GREAT AND UNFORTUNATE THINGS, the last words we will hear from the late JASON ARDAY

GREAT AND UNFORTUNATE THINGS
JASON ARDAY with Eve Claxton
37 Ink/Simon & Schuster (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: With the power of Educated and the emotional sweep of When Breath Becomes Air, Great and Unfortunate Things is the inspiring, underdog story of how an autistic, non-verbal boy who society had all but given up on found his voice, literally and figuratively, became one of the youngest professors in the University of Cambridge’s history and put himself in a position to give back.

Jason Arday was born the second youngest of three boys and grew up in a colorful and lively section of South London. At three years old, he was diagnosed with autism and development delays. Experts told his parents that he would never be able to speak, write, or live independently. An institution would best serve his needs, it was suggested.

His parents would have none of it. Instead, thinking outside the box and drawing on her faith, his extraordinary mother Giff embraced his neurodivergence and fiercely dedicated herself to helping her son realize a potential few others believed was possible. Giff drew on proverbs from her West African culture, popular music by the likes of Enya, and comedic television shows and movies to help Jason make sense of the world.

In Great and Unfortunate Things, we see how Arday went from being nonverbal until he was eleven and illiterate until eighteen to becoming a professor at Cambridge. Without romanticizing the struggle, it’s a story of a son’s determination against insurmountable odds and how his family and a band of ordinary people with extraordinary compassion joined forces to encourage Jason to believe in himself and maximize his capabilities.

This is the story we need right now, and Arday, who believes in paying it forward, is the kind of figure the world can use more of now more than ever.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I avoided talking about this read after the tragic ending of the online attacks against Author Arday. It needs saying that this horrifying event should ever have happened, that it truly ought to reinforce in we-the-readers' mind that literally every accusation is a confession.

On to the read.

Someone needs to be enormously lucky to find people who offer this much support, this level of kind and sustained attention. Of course it didn't hurt that Author Arday was an attractive young man, and clearly quite charismatic. It was a case of luck coinciding with fertile ground for the luck to take effective root in. A tutor who committed his time and effort to help his fellow student pursue a huge goal, college graduation, after only very recently learning to read and write because a co-worker (later girlfriend, then wife) taught him to do so using readily available phonics courses? Support pouring in for a publicly documented goal of running 30 marathons in 35 days...a goal he achieved as the public record shows? It was an extraordiary life lived in a very public and vocal way. t is aways sad when allegations are assumed to be enough proof to, from the outside, judge a person guilty of misconduct. There is nothing like overachieving to attract scrutiny, but it's not always as dire as sensational headlines make it sound.

Its tragic ending ought to be the impetus for this inspiring, if somewhat gee-whiz in tone, story to climb bestseller lists. It is a sin and a shame the reason it is now likely to be the bestseller it's always, on its merits, deserved to be. A tarnished reputation is not a reason to think less of the real and difficult achievements of an imperfect, ambitious man.