Moon Walker

The Boy in the Moon:  A Father's Search for his Disabled Son
Ian Brown
Vintage Canada

The Boy in the Moon, a memoir by journalist and broadcaster Ian Brown, tells the story of Brown and his relationship with his son Walker, a severely disabled tween, who cannot talk, cannot thrive without the help of a feeding tube, is still in diapers and who has the intellectual capacity of a toddler.  Walker belongs to an exclusive group -- only three hundred people in the entire world suffer from caridiofaciocutaneous syndrome -- a rare genetic condition that causes its suffers to self-abuse (Walker if left unattended would smash his head to a pulp) and often, but not always traps them and makes them unknowable inside their uncooperative bodies.

I picked this book up because I had heard a interview with the author on CBC radio.  Always charming and articulate, Brown, on whom I will admit to having a slight intellectual crush, told his story without seeming like either a martyr or a cheerleader for the disabled.  Physically caring for Walker sounded like hard business and Brown and his wife, writer Johanna Schneller, shifted their lives to accommodate the demands of their profoundly disabled son.  Trying to find the meaning of Walker's life, sounded like even harder business, and after listening to him speak, I wanted to know how Brown's journey turned.

This is a magnificent book.  It is beautiful and raw and it is so full of love that it makes my heart ache.  Brown speaks so honestly about Walker, about how terrible and terrifying it can be, that the reader can't help but be drawn in.  I am glad that I read this story.  Thank you, Mr. Brown, for sharing Walker with all of us.  Five beautiful boys out of five.