Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: A Boy Made of Blocks

Author: Keith Stuart

Narrator: Gavin Osborn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-16

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A beautiful, funny and surprising story of autism, family and love, perfect for fans of The Rosie Project, David Nicholls' Us and Nick Hornby's About a Boy.

Life is built on the little things....

Eight-year-old Sam has always been different - beautiful, surprising and autistic. For all he loves his family, dad Alex has always struggled to connect with Sam, and the strain has pushed Alex's marriage with Jody to the edge. So Alex moves in with his merrily irresponsible best friend on the world's most uncomfortable blow-up bed, wondering how to win back his wife and son.

As Alex navigates single life, long-buried family secrets and part-time fatherhood, his son begins playing Minecraft. Sam's imagination blossoms, and the game opens up a whole new world for the two to share. Can one fragmented family put themselves back together one piece at a time?

A Boy Made of Blocks is a tear-jerking, hilarious and, most of all, true-to-life novel about the power of difference and one very special little boy.

Members Reviews:

Moving: autistic isolation to family integration

An informative, interesting and ultimately very moving account from the perspective of the father (Alex) of an autistic child (Sam). We see the frustrations and challenges of the parents and the resultant relationship strains. We feel the pain, anger and guilt that accompany the nurturing of a seemingly unresponsive and 'disruptive' child... would we cope any better?

Interesting insights and strategies re managing children on the spectrum are peppered across the text, identifying mechanisms through which to facilitate communication, achievement and satisfaction, building on strengths, identifying and controlling some of the triggers to the child's isolation and frustration.

Alex is a distant and perhaps selfish father, unable to find the means of communicating with his son... until he discover's Sam's brilliance in playing an online game Minecraft. This game and Alex' slowly developing understanding and respect for eight-year old Sam, is central to this story. Alex himself had a traumatic youth having lost his older brother in a tragic traffic event while both were still at school. We experience also the pain of not having dealt with prior traumas and of the lasting strain this places on daily life.The route to improved outcomes in this troubled family is the discovery of the computer game that requires agility, planning, strategy and more - this becomes the vehicle for the all important lines of communication between father and son.

This is a fascinating, engaging and very moving book. It's well written and sensitively narrated. While I never stopped and rewound the audio to contemplate how beautifully a sentence was crafted or an idea conveyed, it is certainly a compelling end enjoyable read. Step out of your comfort zone and into a set of troubled relationships, frustrations and difficulties for a while.

Spoiler alert ... many of the frustrations, challenges and losses come right in the end.... While this might not reflect much of real-life, it is a tonic and feel-good outcome to the understandable daily tensions and strains.

Similar to 'Me before You' by JoJo Moyes

I had never heard of this author and chose this as on Richard and Judy bookclub.

Keith Stuart has a son diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum in 2012. This is his debut novel.