Newman is a gifted personal essayist, her warmth and wit recalling Nora Ephron’s. The result is a bracingly honest chronicle of life alongside an autistic family member. For the many parents raising children with autism, the book offers both empathy and comic relief. But readers of all backgrounds will find it just as engaging…. To Siri With Love is above all a close and wise portrait, Newman’s love letter not to technology but to her son.” — Washington Post
“An uncommonly riotous and moving book… powerfully wrought… what you’ll get with this small memoir: whipsaws of brilliant zingers and heart punches that make it distinctive among the fast-growing library of autism lit.” — Ron Suskind, New York Times
“Writing with wit, humor, and effervescent honesty, Newman charts her history with twin sons who became distinctly different even prior to their first birthdays…. A powerful and heartfelt ‘slice of life’ tale.” — Kirkus
“Newman shares her sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always insightful and upbeat recollections.... A positive yet honest look into one family’s journey with autism.” — Library Journal
“To Siri with Love is a beautifully honest and illuminating love letter to Gus, your typical atypical nonneurotypical human.” — Jon Stewart
“A moving and witty memoir with a big heart.” — Nigella Lawson
“Unique, moving, and entertaining.” — Bustle
“This warm series of stories offers a glimpse of what it’s like to parent a child who has a touch of magic in his soul.” — Good Housekeeping
“Judith Newman redefines maternal love ...The book is part Operating Instructions, part love letter to both her son and technology, and a totally engrossing read. Resistance is futile. Cancel your plans when you pick up this book because you’ll want to read it cover to cover.” — Annabelle Gurwitch, writer/actor
“By turns hilarious and compassionate, To Siri with Love is one of the most moving books about modern parenthood ever written.” — Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry
“In To Siri With Love Newman shows us that anyone, absolutely anyone, could have a bright future right at the tips of their fingers.” — Bookstr
“A collection of touching, hilarious and illuminating stories about life with a 13-year-old boy with autism, written by his mother.” — BookReporter
“From the struggles to the triumphs, Newman truly lets readers into her family life in this intimate and moving memoir.” — BookTrib
“Newman’s observations, recollections and personal research are invaluable, and there’s no doubt that To Siri With Love will attract a grateful readership.” — 20 Something Reads
This warm series of stories offers a glimpse of what it’s like to parent a child who has a touch of magic in his soul.
A moving and witty memoir with a big heart.
Newman is a gifted personal essayist, her warmth and wit recalling Nora Ephron’s. The result is a bracingly honest chronicle of life alongside an autistic family member. For the many parents raising children with autism, the book offers both empathy and comic relief. But readers of all backgrounds will find it just as engaging…. To Siri With Love is above all a close and wise portrait, Newman’s love letter not to technology but to her son.
By turns hilarious and compassionate, To Siri with Love is one of the most moving books about modern parenthood ever written.
To Siri with Love is a beautifully honest and illuminating love letter to Gus, your typical atypical nonneurotypical human.
An uncommonly riotous and moving book… powerfully wrought… what you’ll get with this small memoir: whipsaws of brilliant zingers and heart punches that make it distinctive among the fast-growing library of autism lit.
Judith Newman redefines maternal love ...The book is part Operating Instructions, part love letter to both her son and technology, and a totally engrossing read. Resistance is futile. Cancel your plans when you pick up this book because you’ll want to read it cover to cover.
Unique, moving, and entertaining.
A collection of touching, hilarious and illuminating stories about life with a 13-year-old boy with autism, written by his mother.
In To Siri With Love Newman shows us that anyone, absolutely anyone, could have a bright future right at the tips of their fingers.
Newman’s observations, recollections and personal research are invaluable, and there’s no doubt that To Siri With Love will attract a grateful readership.
From the struggles to the triumphs, Newman truly lets readers into her family life in this intimate and moving memoir.
Newman is a gifted personal essayist, her warmth and wit recalling Nora Ephron’s. The result is a bracingly honest chronicle of life alongside an autistic family member. For the many parents raising children with autism, the book offers both empathy and comic relief. But readers of all backgrounds will find it just as engaging…. To Siri With Love is above all a close and wise portrait, Newman’s love letter not to technology but to her son.
