An excerpt from House Rules by Jodi Piccoult

Post Reply New Topic

If you don't like being autistic and you're still coming around here, moaning to people by posting stuff like this... then why do you even bother sticking around, seriously?

Maybe you should think about posting stuff like this (your rants) in The Haven sub-forum.

Jesus christ, Piccoult can't write.

I can somewhat relate to that paragraph. Most people don't know I have aspergers, but those who do treat me like a little child and assumes that I'm stupid, even though my intelligence is far superior to theirs. The diagnose is there for you to get whatever help or economic support you need from the government/family/friends, so that you hopefully can turn into a productive member of society, do something you enjoy and live a decent life. It's also there for you to form a understanding of yourself - though such an understanding may already be present, knowing that you have AS/autism makes it somewhat easier to overcome the obstacles in everyday life and to plan things ahead. It's not a sleeping pillow, though theres no cure for autism or aspergers, you can do a great deal to improve your quality of life. It's a label, a set of symptoms which describe your weaknesses. If you want to make it into who you are, it's ok. For me these symptoms are just a part of who I am - I choose to be a 'closet aspie' because most people only see you for the label and your weaknesses. Well, maybe close relatives should know, not because they should treat you differently, but because they diserve to know - as parents.
Other than that, I'm not open about it, not to friends, colleagues, classmates - to them I'm just the guy who never makes eye contact.

I have read two thirds of the book and should finish it to make a final judgement.
For now I may say this:
As nobody knows (in the public) what AS really is, it is anyhow a merit to have brought attention to the existennce of this kind of disability: After all most people know something about what being deaf-mute, blind, lame, tetraplegic may mean existentially, though most of these conditions are pitied and not substantially a matter for real identification, and possibly love, except when there is blood relationship with them..
It may be a serious critic of the book that it is instrumental to sales and flawed for this reason. There is some craftsmanship but no real passion or drama. The AS (Jacob) is the most unconvincing character of the novel. The reactions of the other characters have some more consistence. Something positive may be said of the descriptioon of the paraphernalia of a legal trial in a case like this (perhaps in most cases).

Hmm... I was planning to read Picoult's book at some point, but am not particularly impressed by that excerpt. I think NT writers who try to get into an autistic mind will never do it accurately.

I'm reading Barbara Vine's The Minotaur at the moment, which also has a character with Aspergers, but the novel isn't from his point of view - it's from the viewpoint someone who is observing. I'm actually really impressed so far - it's not at all patronising. There are characters who are patronising, but this is shown as objectional, and is not the overall tone of the book.

This book was horrendous. In a podcast she said she was inspired to write the book after growing up with a cousin who had profound autism. She obviously had no experience with people with Asperger's, because Jacob (character with "Asperger's") was basically a low-functioning autistic person who was smart and could somewhat talk. She mixed LFA with AS.

If I may continue this discussion without a mob reaction...

I finished reading the actual book a while ago. And I agree that Jacob's behavior is more closely related to HFA than AS.

Though the way Jacob is treated, basically like an idiot that no one gives the time of day once throughout the book isn't so off the mark. The kid is wrapped in warm wool a good chunk of the time and if anyone had bothered listening to him in the first place, the book would have been about twenty chapters shorter.

I read the book and really disliked it. People with Asperger's are not that low functioning. Like the whole being restrained part? Uh...no. When I worked with severe/profound autistic children some of them needed to be restrained but I don't see many with Aspergers needing that.

I still have yet the book to read and he sounded textbook so far. But AS will always be stereotyped in books. Okay if you don't want to be treated like (what word can I use for that?) then don't tell people you have AS. I choose to be a closet aspie too. I feel uncomfortable if I have to talk about it.

The book was hard to read especially in the parts when NT's would say nasty things about Jacob. But people are like that. It was actually disturbing to me because I never hear what people say about me when I'm not around them.
People with AS may sometimes need to be restrained but usually they are children. Still because Jacob was LFA as a child and he became more HF he couldn't have AS. I think the greatest mistake was making Jacob so severe.

Just remember that everyone with AS is affected by it in a different way.

I think Jodie got a few things right especially how people treat someone with AS/autism. The mother was like one of those parents trying to treat their children with GF/CF food and giving them about 20 different supplements/shots daily. I actually found that part a bit funny. And she was so overprotective like my own mother.

And I really hated Theo. I know we are so supposed to empathise with him because he is the poor left out normal younger brother, but no, I can never empathise with him. He treated Jacob horribly and thought some very nasty things about him.