Stuff

I've just read "A Long Way Down" By Nick Hornby. It is about four people that meet on the roof of a tower block intending to jump off. One of them, Maureen is a single mother with a disabled son. Every one else can see why she would want to kill herself. Now, I won't give away any endings (for a change!) but I've been thinking about this disabled son, Matty. We're not told what is wrong with Matty (or if we were I missed that bit.)but he is in a wheelchair , needs help breathing, incontinent, unable to talk and maybe unable to hear. It is underlined that anyone could take care of Matty, when he goes to the respite home he is not scared, doesn't miss his Mum, he is ok. It could well be that Matty doesn't even notice that he has moved. And I thought as I was reading , well that's not so bad is it? Its not as if he is miserable, confused , scared, frustrated. He can't move so you don't have to worry that he will wander off or hurt himself. You don't have to worry about him being violent. He won't bore you by talking about the same thing. Matty seemed a bit Disney-fied to me.