A celebration and an elegy, Scenes with My Son sensitively renders
the terrible privilege of grief in the wake of suicide.
After years of battling clinical depression exacerbated by autism,
Auggie Hubbard died by suicide at the age of 19. In this poignant
tribute to his son, Robert Hubbard--a theatre scholar and actor--stages
Auggie's life in a series of vivid and tender scenes: Auggie's
insatiable hunger for Accelerated Reader points. His tireless lightsaber
practice in the local park. His sonorous tuba practice in the ward of
his inpatient program. Through these anecdotes of Auggie's life and the
days following his death, readers journey with a family shaken by mental
illness and share in their hard-won joys in defiance of depression.
Refusing easy answers and clichés about "God's plan," Hubbard
unflinchingly asks: Does faith matter amid such tragedy? What do you do
when awareness isn't enough? When you've tried so hard to keep your
child safe, but your efforts fail? His honesty and vulnerability--and
his tender portrait of Auggie--are gifts to all who live with their own
questions in the wake of a loved one's death.
