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Buddy's Story
Imagine yourself separated from your loving family at the age of eleven and sent to an institution intended for the feebleminded, and living your eighty years of life in a body that doesn’t work properly; not able to walk, talk, feed yourself or make sense of your place in the world? Buddy’s Story, a fictional memoir, is based on the life of Bernard Akerman, born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1920. Buddy, afflicted with cerebral palsy, unfortunately labelled a “crippled idiot”, is finally given a voice to tell the story of his life. He lived during a time when the handicapped were locked away, an embarrassment and a burden to their families and society. His niece, Ellen, finds her voice, no longer silenced by the family taboo of not talking about what has always been an ache in her heart. Many years after Buddy’s death she was able to return her uncle’s love by dedicating a stone on his final resting place. Buddy learned to live in the moment, with humour, insight, love, and compassion. Buddy’s Story, is about family, courage, and the power of ancestry. It is a story of love and hope that crosses the boundaries of genre forms.
124 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 3, 2019
In this beautiful and haunting story, Ellen Akerman tells us about her uncle, Buddy Akerman, born in 1920, at a time when his illness, cerebral palsy, was poorly understood. Although he could not speak or walk or control his movements, he possessed an active mind and caring heart. Unfortunately, it was a time when cerebral palsy was often confused with mental retardation, and victims of the disease often endured cruel and degrading treatment in mental institutions. The author’s goal was to give her uncle a voice for the first time.
The book blends memoir and speculative fiction, with short readable chapters alternating between her own voice and the imagined voice of her Uncle Buddy. In her uncle’s voice, the writing expresses a childlike innocence, sweetness, and clarity. The Buddy chapters each begin with a short poem that captures his gentle spirit. We learn that Buddy was born to loving parents, who care for him as best they can, for as long as they can. Buddy expresses delight at his mother’s baking, in particular, his favorite treat – gingerbread cookies. He loves sports, especially baseball, and he loves the colors and smells of his family’s garden.
When his parents can no longer care for Buddy at home, they reluctantly move him to an institution with an appallingly insensitive name – the Belchertown School for the Feeble Minded – which would eventually be exposed decades later for its nightmarish conditions. In Buddy’s voice, he calls his new residence the Dark Place. The orderlies abuse, neglect, and insult their defenseless charge, not knowing that Buddy can hear and understand every terrible word. Fortunately, through his father’s careful financial planning, Buddy eventually receives more humane long-term care at a place called Hope House.
In the author’s voice, we learn about her own lifetime of research and discovery, enabling her to paint a vivid picture of the horrors of Belchertown while exploring her own complex relationship with her uncle. By sharing with us her uncle’s rich inner life, Akerman gives her uncle the ultimate gift – remembrance.
The book blends memoir and speculative fiction, with short readable chapters alternating between her own voice and the imagined voice of her Uncle Buddy. In her uncle’s voice, the writing expresses a childlike innocence, sweetness, and clarity. The Buddy chapters each begin with a short poem that captures his gentle spirit. We learn that Buddy was born to loving parents, who care for him as best they can, for as long as they can. Buddy expresses delight at his mother’s baking, in particular, his favorite treat – gingerbread cookies. He loves sports, especially baseball, and he loves the colors and smells of his family’s garden.
When his parents can no longer care for Buddy at home, they reluctantly move him to an institution with an appallingly insensitive name – the Belchertown School for the Feeble Minded – which would eventually be exposed decades later for its nightmarish conditions. In Buddy’s voice, he calls his new residence the Dark Place. The orderlies abuse, neglect, and insult their defenseless charge, not knowing that Buddy can hear and understand every terrible word. Fortunately, through his father’s careful financial planning, Buddy eventually receives more humane long-term care at a place called Hope House.
In the author’s voice, we learn about her own lifetime of research and discovery, enabling her to paint a vivid picture of the horrors of Belchertown while exploring her own complex relationship with her uncle. By sharing with us her uncle’s rich inner life, Akerman gives her uncle the ultimate gift – remembrance.
July 13, 2019
Having taught Special Ed for over twenty years, I found Buddy's Story especially heartbreaking, for there was nothing in place for him when growing up as opposed to today's classrooms which support kids with disabilities. Ellen Akerman, his niece, has given him a voice that will live on in the hearts and minds of readers who have had the privilege to hear his story. Beautiful!
October 25, 2020
Important and at times poetic
September 13, 2016
This is a small book with enormous heart. At once, the author gives voice to her Uncle Buddy whose own voice is muffled within the painful throes of Cerebral Palsy. This book made me cry and, almost simultaneously, made me smile. Beautifully crafted, Buddy's Story is a gift from one gentle soul to another. It lingers close to the heart.
December 4, 2017
Some books are about subjects that make most people look away. This book deals in a compassionate way with one of those subjects – a relative shut away in a home for cerebral palsy patients before he was a teenager, and the horrible living conditions he endured in a neglected state facility most of his life. It’s filled with poignant personal insights demonstrating the love of a niece for an intelligent and witty uncle trapped in a broken body, neglected by the rest of the family, and she captures lightning in a bottle by alternating between her viewpoints and his. Mostly, it’s sad. Now and then, it’s funny. Sometimes, it’s a little folksy, as in the marvelous baseball thread that runs throughout. Overall, it’s wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews