Jem Lester

It's taken me an embarrassingly long time to sit down and write this review--because this is one of those books that it's difficult to put words to, no matter how much I believe it should be getting widely read. The cover compares it to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and I'll be honest in saying that the comparison put me off--I wasn't such a big fan of that work, though I appreciated what the author was trying to do. In my opinion, what Jem Lester has done in Shtum is show more beyond that comparison, and something entirely different. Both works of literary fiction that deal with autism, they may be, but this is something else.

Lester's work is partly built from his own experience raising an autistic son--and not the kind of autistic individual that's portrayed in Incident and so many other recent works. It's built from heartbreak, the pain of navigating a system that barely knew how to help his son and his family, and the challenges involved in the parenting, the responsibility, and most of all--above and beyond--the love. The book is telling, heart-wrenching, and funny from page to page, and it is also weighted with the unavoidable and impressive weight of reality lifting up the characters into being something more than characters.

This is why this review is difficult... the book is difficult to read, but it is also wonderful, and Lester's style and talent are gifts that tell the story and transport the reader into another reality which is far more real than we might want it to be, wonderful and horrible as that is.

I hope you read the book, and I hope you review the book, and I hope you share the book. It's one I'll never forget, and as trite as it may sound, I think I'm a better human for having read it, and I'll probably read it again some day, expecting it to make me cry and laugh and wave it around in frustration all over again. show less

This is such an extraordinary, heart-rending story and I have total respect for Jem Lester for writing about such a difficult subject. Jonah is the most endearing character I have come across in some time, despite him not uttering a single word. Jonah is autistic, and I think it was important to point out that there is a vast autistic spectrum; not all autism results in being a number genius, as portrayed in the film Rain Man.

The book explores the Jewell family as they strive to get the best show more care for Jonah, understandably putting tremendous strain on the family. When Ben and Jonah move back in with Ben's father, Georg, the story revolves around the three Jewell men and I loved how they interacted with each other. Georg seems so cool with Ben but so warm and loving with Jonah, so it’s no wonder that Ben feels a little jealous sometimes.

There are some funny moments in the book, mainly revolving around Jonah’s nappy, but as soon as I found myself laughing my heart would break that this lovely 11 year old boy was subjected to such indignity. Jonah does have an amazing, yet intensely flawed, family supporting him and I was willing them on as they jumped through hoops to get him into the school that they felt was best for him.

Ben is forced to look deep inside himself as events unfold and I felt him emerge a stronger person at the end. It’s an amazing part of the story when Ben looks into Georg’s family history and uncovers more than he bargained for; he not only learns more about his father, but he can finally alleviate some of the guilt that contributed to the breakdown of his marriage.

This story is sent special delivery from the heart of Jem Lester to the heart of every single reader. You won’t fail to be moved as you fall in love with Jonah Jewell. I devoured this book in no time at all and I am certain that it’s a book I will pick up again to read and enjoy. This is an extraordinary book not to be missed and is sure to be a number one bestseller in 2016.

I received this e-book from the publisher, Orion, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

For many of us life already makes huge demands -- relationships, health and wellbeing, financial concerns, managing a work-life balance -- but when you have a dependent with severe autism those demands are compounded, and can bring one close to breaking point. However much love is given out. Jem Lester's Shtum is about a man in just such a position; but while it is drawn largely on the author's own experiences bringing up a son on the autistic spectrum it is nevertheless fiction. Still, show more autism runs as a major strand throughout. Shtum is also about how its manifestation here fits into a bigger picture involving individuals, institutions and collective responses.

Ben and Emma's son Jonah is the ten-year-old with a particularly debilitating form of the neurological and developmental disorder: he is non-verbal, incontinent, subject to rages and violent when frustrated, he exhibits self-stimulatory repetitive behaviours, tolerates a limited number of foods, suffers from sensory overload and is a danger to himself unless supervised. He has good support at his primary school but is about to transfer to secondary provision, and Shtum documents the difficulties surrounding that transition.

