Rachel in the World: A Memoir Book

Certainly this book is an idea whose time had come: an unsentimentalized view of mental retardation (not, for example, referring to them as "heaven's special angels" as one wag on the book's back cover puts it). Bernstein is surprisingly honest about her dismay over finding out her child, Rachel, is retarded shortly after she is born. Bernstein also does not gloss over the less charming aspects of Rachel's behavior as the child grows up to become a young adult; Rachel is obnoxious and drives most people away, including caregivers as well as other disabled people in the system. Throughout the book, we are given a rarely-seen glimpse into the often difficult relationship between a special-needs child and her family.
As events wear on, the struggle with the various governmental services designed to help parents of special-needs children (and the ever-dwindling financial resources for such services as the Bush era kicks in) becomes the central focus of the narrative. Though a little of this particular subject matter goes a long way, it does give a glimpse into some of the crucial failures of the system.
Still, I can't help having this nagging sense of Narcissism on the part of its author.