has been aware that her older child is different from other children his age. The father doesn't want to acknowledge that there is a problem. As the mother searches for every possible way to help her child, her marriage falls apart and she finds herself falling in love with Daniel's therapist.
This is a very readable and realistic portrayal of a family in crisis dealing wit...more
In this book, a mother suspects there is something wrong with her child. She learns he is autistic. She then devotes herself to finding every specialist in England, where she lives, trying to help him. It results in the breakup of her marriage. In the end, she and her son both end up being helped by an unconventional therapist. This book was pretty interesting from the point of view of all the things she tried to help her son. But I didn't find the characters or the plot to be all that original.
Buku ini langsung menarik perhatianku karena temanya yang mengenai seorang anak autis, disorder yang juga diderita oleh salah seorang sepupuku.
Ternyata sang penulis adalah juga penulis novel fiksi ‘Dying Young’ yang kemudian diangkat ke layar lebar dengan Julia Roberts sebagai salah seorang pemerannya. Hmm..spesialis penulis tentang kisah pesakit yang bikin trenyuh?
Dan, pasti…kisah dalam novel ini memang mengharukan. Penyakit yang masih sulit ditaklukkan ini dikisahkan menjadi duri dalam hubunga...more
Ternyata sang penulis adalah juga penulis novel fiksi ‘Dying Young’ yang kemudian diangkat ke layar lebar dengan Julia Roberts sebagai salah seorang pemerannya. Hmm..spesialis penulis tentang kisah pesakit yang bikin trenyuh?
Dan, pasti…kisah dalam novel ini memang mengharukan. Penyakit yang masih sulit ditaklukkan ini dikisahkan menjadi duri dalam hubunga...more
There is much to love and admire about this book: the author's heart-wrenching take on mothering an autistic child, vivid characters, smooth writing... but there is also much to take issue with.
I am not the mother of an autistic child, so the criticisms I have will likely seem minor to a woman who is crying tears of relief that she is reading about her life in a book. So, that said...
In marked contrast to her ability to portray Daniel and the agony his mother is going through with such poignan...more
I am not the mother of an autistic child, so the criticisms I have will likely seem minor to a woman who is crying tears of relief that she is reading about her life in a book. So, that said...
In marked contrast to her ability to portray Daniel and the agony his mother is going through with such poignan...more
I am not surprised to read that Marti Leimbach has an autistic son. Anyone who could write characters as well as she either must have a lot of personal experience or is a genius. I liked the book a lot and it's a good one to read to learn about the impact autism has on family members, particularly the mother.
Melanie Marsh is an American married to a veddy proper Englishman named Stephen. His family is la-dee-dah and since Melanie is so much an individual, the first thing I wondered is how she an...more
Melanie Marsh is an American married to a veddy proper Englishman named Stephen. His family is la-dee-dah and since Melanie is so much an individual, the first thing I wondered is how she an...more
Read this book years ago, when my mother robbed (not literally) Gramedia by buying loads of autism-themed books. As predicted.. They ended up standing on my shelf, unread. So I read all of them. Hahaha!
I cried at some parts. How Daniel's mother deals with his son, her love-life, her feelings as a mother of an autistic mom saddened me. But this book also feels boring in some places. I know I shouldn't be comparing her book to another books, but I think I find Dyah Puspita's books more fun.
I cried at some parts. How Daniel's mother deals with his son, her love-life, her feelings as a mother of an autistic mom saddened me. But this book also feels boring in some places. I know I shouldn't be comparing her book to another books, but I think I find Dyah Puspita's books more fun.
Great title - and the reason Daniel isn't talking is that he is autistic.
This is a novel about a mum who refuses to give up on her autistic son, and interestingly, the author does actually have an autistic child. I wondered as I read the novel if this was so, as she captures the range of emotions beautifully. From 'knowing' something is not quite right with her boy in the face of her family's dismissal that anything is wrong, through her fight to help him become as fully able to function in the...more
This is a novel about a mum who refuses to give up on her autistic son, and interestingly, the author does actually have an autistic child. I wondered as I read the novel if this was so, as she captures the range of emotions beautifully. From 'knowing' something is not quite right with her boy in the face of her family's dismissal that anything is wrong, through her fight to help him become as fully able to function in the...more
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A part of me liked this book and a part of me didn't. I was drawn to the mother who was fiercely loyal to her newly diagnosed autistic son & would do anything for him. I was angry at her husband who used such negative words to describe children with disabilities, then walked away from his family. I was confused why the author needed to work a love story into the mix. Overall an interesting novel if you like children, particularly children with tough medical diagnoses.
I felt so many connections to the mother in this story. The little boy, Daniel, has some very amazing similarities to Isaiah - chewing on his shirt, a love for Thomas the Train.
I just finished the book, and I don't really know what else to say, other than I hope this book can help people to understand the lengths a mother of an Autistic child NEEDS to go to. Some may think this mother's actions are irrational or crazy, but mothers of Autistic children must go to great lengths for their child to...more
I just finished the book, and I don't really know what else to say, other than I hope this book can help people to understand the lengths a mother of an Autistic child NEEDS to go to. Some may think this mother's actions are irrational or crazy, but mothers of Autistic children must go to great lengths for their child to...more
This book read like it should have, as a piece of this woman's life instead of a clear story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. For mothers of children with autism, there is no end. I don't know that I wholly agreed with the author choosing to have her become romantically involved with Andy, but it does seem to make sense that she would become attached to her main ally in such a significant fight. All in all, interesting but not life changing.
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