Imagine, if you can, being born with cerebral palsy and being abandoned by your parents who leave you in a cardboard box outside an unmanned police station, then to live out your life generally ignored and strapped to a medical trolley with little or no proper stimulation. This is the story of an acute mind masked by a crippled frame and hampered by a difficulty with communication. He is a human being who has never socialised with other people and shows signs of abject aggression in reality, hiding his frustrations. John lives in a children's home and is befriended quite by chance by a young visitor of his own age. As their relationship develops, it becomes quite clear that John has a great intellect and has not only taught himself to read, but has an affinity for foreign languages. The book charts his journey from that initial meeting through his improvement with mobility and communication aides, his desperate need to have his own identity and his varying and at times difficult relationship with the staff and residents of the home. For those that look away in embarrassment at disabled or disadvantaged people or worse, go to the opposite extreme and fuss over them, then this is the book you should read. It may make you laugh, it may even make you cry but it will hopefully make you think.
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