Language Arts

Written by Stephanie Kallos

Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Charles Marlow is a Seattle English teacher who instructs his students to expand their worlds through language. Lately, however, with one child off to college and the pressure from his ex-wife to make plans for their severely autistic son, who's about to age out of the system, he prefers the company of the ghosts he turns up in the storage boxes in his crawl space. There he finds the totems that betray the darker moments of his youth-memories that were buried for decades when he met the ambitious and sparkling Alison LeFevre. But the complications of parenthood proved fatal to their marriage, and Charles has been stagnant ever since. Language Arts is a wise and perceptive novel about how accumulated guilt and fear can embalm us in middle age and how one man who lost his way in life and love regains both. Kallos' previous novels include Broken for You and Sing Them Home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490661902

Stephanie Kallos

Stephanie Kallos spent twenty years in the theatre as an actor and teacher. She is the author of the bestselling, award-winning novel Broken for You, which has been translated into 10 languages. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two sons.

Reviews for Language Arts

[justacatandabook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charles Marlow is an English teacher at a private high school. His life, therefore, is filled with language and words. However, all the language in the world cannot help him communicate with his son, Cody, who is autistic. Cody's diagnosis took a toll on his marriage and now Charles finds himself alone in the house -- all his kids are out of the house, his marriage has ended -- and he's wrestling with his demons.

I absolutely loved Kallos' "Broken For You," so I was extremely excited to pick up her latest novel. It definitely took some time for this one to grow on me. The book got off to a slow start and Charles is not the most likable of characters. Still, once I got into the plot, it's a lovely tale and extremely moving. Kallos does an amazing job of tying together her ancillary characters into a beautiful way--not one that's trite, per se, but a manner that seems fitting for each.

Overall, the book is a touching tribute to language, in many forms, and to art, as well. It's also a very insightful look at autism and the toll it can take on a family, but also some of the gifts that those termed as "disabled" by the general public can give to us. Definitely worth reading - just be patient.

[smallwonder56_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The thing about Stephanie Kallos' writing is that you start a story and you think, "Get to the point." She gives you a lot of background and a lot of detail and just when you think you might have had enough...you find yourself totally wrapped up in her narrative. I cared about the characters in the novel so much by the end that I wanted to keep following their lives. Difficult situations, not always dealt with gracefully, that that's life with real people. Ambivalence and ambiguity are the hardest things to master in life, and Kallos gives you that struggle in deft prose. I'm a real fan. But each time I start one of her books, I read for a while and think, "Get to the point" and whoosh! I'm totally involved.

[lisalangford_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Do you remember watching the movie The Sixth Sense? And when, at the end, you realized that the boy, Cole, had been seeing dead people all along, it changed your experience of the entire movie? (At least that's how it was for me.) I didn't see the twist coming at all, and I loved it.In Language Arts, we meet Cody and his family. Cody was a happy little boy. He was developing normally until he started to lose language. His parents, Charles and Alison, took him to specialist after specialist to find out what happened and to try to help him get better. Cody doesn't get better. Shortly after the birth of Cody's sister, Emmy, Charles and Alison's marriage deteriorates. As Cody gets older, and ages out of the system that can provide care for him, Charles and Alison have to work together to find a suitable living situation for him. We see everything as Charles and Emmy experience this. Kallos weaves together this family's struggle, including back story around Charles, with Charles as a child befriending an autistic classmate, language arts, and, interestingly, Palmer handwriting. Language Arts felt a little melancholy, heavy with this family's desperation to try to help Cody as well as deal with deteriorating relationships. I was engaged in the story as it was, and then a Sixth Sense kind of twist came at the end that made me go back and reread passages of the book to see how she did it. SO well done!

[twopairsofglasses · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am a long time fan of Stephanie Kallos, and it was so good to receive the gift of another book from her. This one is about Charles, the father of a severely autistic son. The novel weaves exceptionalities, sorrow, and regret with spirituality and redemption -- always, as with Kallos, rising above platitudes. The structure of the book is perhaps a little too complicated, but the characters rise above any narrative gimmickry.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful, wonderful story but it takes a bit of patience. The story unravels at a slow pace and in small increments. It is mainly the story of Charlie Marlow, now a middle aged divorced man, who is the father of Cory, who was normal until he was three and than lost all powers of speech. He is also the father of Emmy to whom he is always writing letters. The book is narrated by a few people but mostly Charlie and it jumps around from his youth, learning the Palmer method of writing with its creative loops, to Cory's birth and diagnosis, to the present day when he is a Language Arts teacher and somewhat at loose ends.At the heart of the story is the importance of language and the many different ways we have of communicating. Postcards, to letter writing, to the methods used when one is not capable of speech. Cory and the way he has of communicating his needs or wants, and at last a Nun, who now has Alzheimers and often lives in the past.Her story is wonderful and sad, integral to the storyline. An event at the end was a shocker to me and yes I was a bit teary eyed. The cover is designed brilliantly and the meaning is found within the story. Wonderful writing, and I loved the way the author tied everything together at the end. Some great characters it is hard not to lose your heart to and I embraced them fully. Amazing story.ARC from publisher.

[toobusyreading · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“When my brother Cody was about two years old and for reasons our baffled parents were never able to fathom, the word God entered his vocabulary.”Because I loved the authors novels Broken for You and Sing Them Home, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. It grabbed me from the first sentence and kept holding on until the last page.Ms. Kallos writes about ordinary people who are perhaps not quite as ordinary as one would hope, but quite beautiful in their own ways. Because I don't like to know too much of a story before I begin reading a book and because I chose this one based on the author alone, I did not know how Cody and his not-quite-normality was such a large part of the book, but I appreciated it.Part is written in third person with a lesser amount in first person by daughter Emily. Charles, a student who was revered by his teacher for his aptitude for the Palmer Method of handwriting, now has a family and writes frequently to his daughter. The letters are all the more poignant for what we learn of Emily later in the book.Yes, the book does move slowly. Yes, the subject has been done and overdone. And I still absolutely loved this novel. It is not a “shake you by the neck until your teeth rattle” kind of story. It is gentler and as much about the characters as it is about the situations in which they find themselves. It is about relationships, trying to do the right thing even if you came from a situation that was all wrong. The art of handwriting, the endless loops, and then the Language Arts, are thematic and help tie all together. There are references to times that I remember too well, and this book and its characters caused me both sympathy and empathy.This book makes me want to see what this author comes up with next. I doubt that I will be disappointed.I was given an advance reader's copy of this book for review.