28 May / Little Victories: Autism Through a Father’s Eyes by Yvon Roy [in Shelf Awareness]
Yvon Roy’s autobiographical Little Victories opens with what must be one of the most charming visual depictions of conception. Mark (Roy’s alter-ego) and Chloe’s union proves “magnificent”: their relationship is joyous, their newborn son the wished-for “mini-me.” But 18 months later, Oliver “still hasn’t said a single word,” leading the trio to visit an evaluation clinic that burdens them with an ominous diagnosis: autism. Mark dismisses “these meetings where the officials talk hot air like they’re Nobel Prize winners,” while he mourns a future that Oliver may never have and everything else he had hoped to share as father and son. His rage sends Chloe and Oliver packing – literally – until he’s able to “stop feeling sorry for [himself]” and embrace what is possible. Working closely with Chloe despite a permanent split – “we’re a family,” they both promise – Mark advocates and encourages Oliver through the years with a rich, full life.
As affecting as the shaded black-and-white drawings are, Roy’s occasional graceless moments are hard to overlook: an insensitive use of Chinese characters (some even made up) to denote what he can’t understand; casual, careless misogyny (“I exchanged [the ballerina] for a journalist”). Disappointments aside, Roy’s artistry is irresistible, as he agilely reveals Mark’s raw, intimate, soul-baring journey. Mark’s frustrations, especially with an expert system that doesn’t fit his family’s needs, lead him away from conventional methods as he relies on his own intuition to communicate and bond with Oliver. Roy makes no claims about how to parent an autistic child; instead, he documents how one father and one autistic son dealt with difficult challenges toward greater understanding.
Discover: Yvon Roy’s intimate graphic memoir adroitly balances the joys and challenges of learning to parent an autistic son.
Review: “Graphic Books,” Shelf Awareness, May 28, 2021
Readers: Adult
Published: 2021