The legal action taken against Instrumental probably was ill-judged, but I feel great sympathy for Rhodes’ ex-wife. Their child has Asperger Syndrome. Living with a teenage autistic son may involve a couple in levels of domestic violence, weight-gain from anti-psychotic medications, threats of suicide, school refusal, the destruction of all they hold dear in a family and marriage. Cruelly, an autistic tendency will often transmit itself down the generations like an unwanted gene. (Rhodes himself has Asperger Syndrome.) It would be naïve to think that a child with autism might not be traumatised by reading a book like this. Still the pianist’s life had been well worth telling. Hadn’t it?
Ian Thomson 11 June 2015
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