How to Be a Sister: A Love Story with a Twist of Autism [NOOK Book]

( 2 )

Overview

Eileen Garvin's older sister, Margaret, was diagnosed with severe autism at age three. Growing up alongside Margaret wasn't easy: Eileen often found herself in situations that were simultaneously awkward, hilarious, and heartbreaking. For example, losing a blue plastic hairbrush could leave Margaret inconsolable for hours, and a quiet Sunday Mass might provoke an outburst of laughter, swearing, or dancing.

How to Be a Sister begins when Eileen, after several years in New Mexico,...

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How to Be a Sister: A Love Story with a Twist of Autism

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More About This Book

Overview

Eileen Garvin's older sister, Margaret, was diagnosed with severe autism at age three. Growing up alongside Margaret wasn't easy: Eileen often found herself in situations that were simultaneously awkward, hilarious, and heartbreaking. For example, losing a blue plastic hairbrush could leave Margaret inconsolable for hours, and a quiet Sunday Mass might provoke an outburst of laughter, swearing, or dancing.

How to Be a Sister begins when Eileen, after several years in New Mexico, has just moved back to the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up. Being 1,600 miles away had allowed Eileen to avoid the question that has dogged her since birth: What is she going to do about Margaret? Now, Eileen must grapple with this question once again as she tentatively tries to reconnect with Margaret. How can she have a relationship with someone who can’t drive, send email, or telephone? What role will Eileen play in Margaret’s life as their parents age, and after they die? Will she remain in Margaret's life, or walk away?

A deeply felt, impeccably written memoir, How to Be a Sister will speak to siblings, parents, friends, and teachers of people with autism—and to anyone who sometimes struggles to connect with someone difficult or different.

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Editorial Reviews

Juliet Wittman
There is nothing gentle or elegiac about the tone of Eileen Garvin's How to Be a Sister, and while there's self-awareness, there's a welcome lack of extended self-analysis…Garvin's storytelling abilities are strong, and her fierce, protective love for Margaret, whom she brings to stinging life on the page, gives this book real power.
—The Washington Post
The Washington Post
“There is nothing gentle or elegiac about the tone of Eileen Garvin’s How to Be a Sister, and while there’s self-awareness, there’s a welcome lack of extended self-analysis. The focus instead is squarely on the author’s sister, Margaret, diagnosed as autistic at 3 years old. . . . Garvin’s storytelling abilities are strong, and her fierce, protective love for Margaret, whom she brings to stinging life on the page, gives this book real power.”
—The Washington Post
Children's Literature - Sara Lorimer
First-person narrator Garvin is "certain of two things: I am the youngest of five children, and I am my sister Margaret's older sister." While books about raising young children with autism are plentiful, this book provides a different family perspective, from that of a sibling. Born in the late 1960s, Margaret grew up at a time when autism was much more unusual; in fact, children with such disabilities were more likely to be institutionalized than to grow up at home. However, Garvin's parents chose to raise Margaret with the family. "I spent the first half of my life painfully self-conscious about what people thought of us and wanting to seem more normal," Eileen writes in one of the book's many restaurant scenes. But Margaret was never going to be normal, with her shouting, stimming, and belligerence. Eileen sometimes hates her sister and often loves her—feelings that are no different from what many people experience with regards to their siblings, autistic or not. She learns "to treat Margaret's outbursts like the weather, to be like a passerby caught in a storm: get inside, out of it. Sit and watch from a safe place. Do what you can to help the person caught in it, but don't get too close." While Margaret remains emotionally distant from Eileen (and thus to the reader) she is always seen as an individual. Their mother is a vague saint and their father is mostly absent or angry, but they are not the focus of this book. Rather, this is about the relationship between these two sisters, and Eileen's ruminations on what adulthood will hold for both of them. Parents of children with autism will appreciate this unusual perspective, and siblings will find companionship. Garvin's writing is effortless and honest. The book can be grim, but offers humor and a touch of hope. Reviewer: Sara Lorimer
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781615191178
  • Publisher: The Experiment
  • Publication date: 4/1/2010
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 250
  • Sales rank: 529,472
  • File size: 307 KB

Meet the Author

Eileen Garvin was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. The youngest of five children, she has always been close to her sister Margaret. She completed her B.A. in English at Seattle University, and her M.A. in English at the University of New Mexico. She writes for newspapers, magazines, and Web sites from Hood River, Oregon, where she lives with her husband.
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Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted July 7, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Wonderful Book

    As someone who has grown up with an older sibling on the Autism spectrum, this book hit home in a way no other book ever has. Garvin has given a voice to the emotions and confusion of growing up in a family that is "different". This book is touching and honest and will be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of whether it relates to personal experience or not.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

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    Posted May 28, 2012

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