Jesse Ball’s Elusive Census

It’s like The Road, but about census-taking and Down syndrome.by Suzette SmithIn a brief introduction to his new novel Census, author Jesse Ball lays bare the loving relationship he had with his brother, who died when Ball was in his 20s. Abram Ball lived with Down syndrome, and Jesse Ball grew up expecting to care for him into adulthood.In Census, Ball expresses “a sad and powerful longing for a future that did not come”—meaning a future spent caring for his brother&mdas