Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88654 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 228 pages

Review
"'I have known Temple Grandin for over 20 years. I have seen her grow ever more strong and independent. I've been amazed at her intelligence, her accomplishments and her determination to live the best life she can, both personally and professionally, while helping others. I've often thought, "I sure wish I could talk with Temple's mom." I wanted to know what she did, what others did, how was Temple when she was little, to what did she attribute Temple's remarkable accomplishments. One thing I knew for sure, as fellow parent, was that Eustacia probably had an important part in Temple's great strides. This book was almost as good as meeting Eustacia in person. She very honestly gives us a background of her family from the time she met her husband through their marriage, child rearing and beyond. I had no idea that her husband has traits of the spectrum. I had no idea that she had endowed divorce and that she had to fight to keep Temple institutionalized. What a remarkable story of courage, a desire to keep her own individuality (something many parents lose along the way), and a belief in Temple...her daughter...a talented child who became a accomplished woman. I am a relatively slow reader. I began reading A Thorn in My Pocket on a Friday. I was finished that Monday. I just couldn't put it down. This book is a stand-out because it is very honest and REAL. Eustacia certainly doesn't try to look like a martyr. She just tells it like she lived it. BRAVO!' - The Maap, Vol 3, 2005"

About the Author
A talented playwright, author and actress and mother of four, Eustacia Cutler is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English literature. Her daughter Temple Grandin is Associate Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University, and author of Animals in Translation.

Customer Reviews

Real Lesson to Learn
Eustacia Cutler's book about raising Temple Grandin answers the two questions I've always had whenever I've heard or read about Temple Grandin. How did Temple survive in a time when everyone was warehousing their kids with autism in mental institutions and how did she succeed so well as an adult?

This is not a "how-to" book on educational procedures or anything like that. By reading this autobiography, you will understand the character of Temple's mother, who quite literally saved Temple's life. Fifty-some years ago, Eustacia was the product of her time in most ways--the stay-at-home wife to a wealthy man who was bent upon institutionalizing Temple, particularly when he got the support from psychiatrists who believed at the time that the reason for Temple's autism was Eustacia herself.

There's a real lesson to learn here. Instead of surrendering her child, the originally compliant Eustacia (women were supposed to be that in the 40s and 50s) changed. She intuitively knew that if she gave up whom she could be, her child would be given up as well. She fought ferociously and even walked away from her marriage and her economic well being to save her child. And at that time, when she faced a family who didn't support the divorce financially and a society that looked down on single mothers, she had four children!

If there's one thing that stands out in this book, it's that you have to be who you are and all you can be in order to give that same gift to your child. Temple Grandin comes by her strength, intelligence, and creativity because she had a mother who studied every angle of whatever or whoever she could find to help her child and wasn't afraid to try anything, from allowing her child to negotiate with a local merchant to fighting for her child's right to the education Eustacia believed would save her.

The reader gets a clear picture of the evolution of the science of autism over the decades with some pretty deep conclusions on Temple's mother's part. It's personal. It's incredibly written. This is NOT a how-to-raise-your-child book. It's a story about the meaning of life and society itself. I'd recommend to anyone who wants to know how character is formed-it's not just parents of children with autism. It's one of the best books I've read in a long, long time and I'm eighty years old with a library of books I've read over a lifetime!

A bit disappointing.
I'm afraid I found this book a bit disappointing. The good parts were the author's fairly brief decriptions of Temple Grandin's behavior and her own experiences in raising her. I felt that surely there had to have been more information than she provided as this seemed quite a superficial treatment to me. I understand why she left out any references to her other children at their request, but do think that this is an important lack in a book professing to present the life of a family with an autistic child.

I found myself skipping over the long parts detailing her singing career. There was quite a bit about her first marriage. Her ex-husband attempted to convince others that she was crazy by keeping a 3-year "diary" on her supposedly abnormal behavior. There seemed to be almost an insouciant attitude about such clearly bizarre behavior. There were some interesting details about life back in the day, for example, the bit about receiving a total of 6 phone calls in the several months following her divorce. I'm sure that her experiences were much more painful than she expressed.

I have no doubt that the author was an excellent mother to her daughter and found her the appropriate help and places for her to grow and develop into the quite amazing person she is today. It's not a bad book. I guess I just expected something with more detail, more emotion, more information, more... something.

Not a true family story
This book was a dissapointment to me. I know that her other children didn't want to be mentioned in this book, but even if they had been mentioned Im not sure it would have mattered. This is not a story about Temple or her family. It is however a book about Temples mom and her life, not necessarily her life involving anyone else. She is a priviledged woman who isn't too in touch with anyone but herself. After reading the inside cover I was hopeful that this book was exactly what I was looking for, but I was misled. The book is nothing like the cover's brief insight into life, but more like a bunch of similies and metaphors stuffed together in random order. It seemed sometimes as if she couldn't complete a thought or even a short story about Temple with out rambling on like some theater major putting on an over the top monologue. "A chink, I think I found a chink!" If you can get through all these ramblings you may find one complete thought that could potentially be helpful. I didn't however.
I have 2 autistic children and they are not nearly as functional as Temple but since I was so inspired by Temples writing I was hoping for so much more from this, her mothers, biography. I'm not saying Ms. Cutler shouldn't talk about herself at all, but if this book was truly supposed to give us all a look into Temple's life and family, Ms. Cutler needs to remember the phrase I repeat to myself daily "This isn't about you anymore, its about your children."
My mother just met with Temple and her mother yesterday and they are exactly like their books. Temple, a down to earth sweet loving lady and her mother still a high society lady who vacations at Martha's Vineyard and always talks like she is performing on a stage. There needs to be a book written by an average parent of an autistic child, or children, that had to struggle with money and with the schools and can still remember these struggles. Maybe I will write one :)