The Boy Who Loved Too Much, Jennifer Latson
The Boy Who Loved Too Much, Jennifer Latson
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Boy Who Loved Too Much
A True Story of Pathological Friendliness

Author: Jennifer Latson

Narrator: Heather Auden

Unabridged: 10 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/20/2017


Synopsis

What would it be like to see everyone as a friend? Twelve-year-old Eli D'Angelo has a genetic disorder that obliterates social inhibitions, making him irrepressibly friendly, indiscriminately trusting, and unconditionally loving toward everyone he meets. It also makes him enormously vulnerable. Eli lacks the innate skepticism that will help his peers navigate adolescence more safely—and vastly more successfully.

Journalist Jennifer Latson follows Eli over three critical years of his life as his mother, Gayle, must decide whether to shield Eli entirely from the world and its dangers or give him the freedom to find his own way and become his own person.

By intertwining Eli and Gayle's story with the science and history of Williams syndrome, the book explores the genetic basis of behavior and the quirks of human nature. More than a case study of a rare disorder, however, The Boy Who Loved Too Much is a universal tale about the joys and struggles of raising a child, of growing up, and of being different.

About Jennifer Latson

Jennifer Latson has written for the Boston Globe, the Houston Chronicle, and Time. She received an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of New Hampshire and was a recipient of the Norman Mailer Fellowship for nonfiction in 2013. The Boy Who Loved Too Much is her first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Carlos

This is a very emotional challenging book about a syndrome that affects kids and makes them trust everybody, the name of the syndrome is Williams syndrome. The book focuses on Eli (who suffers from that disorder) and all the challenges his mom has to go through to keep him from experiencing pain or......more