An uncommonly riotous and moving book… powerfully wrought… what you’ll get with this small memoir: whipsaws of brilliant zingers and heart punches that make it distinctive among the fast-growing library of autism lit.
To Siri with Love is a ‘major chord’ memoir in a sometimes ‘minor chord’ world (in the words of our hero Gus). Beautiful, hilarious, and touching, Newman’s journey is universally relatable. While exploring the complexities of being human, it is also, in the end, the enduring story of family and all the mysteries, crises, and unexpected joys therein. This book is 123.57 percent (and that may reflect my own spectrum issues) wonderful!
I was riveted by To Siri with Love. Judith Newman doesn’t just describe and analyze her son’s brain, she paints it on the page, sings it, even dances to it in moments. Yes, this is a book about a boy. But more than that, it’s a book about the myriad—and sometimes magical—lenses there are through which to see the world. I finished it with different eyes than the ones I began with.
07/01/2017
Expanding her internationally acclaimed New York Times op-ed article into a full-length book of the same name, Newman shares insights into her experience living with family members who have autism. Newman relates how her son Gus has helped her and her family see the world through his eyes and what a revelation that has been for them. Beginning when Gus and his twin brother were born and continuing through to the present, Newman shares her sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always insightful and upbeat recollections of their life. She touches on many of the issues of autism, but this is not a "how to" book. It is a positive yet honest look into one family's journey with autism, and among others, how technology, especially Siri, was helpful to Gus. Straightforward and to the point, Newman's book presents a realistic yet optimistic view of autism in their family. VERDICT Parents of a child on the autism spectrum as well as caregivers, siblings, and extended family will benefit from reading this uplifting title. Suitable for any library with parenting and autism collections.—Lisa Jordan, Johnson Cty. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Narrator Cris Dukehart brings alive the family interactions in Newman's collection of memoir-style essays about her autistic son, Gus. Much of what we learn about Gus comes from three-way conversations between Newman, Gus, and Henry, Gus’s neurotypical twin. Dukehart voices Gus with minimum inflection and range, while she portrays Henry with a teenager's cadence and tone. Dukehart's first-person voicing of Newman requires a nuanced range of narrative skills, including those of a journalist, as she explains the history and science of autism; an advocate, as she argues for better employment opportunities and increased education; and a mother. It’s that last role—portraying Newman's hopes, quirks, and opinions (though not all listeners will agree with her views)—in which Dukehart captures the “collateral anguish” experienced by Newman’s family as well as their progress and quiet victories. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
2017-06-13
How Apple's Siri made a life-altering difference for an autistic boy.Expanded from a viral New York Times op-ed column she penned in 2014, this new book by Allure contributing editor Newman (You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Woman, 2004, etc.) compiles bittersweet anecdotes about her son Gus' bond with the Apple app Siri. "Autism does not entirely define my son, but it informs so much about him and our life together," writes the author, who birthed twin sons Gus and Henry prematurely. Writing with wit, humor, and effervescent honesty, Newman charts her history with twin sons who became distinctly different even prior to their first birthdays. Gus began exhibiting a marked lack of interest in his surroundings, eating only one food type at a time, and notable developmental and communicative delays. When he was diagnosed at age 6 as being on the autistic spectrum, Newman asked herself why and attempted to find and place causative blame. As Gus matured, she was continually heartbroken by the cruelty of children and even ill-mannered adults, yet she was also empowered to make a difference in her son's life by observing, learning, and making his experience as close to happiness as she could. Among the many challenges were Gus' growth impediments and numerous doctor appointments where she felt judged. The author also shares stories of how Henry grew up as the doting brother who always loved Gus yet often became exasperated. Early on, Gus had an affinity for music and singing, and Newman writes gleefully of his development of a "relationship" with Siri. This odd yet endearing pairing comprises the book's rewarding and adorable closing third, a funny, warmhearted narrative of wry wisdom derived from the foibles of both Gus and Henry and powered by a maternal love that autism could never compromise. "In a world where the commonly held wisdom is that technology isolates us," writes the author, "it's worth considering another side of the story." A powerful and heartfelt "slice of life" tale.
