BOOK REVIEW: A Boy Made Of Blocks – Keith Stuart

Guardian Games Editor Keith Stuart has written a wonderful book about autism, parenthood, marriages… and Minecraft


keithIt’s sometimes difficult to read a book by somebody you know. Usually, you read to read these books early because the author wants early feedback on their work and has sent you a copy.

Moreover, it’s difficult to be objective. It takes courage, time and big blocks of bollocks to write a book, especially for a journalist who writes for a living every day. They say that there is a book inside every journalist… and that’s where it should say.

Thankfully, A Boy Made Of Blocks by sometime lunch-colleague, Facebook friend and story-colluding Keith Stuart gives me no such dilemmas. This is a book by a journalist that bears no relation to his written work, except the game Minecraft, a subject often covered by Keith as the Guardian‘s games editor.

I didn’t get given this book, Keith didn’t ask me to review it, I paid a hardback price at a bookshop and I thought it was wonderful. What’s even more authentic is that I still don’t know whether Keith ever worked as an estate agent, his marriage was in trouble or if he was a bad parent.

In the book, however, the main character is all of these things and, like Keith in REAL life, he does have an nine-year-old son on the autistic spectrum. But this is not just a mea culpa, it is a well-timed, dramatic and smooth piece of work.

It flows by just like those guilty pleasures such as One Day by David Nicholls. Easy to read, very familiar scenes to any UK parent and centred on a game Minecraft that is even more recognised.

I really loved this book. It’s tender, sweet, honest and will be uncomfortably close to any who have suffered marriage breakdowns, reversals or break-ups because of unexpected events. You can read it in two or three sittings, but when you finish it, you’ll feel good.

It will be interesting if Keith writes another book as good as this, perhaps every journalist has at least one decent book in him, but I’d really like Americans to read this book, especially after the woes of 2016. If Keith breaks America, that would be a very fine thing.

Recommended read: 9/10