The Boy Who Went Away
A Novel

It's difficult to know what to make of The Boy Who Went Away. Thought the story, which starts in a fairly light-hearted manner, is told through the uncomprehending eyes of a young teen, the language is that of an adult remembering, flowering and almost poetic. Slowly things take a darker and less pl......more

Gottlieb writes with such an intense and authentic honesty. Some passages were so raw that they were difficult to read. The perspectives Denny offers as the sibling to an autistic brother are both dark and heartbreaking. I think the detailed extrospection executed throughout the novel was a calculat......more

I liked this book. Unsure why people are so critical of the way the family is depicted. It's a fictional family after all. I'm glad it was written the way it was because I think it more accurately portrayed the way ASD, along with other mental differences, was looked at during the 60s. It definitely......more

This is a marvelously done depiction of an impossible situation, a young teen boy swept up in the stress of a family dealing with the boy's brother's autism. The effects on him and the effects he causes, him having less choice in what is going on than anyone perhaps beyond his brother. Do the parent......more

This story about a 60's dysfunctional family dealing with a younger son who is apparently autistic is told through the unreliable view point of the older brother. He spies on his mother and is convinced she is having an affair with his brother's doctor. I wanted to like this book. Perhaps if I'd grow......more