Bad Animals Audiobook By Joel Yanofsky cover art

Bad Animals

A Father's Accidental Education in Autism

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Bad Animals

By: Joel Yanofsky
Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
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Joel Yanofsky gives us the funny, heart-wrenching account of a year in the life of a father who struggles to enter his son’s world, the world of autism, using the materials he knows best, including self-help books, literary classics, and old movies.

Joel Yanofsky tried for years to start this memoir. “It’s not just going to be about autism,” he told his wife, Cynthia. “It’s going to be about parenthood and marriage, about hope and despair, and storytelling, too.”

“Marriage?” Cynthia said. “What about marriage?”

A veteran book reviewer, Yanofsky has spent a lifetime immersed in literature (not to mention old movies and old jokes), which he calls shtick. This account of a year in the life of a family describes a father’s struggle to enter his son’s world, the world of autism, using the materials he knows best: self-help books, feel-good memoirs, literary classics from the Bible to Dr. Seuss, old movies, and, yes, shtick. Funny, wrenching, and unfailingly candid, Bad Animals is both an exploration of a baffling condition and a quirky love story told by a gifted writer.

©2012 Joel Yanofsky. First published in Canada by Viking Canada, 2011 (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Marriage Memoir Funny Autism Parenting

Editorial reviews

Often there is no good answer to the question "why me?"

Joel Yanofsky, 46, an award-winning writer, asks that question when his only son, at age 4, is diagnosed with autism. Bad Animals, named for the book the younger Yanofsky creates at school, is the memoir of one year in both their lives. A year when the father searches for an answer to the eternal question and also an entry into his son’s world using the tools that have never previously failed him: books, movies, and shtick. Performed in a manner that is by turns humorous, tear-inducing, and inspirational, it is also a year that helps define an extraordinary love story between father and son.
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This is a tough review to write. As a parent of an ASD child I had a lot of similar experiences that were mentioned in this book. I think it also helps me understand the husband perspective more than I had anticipated. This book was refreshing and raw for parents navigating through the ever changing waters of ASD. Thank you for this.

Unexpectedly honest

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as a single mom with two children who have autism let me just say how refreshing it is to finally listen to something that says it honestly. if I read or listen to one more book that only talks about how perfect it is and how lovely life is with autism I'll throw up. yes we have wonderful days . and if that is your life with autism. that's wonderful. I love my children and yes every single day we struggle.and every single day I'm overwhelmed. and every sungle day I ask myself if I am failing them. and then I see the look on their face when they master something they have worked unbelievably hard to learn. in that moment every time there was a melt down and the times I was hit and every night with litle sleep they all dissapear. and I remember no matter how hard it can be for me it must be so so so much harder for them. it feels good to know I'm not the only one strubbeling and questioning myself on our journey with autism.

bravo

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I didn’t like this book, but I had to finish it to know the end. I couldn’t ever recommend it because it has so much disrespect for the Bible that I couldn’t get past when trying to focus on the point of Jonah’s autism journey and that of his dad and mom.

All the feels

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A honest portrayal of a father's experience raising a son with autism. It isn't always positive but at least it isn't a blatant lie.

kind of a feel good book

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I was looking for a memoir about parenting an autistic child, and got a memoir about being a lousy parent to an autistic child:okay, fair enough. But the narrator's whiny voice has made listening to this book a real chore.

Very Irritating Narrator

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