[.ca] A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards: A Novel (ISBN 0743269497)

All in the Family:
When Rachel met Jack in a bar, she was a student at a college in Minnesota in the late 1980s. She was immediately attracted to him; barely graduated and ended up eloping with him. Rachel described the early years of their marriage as idyllic and rich in romance. Their first child, Edward, was born on March 12, 1988 followed by Matthew in 1990 and Grace in 1995. Each child is quite large and tall like their father. Edward also has autism. Edward made all developmental milestones within normal limits until he was nearly 4. In 1992-93, the family moved from southern Minnesota to northern Minnesota. On a 1994 road trip, they crossed the Iowa border and it is there when Edward, seeing the long stretches of land and understanding the concepts of "borders," says that they are nowhere and often told other children that he wanted to live "nowhere." In northern Minnesota, Jack changes jobs and Rachel continues with her magazine work. Luckily her magazine has landed some lucrative accounts as the family had been in financial dire straits for a long time. Edward became nonverbal; his skin was described as pallid and ashy and his back had a series of strange looking marks that even the doctors could not explain. Edward's behavior became disruptive; at a story-time in a local library, the librarian roughly ousted Edward from the group and chewed Rachel out. Several years later, Edward explained his behavior by saying that when the librarian twirled a color stick, the colors hurt his eyes and distracted him. He would then look at the ceiling lights and play with the switches to "come even" after this sensory bombardment. What the boy described is not an unusal experience for people with autism. Edward somehow got through a public education with some support from the school and a lot of support from Rachel. He had a gift for math and could compute any multiplication and division problem he was given. He could also do very advanced math, much to the delight of his brother. Matthew understood Edward. When Edward had his tonsils removed at 5, he became verbal much to the delight of those who knew him. Matthew told Rachel that Edward's fear was "when people, smells and sounds get mixed up." What an excellent description of the autism experience! Since autism is a sensory-neurobiological condition that does affect sensory integration and processing, Matthew's apt assessment of how frustrating it is for a person with autism who has difficulty in sorting out these various sensory modes. Matthew also taught Edward how to spell. When Rachel worked with Edward, then 6 on writing his name, Matthew was avidly paying attention. An early reader who was very bright and verbal, Matthew was ready to protect his older brother and keep him up to speed socially and academically. Matthew also accepted Edward unreservedly. Rachel does some family digging and learns that her maternal uncle Mickey, born in 1932 shared many behavioral traits with Edward. When Mickey's older brother Frank died from scarlet fever at age 12 in 1935, Mickey was devastated. Never very verbal, he retreated and spoke even less. His older sister, Eleanor, then 9 took Mickey under her wing and later, a younger sister, Susanna, born in 1936 watched out for her only brother as well. Mickey barely coped in school; was harassed by teachers and pupils alike; suffered from sensory overload and did not learn to read until he was 14. Luckily, he had a natural aptitude for baseball and that got him through his secondary years. He never qualified for a team after graduation and simply accepted that as he did not have the interest nor the desire to go into sports professionally. He served in the Korean War; discovered he had a flair for math and could mentally envision planes' aerial position; had a good job in the army; married in 1959 and had a son in 1960. He died shortly thereafter and his widow moved to Omaha with their son in 1967-68. Susanna relates this to Rachel. Every few chapters are about Mickey and his lifetime; to read these "Mickey" chapters interspersed throughout the book is effective in that readers have time to follow Edward's story as well as this historical perspective. A compelling book about love, loss, autism and acceptance. In 1997, Rachel's sister has her first child and Jack is facing betrayal and legal difficulties. The story closes in 2003 with Edward, then 15 surviving middle school in a world much more ready to accept him than his uncle knew decades earlier.