Book Review: Some Kind of Genius

By Janice DeBlois and Antonia Felix; 242 pages. Subtitle: The Extraordinary Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois

Savantism and Tony DeBlois are both fascinating subjects, and the book does indeed mix science, woman-against-the-system drama and personal inspiration, but the compelling part got lost in the shuffle. While Some Kind of Genius is certainly readable and interesting, it would have been a better book for focusing on just one of those styles.

About the Guide Rating

Toward the end of "Some Kind of Genius," after a description of a TV movie made of Tony's story, his mother "hoped that someday she would have the opportunity to tell the whole, real story to a large audience." This book appears to be an attempt to do just that -- to tell the whooooooole story, from Janice's ancestors through her childhood, marriages and miscarriages, through Tony's childhood and school after school, through triumph and tragedy, lickety split. The book reminded me of one of those movie biographies in which the screenwriter seems to have a checklist of big life moments to make it through and no time for much else.

Tony DeBlois was born severely premature, was blinded by oxygen treatments used to save his life, and was diagnosed with autism at age 5, yet he showed an amazing ability to play and improvise music, graduated from the Berklee College of Music, and now makes a living as a performer. His mother fought in the earliest days of IDEA to get her son every possible accommodation. Just a book on the science of savantism (as in this excerpt) and the way music brought Tony out of his autistic world would be fascinating, as would a first-person account by his mom of her fight to get him the education he needed. Instead, we get a nice third-person biography that seeks to coast toward inspiration on the facts and nothing but.

Any positive depiction of a person with disabilities is something to celebrate. But a little depth wouldn't hurt.

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