Blog Tour : A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart

This is book was published in Paperback and ebook on 5th January 2017. My thanks to the publisher and author for the review copy and having me on the blog tour.

A beautiful, funny and surprising story of family and love, perfect for fans of The Rosie Project, David Nicholls’ Us and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy.

MEET THIRTY SOMETHING DAD, ALEX… He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn't understand him. Something has to change. And he needs to start with himself.

MEET EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SAM… To him the world is a puzzle he can't solve on his own.

When Sam starts to play Minecraft, it opens up a place where Alex and Sam begin to rediscover both themselves and each other… When life starts to tear one family apart, can they put themselves back together, one piece at a time?

A Boy Made of Blocks is a beautiful, funny and heartwarming story of family and love inspired by the author’s own experiences with his autistic son.

My Thoughts:

I read this book in one sitting such was my involvement with the story and primarily the relationship between Sam and Alex. 

Sam is eight and is autistic, his father Alex is struggling in more ways than one. He feels like he can't communicate with his son, or his wife for that matter. He feels trapped and feels guilty about an event that happened in his childhood. 

Sam is struggling at school, struggling to fit in. It seems like he is an outsider but so is his Dad in many ways. This story is a lot about both father and son finding some common ground and a medium to help them to communicate their thoughts and fears. In this case the medium is Minecraft. There is a logic to the brick building game, a logic that seems missing from both father and sons lives. This time and space when they are playing the game allows both father and son to open up a little and that was a wonderful part of the story to read about. 

This book is touching and endearing, full of warmth and written from some personal experience on the authors behalf. I can't pretend to know that much about Autism but this book made me want to know and made me want to understand. 

I found the characters to all be likeable and the story to be told with great skill and tenderness. An absolutely charming read that I would have no doubt in recommending to everyone. 

Keith Stuart writes with a great deal of realness. He doesn't sugar coat Autism but instead he writes about it with all of the tears, tantrums, frustrations, also though this is balanced out with the love and the joy and the privilege of parenthood. 

This book is wonderful and one I won't forget in a hurry. 

About the Author:

 In 2012 one of KEITH STUART's two sons was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The ramifications felt huge. But then Keith and both boys started playing videogames together - especially Minecraft. Keith had always played games and, since 1995, has been writing about them, first for specialist magazines like Edge and PC Gamer then, for the last ten years, as games editor for the Guardian. The powerful creative sharing as a family and the blossoming of communication that followed informed his debut novel.

You can find him on Twitter @KeefStuart

Please have a look at the other stops on the blog tour: