Strange Beauty

Oh how I loved this book! I suspect that if I waxed lyrical about what a wonderful person Eliza Factor is, that she would not agree or welcome gushing praise but her honesty and humanity shines through the pages of this book. I suffer from a purely physical disability and my eldest son suffers from ASD, ADHD and now as an adult he also has mental health diagnoses as well. How I wish I'd lived in New York and been parenting him when Eliza set up Extreme Kids and Crew! What Eliza says about just letting the kids be. No limits, no arbitrary rules, just allowing them to be their natural selves and exhibit their usual traits is so powerful and something I wish had been pointed out to me, as a young mother as being important. My son liked to run, back and forth between walls or doors and his whole childhood was made up of people telling him not to. I wish I had, had the confidence to allow him to be more of himself rather than obsessing over trying to make him copy neurotypical children. My own struggle with disability had me nodding along and sardonically laughing at the family's struggles with public transport and bureaucracy when it comes to applying for help, financial support etc.
Eliza's writing style is warm, friendly and markedly honest. I know, having finished this book, that this wasn't a sugar coating, waxing lyrical about disability without mentioning the sadness, the guilt, the anger. All of those are mentioned in spades and with love and often humour. I really felt that I could feel and hear Felix and was so pleased that Eliza gave hints as to where to find a YouTube video of him and a news segment about Extreme Kids so that I could put his face to the things I already felt I knew about him. It also opened a dialogue in my head of how the American health system, something I don't envy at all, can actually in the field of disability, hold advantages over our NHS where we can't choose our specialists or request appointments without our family Dr referring us.
I recommend this book to anyone, but for those whose life is affected by disability in any way I think it is a must read.

A truly thought provoking read, so honest that you can feel the highs and lows throughout the book. This story offers fantastic insight into the battles families face and how children can become symptoms instead of children. Thank you for sharing this with us

Strange Beauty by Eliza Factor was an amazing read. It charts, in a very open and honest way and sometimes with a touch of humor, the story of her son, Felix, from his birth and diagnosis with physical disabilities and autism to special and significant moments in his life.

As a person with multiple physical disabilities myself, I could identify with many parts of the story and especially with the daily fight they faced. The story is so engrossing, and I could really see the personality of Eliza, her husband Felix and his sisters coming through throughout the course of the book. Felix's determination in everything he does as well as that of all the family was very well represented.

The flow and pace were exactly right, so much so that I read it in a day. Thanks so much to Eliza and her family as well as the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced Kindle ecopy prior to publication. The mention of the YouTube channel as a place to find Felix and the Factor family was a beautiful and special touch to the book as I could see the family and how they lived their life and put a face to their names.

As the mother of an Autistic child, I've read my share of books and articles on the subject, but this was the first book I've read from a mother's point of view. Granted her circumstances are very different than mine, both financially and severity of her son's disabilities, but I felt a sort of kinship with her. It is oddly comforting to know that others have the same dread at the monotonous paperwork, meetings, therapies and IEP evaluations just to get your "special needs" child help so they may be a little better off in life. One of the gifts I took away from this book was the realization that I don't have to feel guilty of my sleep deprived and frustrated thoughts about my son. I felt lighter for having read Eliza's story and to know it's ok to ask for help when you have hit your limit.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a special needs child or even readers that like memoirs.

I love the way the author is real and honest in the struggles and beauty of raising her son. Her discussion of society's expectations of "normal" challenge and encourage the reader in a number of ways to view the world differently and to look for new ways to accept self and others.

This book a beautiful, challenging and thought-provoking work on the struggles -and unique beauties- of a mother who raises a son with disabilities. The writing style was talented, pleasant and flowed naturally and I, as the reader, kept feeling the same feelings that the protagonist experienced. I was laughing during the joyous moments, I was crying when darkness arrived around the corner.

What made me completely fall in love with this book is the fact that Eliza Factor was completely honest and straightforward on everything she included in this book. She didn't sugarcoat the hardships of raising a son with autism and physical disabilities and she knows how to make her readers want to learn even more about this pair of gorgeous human beings -mother and son.

I wholeheartedly adored this book and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who's even a bit interested in the premise. Happy reading!