Running with Walker: A Memoir

"Running With Walker" is not a book to be read once but many times. Each encounter with this book makes me realize that it is a book for everyone who is a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle,sister, brother, etc. We humans are all tied to one another in this bunch called "family". A book that dares to open our hearts and minds to what really goes on in loving and rearing children is truly to be treasured. Robert Hughes has not written a book about autism. He has created a window through which he gracefully invites us to share in his family's most personal space. Thank you, Robert Hughes.

I enjoyed reading this book and the realism of this family. There is not a moment when Walker's autism is cured - no Helen Keller moment. And, for most of us, there isn't. But, we love our children fiercely and we are their protectors and guides for this life we gave them and share with them! Robert Hughes is a father who loves his son - period! Doctors, therapists, educators and specialists usually do not understand the depths of this love, nor do parents of typically-developing children. This book is about autism and the difficulties it presents to a family, but ultimately it is about love. My favorite part of the book is when a pediatric neurologist has just diagnosed Walker as "object-oriented" and has said "I don't hold out any hope for this child" and Ellen, Walker's mother, says to him "Then I guess that's why God didn't make you his mother" and Robert Hughes says that his wife's rebuttal is "the kind of sentence I only dream about days after a conversation". For those of us living with autism, it's a good idea to have a few of these comebacks ready to pull out of our backpocket when someone tries to dissuade our hope or our love!

Robert Hughes has expertly depicted the challenges, the heartache and, yes, even sometimes the humor, of life with an autistic child. More than just a book, Running With Walker is a beautiful conversation with the author, and invites the reader to instantly grasp images from the Huges family household in Chicago, and to fall in love with a family who has maintained its grace, dignity and wit in the face of unimaginable obstacles.A moving, first-hand account written through the eyes of a father with unconditional love, Running With Walker is an absolutely amazing journey.

Early in this memoir, we learn that the parents of Walker Hughes experienced no theatrical Helen Keller/"Miracle Worker" moment to define their understanding of their son's autism. This proves to be foreshadowing.Throughout the narrative, the reader is propelled by a kind of exhilarating expectation of the breakthrough that will transform Walker's life and that of his family. This is fueled by affection among the principal characters and their allies, as well as by the flashes of recognition that bind the experiences of the Hughes family with families everywhere.The end of the book arrives without the cinematic resolution we have come to crave. Nevertheless a remarkable breakthrough has been achieved -- a wondrous description of what autism is about, and a lesson on How It Is that hope is nourished and joy is perpetuated in the course of yet another set of life challenges. I recommend this book as a clinical study, but also as literature: Camus comes to Chicago.

When I sat down to read this book I expected a sad story. I imagined myself faced with the prospect of an autistic child like Walker, and I imagined a tragic life. But this book is not like that at all! It's warm and unfailingly humorous. It's about a family that doesn't view their child as a burden but as a gift and a source of joy. The only tragic thing was the army of "experts" who tried to extinguish that joy by taking away the parents' hope. Ellen and Robert Hughes followed their hearts instead of the experts and this journey through their lives is both a cautionary tale, and a warm look and an ordinary, extraordinary family. And THAT is what makes this book such a joy to read. It's not about autism. It's not about mythic heroes and saints. It's about a family. Like Angela's Ashes walked the reader down the streets of Ireland in the telling of that family story, Robert Hughes walks-no, runs-you down the streets of Chicago. And like Angela's Ashes, this is memoir you won't want to put down. And when you do, you may find yourself like me-smiling, and wanting to call a friend to share one of my family's stories. Just one question. Who plays Ellen in the movie?