M for Mammy

The story is brilliant and easy to read. If you have a child with autism or know a child, are a teacher, an SNA, or just want to learn a little bit more about autism you should read this. Jacob is so relatable and his lovely sister is only amazing. Autism flew in the window one day and took Jacob as he likes boy babies. My heart ❤️

This book I thought was good until 2/3 of the way through and then it got repetitive. She is good at descriptive language and it was quite good to capture the characters faces and scenes in the book. It wasn’t a book I would have chosen myself.

At the start we meet the Augustts, a loving Irish family who are not without their problems. Dad loves his family but has no idea how to express his feelings. He has also been out of work for ages and has lost his way. Jacob, the son, is autistic and has never spoken. Jenny, the daughter is very intelligent but can’t quite work out how the world works so she writes it all down to try and make sense of it. Mum tries to hold the family together and is doing a pretty good job of it until she has a stroke, loses the power of speech and is hospitalised for a prolonged period. Enter Granny, a tour de force who moves in to look after everyone while Mum is away. This book is about a family who cope in the face of adversity because love conquers most things in the end and it is about communication, language and words. Alternating chapters give each of the family members the chance to tell the narrative from their own point of view.There was a lot to like about this book. The characters were well developed and I felt I knew each of them fairly well by the time I reached the end. There are situations which the family struggles to overcome, but the love which they have for each other, and which they each demonstrate in their own way, is remarkable. Similarly the way in which they communicate with each other, despite the obvious difficulties, is very interesting. The author conveys all this to the reader by using different “voices” for each of the characters when they are telling their version of events and it is an effective tool.However, the book was not without its problems. I found the start was so slow that I nearly gave up. Although it did improve as it progressed, I was quite a long way through the book before I really felt invested in the story and there were quite a few places where it seemed to drag. All in all I think it was too long. Also, although I understand why the author used different “voices” for each character (overall to good effect), I did not find it easy to read in places and it all got a bit much to take at times.In retrospect, I think that this was a very clever book and an excellent debut novel. However, I am not sure that I would whole-heartedly recommend it.as I did not find it particularly easy to read in places and found it generally too slow and too long.

This is a quirky kind of book. I found the story took some time to get started. But once I got into it, it was an enjoyable read. The characters are interesting with mammy having a stroke along the way. The children are very different, and dad and granny are entertaining and always seem to be arguing or fixing something. It’s an original and funny tale, albeit a bit complicated. Parts of the story are warm and parts were tragic. I would have liked a bit more detail about the mother and her recovery and also about Jacob and his progress. He never seemed to change.In the end I enjoyed this story, but it did take perseverance to stick with it.

M for mammy by Eleanor O’Reilly“M for mammy” is a challenging but brilliant portrayal of autism and its impact on family life. For me a key ingredient of a good novel is character development and this is one of this novel’s key strengths. With amazing perception and insight Eleanor O’Reilly enters into the minds of her three narrators, revealing through them how families under pressure, through mutual love and support, can gradually come to terms with seemingly insurmountable difficulties.From the very start one cannot fail to warm to young Jenny, who learns to find joy and contentment in her special fantasy world, embracing not just those in her own immediate circle but also characters from the world of books. When things are not going well, Jenny’s solution is simple but effective. She rewrites the stories, allowing no place for sadness or unhappy endings.By using more than one narrator, the author, however, doesn’t shy away from the grim realities of life for the Augustt family. Annette, the mother and central figure within the family, showing particular tenacity in doing all she can for her autistic son, until she suffers a devastating stroke. After a long period of hospitalisation, she finally returns home, a shell of her former self and as trapped inside her body as her son is in his.The unlikely heroine, deliberately not chosen as one of the narrators, who rescues the family, is Annette’s own mother. Initially presented as a bossy harridan, it is she who breaks into the worlds of both her daughter and grandson. Through her unrelenting empathy and kindness she moves the entire family forward. Even apparently feckless “Da,” who having lost his job, seemingly has little prospect of ever working and providing for his family again, is given a fresh start thanks to her.There seems to be no limit to her fairy godmother like ability to transform lives. She even turns her own temporarily vacant home over to a local tramp. But her biggest impact is on her daughter and grandson. Their initially garbled thoughts slowly become comprehensible and, although life within the family will continue to be hard, they attain an inner strength and sense of tranquillity.The novel is beautifully crafted and attention to detail is equally evident in the eye catching cover. Every feature – colour, picture and tag line is significant. Hopefully this will help to bring the novel to the attention of a wide and discerning audience and in years to come it could well be recognised as a work that merits serious and reflective study, possibly as a set text.