#569 - Living With Adi
by Zarin Virji
“Living With Adi” by Zarin Virji. Published by Duckbill. A vivid portrayal of the life and journey of Adi who is a neurodivergent teenager.
Adi (Ardeshir) Krishnan is a fourteen year old boy. He is very good at academics and has a knack of remembering the smallest details. However he is a target of bullying by other children at school who brand him a weirdo for his unusual ways. He is neurodivergent and is on the autism spectrum. Most of his teachers are not sensitised to his condition. They do not empathise with him, often branding him as a troublemaker and keeping him away. Adi’s parents have been divorced for a decade now and his father who has married again lives in Singapore with his new family. His mother Delna helps him lead as normal a life as possible. His elder sister Jasmine is always there for him. His grandma Shirin is a humorous person with a no-nonsense attitude who supports their family wholeheartedly.
The story is narrated by several characters like Adi himself, Delna, Jasmine, Shirin and a couple of others. While Shirin feels embarrassed by his actions and isn’t ready to accept that he is autistic, his dad feels that his son is perfect and doesn’t want to discuss about his condition. This leaves only Delna fighting a lonely silent battle as she takes care of Adi and finds ways of getting him to live as normal a life as possible. Will Adi ever be able to make friends and settle in school? Will his classmates try to understand him and stop bullying him? Will he be able to gain the respect of people around him including his father? Read the book to get a feel of how it is to live with an autistic person through the story of Adi.
This uniquely written book sharing perspectives of multiple characters proved to be quite a revelation for me and my 10.5 year old son. We got drawn into the world of Adi. Each of the characters were so realistic and relatable in many ways. The conflicting emotions, guilts, fears, doubts, hope, love and family bonding have all been portrayed in a fabulous manner. Contrary to what we may tend to think, living with someone like Adi can also be unexpectedly funny and delightful at times. Pure at heart and with no pretensions whatsoever, he spoke his thoughts out loud however blunt they might have seemed. Though this often led to awkward situations, it also proved to be better sometimes. Despite his classmates being mean and hurtful to him, he was always nice to them without being able to understand why they made fun of him. It was heartening to see him trying to make sense of the relationship that he has with his stepmother. We could feel for Adi and Jasmine when they wished that their parents were still together and their mother was on the trip they take with their father and his family, instead of their stepmother. It was quite natural to feel that way despite their stepmother being very nice to them. Be it Delna facing her emotional and financial struggles as a single mother or Shirin being the rock solid support for Delna and the children or Blanche who wishes to be an understanding teacher to help out children who have different kinds of problems, every character has been portrayed sensitively and gracefully. The characters and their vulnerabilities made them so endearing and memorable for us. At the end of the day, the entire family being there for each other and bonding despite whatever struggles they face filled us with hope. We also got a glimpse into some Parsi customs and culture. Shirin’s trademark “dhoor ne dhefar” and “mark my words” became phrases that my son loved :) Overall a multitude of themes particularly those related to teenagers have been powerfully packed. The messages of being empathetic and inclusive are the key takeaways for us.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 10 and above.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!