Lisa Genova's Blog - Posts Tagged "doug-karlson"
Love Anthony - Book Launch Review
Thank you, Doug Karlson, for this great review of the Love Anthony book launch.
Neuro-novelist Lisa Genova chose her home town, Chatham, to launch a book tour for her latest work, “Love Anthony,” last night. Where the Sidewalk Ends bookstore was packed to the gills, with the crowd spilling out the front door into the courtyard. There were plenty of books on hand, and plenty of eager fans to buy signed copies. It’s no wonder, Genova’s first book, “Still Alice,” spent nearly a year on the New York Times bestseller list (she began by self publishing it, selling copies out of the trunk of her car), and this author has cultivated a legion of dedicated readers.
I haven’t yet read “Love Anthony,” as it was just released, but based on the two lengthy passages that the author read at the signing – they were well written, funny, insightful, original, engaging and touching – I predict this latest book will also find a secure foothold on the bestseller lists. All the more so given the growing attention being paid to autism.
In her talk, Genova said she agrees with Stephen King: writers don’t make stories up, they unearth them. For her third novel, which centers around an autistic child named Anthony, Genova said she was inspired by the son of her cousin, who suffers from the same condition.
One would think that topics like Alzheimer’s and autism would be depressing, and hard to read, but Genova creates strong characters that come to life and grab you. And the scientific aspects are fascinating.
When she began the research for “Love Anthony,” Genova turned to her graduate school textbooks (she studied neuroscience at Harvard in the 1990s) and was stunned to find that the word “autism” does not appear in the indexes. Her fellow neuroscientists told her they began confronting the epidemic of autism with very little understanding of it.
Yet clearly Genova has gained a good understanding of how autism affects those who suffer from it, and their families. She weaves that knowledge into her compelling narration from the point of view of Anthony and his mother. The crowd at Where the Sidewalk End listened rapt as Genova read.
Genova said she’s currently researching her next novel, which will be about Huntington’s disease. She explained that this is a disease that is purely genetic. Symptoms usually don’t develop until after the age of 30, so the disease is passed on unknowingly to children. Genova plans to weave a second narrative into her story – that of a woman who was hanged as a witch in Salem, but not before passing on the gene for the disease. That’s a fascinating literary device, and a great idea. Given that my own great-great-great…grandmother, Margaret Scott, was hanged at Gallows Hill in 1692, it looks like I’ll have to add another novel by Lisa Genova to my “to read” pile.
Neuro-novelist Lisa Genova chose her home town, Chatham, to launch a book tour for her latest work, “Love Anthony,” last night. Where the Sidewalk Ends bookstore was packed to the gills, with the crowd spilling out the front door into the courtyard. There were plenty of books on hand, and plenty of eager fans to buy signed copies. It’s no wonder, Genova’s first book, “Still Alice,” spent nearly a year on the New York Times bestseller list (she began by self publishing it, selling copies out of the trunk of her car), and this author has cultivated a legion of dedicated readers.
I haven’t yet read “Love Anthony,” as it was just released, but based on the two lengthy passages that the author read at the signing – they were well written, funny, insightful, original, engaging and touching – I predict this latest book will also find a secure foothold on the bestseller lists. All the more so given the growing attention being paid to autism.
In her talk, Genova said she agrees with Stephen King: writers don’t make stories up, they unearth them. For her third novel, which centers around an autistic child named Anthony, Genova said she was inspired by the son of her cousin, who suffers from the same condition.
One would think that topics like Alzheimer’s and autism would be depressing, and hard to read, but Genova creates strong characters that come to life and grab you. And the scientific aspects are fascinating.
When she began the research for “Love Anthony,” Genova turned to her graduate school textbooks (she studied neuroscience at Harvard in the 1990s) and was stunned to find that the word “autism” does not appear in the indexes. Her fellow neuroscientists told her they began confronting the epidemic of autism with very little understanding of it.
Yet clearly Genova has gained a good understanding of how autism affects those who suffer from it, and their families. She weaves that knowledge into her compelling narration from the point of view of Anthony and his mother. The crowd at Where the Sidewalk End listened rapt as Genova read.
Genova said she’s currently researching her next novel, which will be about Huntington’s disease. She explained that this is a disease that is purely genetic. Symptoms usually don’t develop until after the age of 30, so the disease is passed on unknowingly to children. Genova plans to weave a second narrative into her story – that of a woman who was hanged as a witch in Salem, but not before passing on the gene for the disease. That’s a fascinating literary device, and a great idea. Given that my own great-great-great…grandmother, Margaret Scott, was hanged at Gallows Hill in 1692, it looks like I’ll have to add another novel by Lisa Genova to my “to read” pile.
