I’m a just-graduated psychology student and have always interested in the ways that different mental disorders are presented to the public through art. Accuracy may be sacrificed quite a bit for Hollywood/bestseller purposes, but I find that when people know even a little about something like autism it helps them understand and accept affected individuals. Books and films about these sorts of disorders also spark people’s curiosity, which can lead to learning.
This is exactly how I found it. It rang hollow for me as well, and given so many positive critiques I wondered if I had somehow missed something. People with Aspergers are not emotionless, I agree it was a very one dimensional portrayal of a very complex disorder.
Auliya (mother to one son with Aspergers syndrome)
I wonder, auliya and Primaflora if your personal experiences with people with similar conditions make a book like this too close to enjoy…I remember when the movie The Commitments came out and everybody loved it and talked about how it must be what it is a like to be in a garage band - as someone who had been in a ton of bands, I didn’t find it to be realistic at all.
As for the book - I enjoyed it. I don’t have first-hand knowledge of people with that type of condition and I found it to be an interesting introduction as to what might be going on in their heads. I found it to be internally consistent - Christopher’s character was introduced and then did interesting, thought-provoking and emotional things that felt consistent with how he had be portrayed as a character. As a technical exercise, I respected the author’s efforts and also enjoyed the book…
Kind of like Bright Lights, Big City, which is written exclusively in the second person - both an interesting technical exercise as well as a decent book…
I have little knowledge on the complexities of Asperser’s syndrome or other disorders on the autistic spectrum, but thought, as country to the above opinions, I’d share this:
My girlfriend is a special needs teacher of autistic kids and Special Autistic Adviser for her school district; she seems to think the book resonated perfectly and captured the very essence of many of the children in her classes, in both mood, speech and activity. Many of her fellow teachers said similar positive things about the book.
I mention this only that it seems to play differently with other opinions (of parents to children with autism) voiced above. It seemed an interesting dichotomy that family members see such a very different side of their kids than their teachers do.
I am really surprised. The contents of your spoiler box are the case for some kids with autistic spectrum disorders, but certainly not all, or even most, kids with Aspergers Disorder. In fact sometimes quite the opposite. This is such a common misunderstanding about autism. If your pysch course recommended the book as a description of autism I hope they gave you the broader picture as well, including the huge range of individual difference in these kids/adults. As I said the book was very one dimensional when you have personal experience. I would hate to think psychologists are being trained somewhere based on Haddon’s book
auliya (psychologist as well as a parent of an ASD child)
No, I certainly didn’t find that the book was too close to my experience to enjoy. I simply experienced the character of Christopher as a rendition of the DSM IV, not a living breathing individual person with Aspergers.
FWIW the head teacher of the unit my kids attend loved the book, some parents loved the book and some teachers feel the same way I do.
From a technical POV, wearing my editor’s hat, I had issues with the plotline and credibility. The police officer on the train FE. Huh?
I’m a teacher and have had many kids with similar forms of autism.
I thought the book really rang true, especially the bits about how Christopher can explain humor, but doesn’t understand why something is funny. It’s a wonderful, heart-felt novel–VERY well written.
I also know that Christopher is only representing <i>Christopher</i>, and not EVERY autistic person on the planet.
BTW, it was published as a young adult novel (ages…what, about 14 and up?). It achieved crossover status recently, much like HP.
I can’t find the article on line and strangely enough, I didn’t keep a copy of it ;). My copy of the book didn’t have that on the flyleaf. I think your flyleaf trumps my article – waaaaaaay more probable that a journo cocked it up than the publisher.
Read this over the weekend – picked it up and started it while waiting for someone in a bookstore, and ended up buying it, bringing it home, and finishing it the next day.
I liked it a lot. I’m someone who has some slight familiarity with autism (a coworker whom I’ve known for a dozen years has Asperger’s), but I haven’t had to live in the same room with it, so to speak.
I found Christopher totally believable as a character, and was very drawn into the story. I came very close to tears several times during the last section of the book, and I’m not the type to get all weepy over something I’m reading. I thought it was extremely well done, and loaned it to my sister, the former English teacher – and I am very careful to recommend only books that really knock me out to her.
Had to read this book to death and write a 10-page paper on it for my college writing class. The book itself is probably a lot deeper than it may seem on the surface. If anyone’s really interested in reading my paper on it, I could e-mail it you.