The first-person narrator is Ben Jewell, through whom we view everything in a blow-by-blow account, from reported speech and official letters to a handwritten document describing events in the 1930s and 40s.  Emma suggests that a temporary marital separation is a way of ensuring that Jonah is given more consideration, thus according him the full-time care he needs at an expensive specialist school, all to be funded by a cash-strapped local authority. On the periphery, but increasingly to the fore, are Ben's best friend Johnny and Ben's father George, along with Georg's old friend Maurice. Into this mix Ben's alcoholism, tobacco addiction, self-loathing and penchant for self-sabotage collectively threatens to be the charge leading to an almighty explosion. Were it not for his fierce love and concern for Jonah it'd be hard to feel much sympathy or liking for him as he blindly flails his way through a good half or more of the book.

'Shtum' is the Yiddish word for staying quiet, and clearly this refers to a number of issues explored in this novel. First and foremost we have Jonah who has severe problems around social communication and interaction, relying on the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to indicate his wants when not otherwise going into meltdown. Then there is Ben himself who drowns his sorrows in preference to communicating clearly and rationally, even with himself. Emma too has secrets of her own which she shares with neither Ben nor work. The local authority aren't transparent when claiming their plans for Jonah are educationally sound when in fact it's all about financial costs. And finally, Ben's father Georg is shtum about his family history in Hungary as well as his own personal health, giving rise to huge anxieties and misunderstandings for his son.

I see many of the names, especially the Jewish ones, as significant in the story. Jonah's is the most obvious: famous for being thrown overboard, the Old Testament prophet shares with Jonah Jewell an association with water (baths in the case of the ten-year-old) and with feathers (Jonah means 'dove'). Georg of course had a David-and-Jonathan relationship with his own brother Jonatan back in Hungary before and during the war. And Benjamin Jewell, I'm sure, must feel so dissimilar to his namesake in the Bible, described as the favourite of his father and beloved by God, as Ben thinks Georg despises him and that his own life is somehow cursed -- though he is for the most part mistaken.

As I read this I was initially frustrated, but then ultimately uplifted by the final chapters of Shtum. While Jem Lester has put a lot of himself into the novel, the character of Ben Jewell is in no real sense the alter ego of the author. Not wanting to write a misery memoir he settled for a humorous fictional take on aspects of his experiences bringing up an autistic child. Unlike Ben, Jem doesn't come across as a potential loser -- among other things he was a journalist and, for nearly a decade, taught English and Media studies at secondary schools -- but the daily grind of routines with Jonah and the trials of preparing for a tribunal ring true for being based solidly on fact. Georg's back story in Hungary during the war will also have reflected what we know about Nazi attitudes to both Jews and the so-called feebleminded, and add revealing dimensions to the narrative.

In summary, I was impressed by Shtum, especially its humanising of those with severe autism. Though the Ben character exhibits some autistic traits himself -- unsurprising as autism has a genetic component -- the fact that he is able to show empathy for his son and speak so movingly for him is heartwarming. It's also a rejoinder to those harbouring misconceptions about autism, especially that those on the spectrum all have a 'special gift' like those few with savant syndrome. Jem Lester -- as he says in a Guardian interview -- also rails against a trend in which having autism has become "almost fashionable. There are celebrities who think it’s cool to say they’re a bit Aspergic..." Shtum is a perfect counterbalance for such confused thinking, but it's also well written and believable.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-shtum show less

Jonah, only son of Ben and Emma, has ASD at the severe end of the autistic spectrum. Jonah is silent, sometimes violent and has very complex needs. Ben and Emma embark on a turbulent journey into finding the perfect educational placement which will meet all of their beautiful boy's needs. This remarkable and very moving book tells the tale of not only that journey, but also the tale of Ben's self loathing and alcohol abuse; of Emma who chooses another path entirely; and of Georg - father to show more Ben and loving grandfather to Jonah. I didn't warm to Ben or Emma very easily - I thought them both selfish at first, but as the story progressed the rationale for their behaviour is made clear and I came to a better and more empathetic understanding of them.
It is a multi-faceted tale which has several surprising revelations sprinkled among its gorgeous pages. It had me both laughing aloud at the candid observations of human reactions and weeping real tears at both the desperate situation the characters were in and also at the very profound deeper message that I feel this book has.
Jonah - beautiful, twiddling Jonah; living life in his way, was not the only silent one. This book shows how we are all capable of "keeping Shtum" when really we should be better at speaking the truth.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A truly magnificent 5 star rating from me!
Thank you to TBC, Netgalley and Jem Lester for allowing me to receive this as an ARC. show less