I have this book on my e-reader, and started it during the winter vacation. That’s how long it’s taken me to read it. The chapters are very short, just a page or two each, but they are quite abstract, dealing with the author’s thoughts and thought process more than anything else. I don’t know why that made it hard to focus on. Perhaps because it’s not a story per se, no narrative arc to follow, but instead a description of what this young man’s life is like, how he perceives and thinks about things. A lot about what he wishes neurotypical people could understand about those living with autism. He explains as best he can the reasons behind his behavior, what causes meltdowns, why he gets stuck on certain phrases, has trouble connecting ideas, makes sounds he doesn’t want to, and so on. A lot of things it seems are involuntary or difficult for him to control, but he implores people to not give up on coaching autistic people in their lives to continue practicing skills and learning new things. For him it takes many many repetitions to get better at something. He expresses a lot of love for his family treats him, how normal they treat him and how much patience they have. He tells about how he feels frustrated with certain phrases and aphorisms that teachers and people in public use towards him. Most of all, the book is astonishing in how eloquent and expressive it is- nobody knew this kid could think so clearly until he learned to write with a device. I wish I could have processed this one better, but I think I will read it again in future.
Same author as The Reason I Jump. This book is not just his musings and explanations of things, but also includes some of his poetry and one short story.
Artist: Lesley Anne Ivory
