There is no denying that Lette’s sense of humour is quite unique and you either love it … or not, but unlike many of her novels, she addresses some important issues in this particular book.
Being the mother of an autistic son herself, The Boy Who Fell to Earth has some merit insomuch as it tackles some of the tough realities faced by parents of those on the autism spectrum … relationships, education and social integration just to name a few. All this makes for a challenging life, and even more so for the single parent, which, although not her own circumstance, Lette does a good job of casting in this tale.
But does this topic work with the famously quirky humour of Kathy Lette? Most of our group thought not. Some of us found her quipy, one-liners distracting and interrupted the flow to the story. Some thought it simply bawdy and lost patience with the whole thing. Then there were those who thought it an enjoyable read, with amusing references to the British lifestyle and modern day existence in a socially bewildering world! Something I think Lette tends to do very well.
In any case, regardless of our individual opinions, we had a great discussion on the challenges of parenting autism (some of our members have first hand experience here) and childhood memories in general. A great way to the end a fantastic year of reading. ( )

Drawing from the author’s own experiences of raising a child with Aspergers syndrome, this book is the fictional account of a mother struggling to bring up a boy with autism on her own after her husband (and father of the boy) leaves them soon after the problem is diagnosed. Lucy has devoted herself to bringing up her son, Merlin, for 10 years but now, supported and encouraged by her mother, she is anxious to build a life for herself, and starts dating again.

Things don’t go too well for her at first, but when Archie comes along things start to pick up. Until Merlin’s father comes back and wants to be part of their lives again! Now Lucy has to make some hard decisions.

Despite being rather “chick-lit-y”, this book does attempt to address some serious issues around how we view (and even refer to) people with syndromes such as Aspergers – should we treat them as “handicapped” or can we find ways to reach out to their special potential? Lette cleverly uses the character of Merlin to take a sideways look at behaviours and attitudes we use without thinking and encourages us to question ourselves.

The author uses humour, in the form of jokes and one-liners, to lighten the potentially grim and depressing subject matter. Whether this works for you, the reader, will be very much a matter of personal reaction – for me it rather grated.

Personally, I didn’t like Lette’s writing style, I found the focus on Lucy’s sex life tiresome and the humour simply didn’t gel for me. Hence 3*s. However, this will be very much a matter of personal taste and I can understand why this book has received so many 4* and 5* reviews. ( )

Kathy Lette writes very well and is always funny so this is an enjoyable to read. However, I found it to be just a bit too glib and slick and strangely not at all moving (as promised by the reviews). Perhaps Ms Lette's usual witty style needed to be tempered with a slightly more serious side to make this a truly great book. As the author points out the book is not a memoir, but she has raised a son with Asperger's herself and knows how difficult it must be and there is much in the book that sounds like first hand experience of the condition. However, the child, Merlin's voice never really shines through and he seems a bit of a parody rather than a real person with his own needs and problems. His mother, Lucy, also is a flat facsimile of a harried single mother trying to find a new partner who'll accept her son for who he is. ( )

My Thoughts: I could write reams on why I enjoyed this book and there is so much that the blurb doesn’t tell you about the highs and lows of life with an autistic child as Lucy tries to raise her child and stay sane; and author Lucy Lette should know as her 21-year-old son, Julius, was diagnoses as having Asperger’s (high-functioning autism) when he was a toddler. In an interview Kathy said there is a lot of Julius in Merlin but the book is fiction and not a memoir. In amongst the hilarious one-liners and slap-stick skits are poignant statements such as “…Mothering a child on the autism spectrum is as easy as skewering banana custard to a mid-air boomerang…” said in jest but striking deep in the heart. There is also a standout scene that highlights the dangers these trusting children can get into as Merlin is waylaid by a paedophile in a nearby park – brought up to be polite and not ask questions he is ill-equipped to understand what was going on. Lucy battles with the education department to try and get her son into a special school – only to be told time and time again that her son was just naughty. Lucy also has to field questions from the literal mind of her son such as “…if there is a happy hour in a bar is there a sad hour?..” There were also some very hairy questions, usually at the most inappropriate times like telling his grand-mother that he had heard she had two faces so why she was wearing the face she had on today! I loved this book – I loved the humour, I loved the message. THE BOY WHO FELL TO EARTH goes a long way to understanding what the parents and carers must be going through and to help and encourage them rather than talk about them behind their backs.

I found it difficult to sustain complete interest in this book and made the decision to spend a few consecutive hours reading it in order to finish it quicker; this was the only way for me of enjoying the plot a little bit more. The story centres around Lucy from the birth of her son until he's around 16 years old (not entirely sure if that's the exact age of Merlin). Throughout this time there are the trials and tribulations Lucy experiences following diagnosis of Merlin's special needs; there's the "woe is me" phases through to some very funny dialogue but it is repetitive. I did like Lucy's struggle with her own feelings about life but it just seemed to go on forever and I couldn't feel any warmth for her family relationships and it just seemed to not gel for some reason; maybe it was the cliches that kept appearing. Three stars means it is okay and it was exactly that, nothing exciting but a simple read. It isn't however one I'd rush out to recommend to people. ( )