Page 1 of 1 [ 11 posts ] 

Ravenclawgurl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,274
Location: somewhere over the rainbow

10 Jun 2010, 11:37 pm

i know they just came out with a movie version but id like t read the book ive heard there are two autistic chareters in it is that just in the movie or in the book as well?



Shadwell
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Dec 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 568
Location: St. Louis, Missouri

11 Jun 2010, 12:11 am

I'm sorry but I have a terrible aversion to anything Nicholas Sparks.



tinky
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,015
Location: en la luna bailando con las vacas

11 Jun 2010, 1:45 am

ermm...my sister read it...i think. i don't remember her saying good things about it. will ask her in the morning.


_________________
tinky is currently trying to overcome anatidaephobia. They're out there and they will find you...

tinky's WP Mod email account: [email protected]

you may tire of the world but the world will never tire of you


tinky
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,015
Location: en la luna bailando con las vacas

11 Jun 2010, 10:27 pm

she didn't like the book too much but she said:

Ok, so john's dad is obsessed with coins and is raising john by himself. John and his father are seperated because all his dad wanted to talk about was coins. pretty stereotypical. he only wanted lasagna on tuesday and certain foods on certain days.

the other main character,savannah,has a ten year old male autie cousin. really close to savannah. and of course it's a known fact that all autistic children can relate to horses so the kid can relate to horses. he's hyperactive as well.


_________________
tinky is currently trying to overcome anatidaephobia. They're out there and they will find you...

tinky's WP Mod email account: [email protected]

you may tire of the world but the world will never tire of you


Last edited by tinky on 12 Jun 2010, 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,298
Location: Stalag 13

11 Jun 2010, 11:57 pm

I've read the back cover of the book, and it seemed like a pro-cure story, and I'm anti-cure, so of course I put it down, and I didn't buy it. To each, their own. I respect that some people might have enjoyed reading the book.


_________________
Who wants to adopt a Sweet Pea?


ColdBlooded
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Jun 2009
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,136
Location: New Bern, North Carolina

12 Jun 2010, 1:22 am

No, but Nicholas Sparks lives in my city.



Awiddershinlife
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 4 Jul 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 403
Location: On the Continental Divide in the Gila Wilderness

26 Sep 2010, 8:31 pm

I didn't read book, but saw the movie, and I beg to differ.....

I was very impressed that there were not one, but two characters with autism: a child with a diagnosis (the younger version played by child with autism and the older version not) and an adult without a diagnosis (played by Richard Jenkins). All three actors did a great job. There was no 'hyperactivity', but then that might mean something different to me.

Both characters were full members of the community and the autism was just part of who they were – no big deal. Each of the autistics was very different from the other. There was no pity-party or milking the issue at all, and there was even a very well done scene (of the adult autistic) showing empathy. The adult came near close to having a melt down, which was not judged but accepted. There is no "cure" agenda. They are multi-dimensional side characters.

The dad did have a narrow focus on coins and prepare the same meals on the same day (I actually used to do the same thing til my kids refused to eat my cooking - I thought it was efficient and helped me to avoid cooking jags, but now my kids don't eat my cooking so I just jag), but then if there isn't "Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities (DSM IV)", it aint aspergers is it? How are you any different?

The dad was also a single parent who managed the house and kept the place neat and clean and his son safe and well cared for, but he also struggled with the same issues I face as an autistic parent of typical-developing children. The dad did work to develop a fine coin collection (as did my very own father), but this was not portrayed as heroic or savant, but the result of human being pursuing an interest through the years.

One of the plot lines is the typical son does not get along with his autistic dad. When the female protagonist suggests it’s because of his autism, the son initially reacts negatively but it leads to understanding, acceptance, and relationship-building. As an autistic parent I yearn for my typical children's acceptance of my differences. One's children tend to be the most intolerant for any parent, but I think it is accentuated for us autistics because we really are wierd. I have never seen this issue raised in any media! I think people assume that autistics are never parents.

It is a Nicholas Sparks story, so of course it is a tear-jerker, but because the treatment of autism was exceptionally authentic, I had to google the connection Sparks has with autism, and found that he has a diagnosed son.
.


_________________
~
We sour green apples live our own inscrutable, carefree lives... (Max Frei)
~


Pseudeos
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 18 Aug 2010
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 387
Location: Australiaagh

27 Sep 2010, 12:07 am

My mother bought the book because she likes all that romance crap. After she told me about the autistic characters in the book, I took it when she wasn't around (I didn't want to get caught reading a ROMANCE novel) and skipped through it, only reading the bits that mentioned 'autism'. It wasn't very exciting, in my opinion.


_________________
"Are we not in the hands of a lunatic? God isn?t interested in technology. He knows nothing of the potential of the micro-chip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time; 43 species of parrot! Nipples for men!"


menintights
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Aug 2010
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 895

27 Sep 2010, 12:10 am

Awiddershinlife wrote:
It is a Nicholas Sparks story, so of course it is a tear-jerker, but because the treatment of autism was exceptionally authentic, I had to google the connection Sparks has with autism, and found that he has a diagnosed son.


Everything he's written is semi-autobiographical. I don't know what it is about the way he writes, but it's always obvious when he's basing something on personal experience.

Anyway, I read the book a long time ago. All I remember is the part where the father has Asperger's and is always talking about his coin collection and how the main character (what's his name) gets angry at Savannah for treating his father as a case study than as an actual friend. Don't really remember if there's another autistic character there. (I remember that part specifically because that was the first time I heard of the term "Asperger's syndrome." Back then I didn't even think it would have anything to do with me at all.)



x_amount_of_words
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 May 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,359
Location: Spokane, Washington

27 Sep 2010, 12:25 am

I watched the movie because I heard that John had an Autistic dad. I would recommend watching the movie if you aren't interested in love stories. The Autistic characters only play a small role in the plot, and a movie would be a lot easier to get through.


_________________
theamazingjunkie.flavors.me


Awiddershinlife
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 4 Jul 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 403
Location: On the Continental Divide in the Gila Wilderness

27 Sep 2010, 12:53 am

x_amount_of_words wrote:
I watched the movie because I heard that John had an Autistic dad. I would recommend watching the movie if you aren't interested in love stories. The Autistic characters only play a small role in the plot, and a movie would be a lot easier to get through.


You're correct. The autistics are side characters.

There is a whole war/love story I haven't commented on, which is the main point of the movie.


_________________
~
We sour green apples live our own inscrutable, carefree lives... (Max Frei)
~


glassyheart
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jun 2014
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 6

17 Jun 2014, 10:21 pm

all my life i was looking for an answer for my feelings that i am diffrent from other ppl.espacially my own family which was killing me.then one day my friend-who loves to read new books espacilly romantic novels told me u must read this novel.so i did.it made the earth beneath my feet disapears.what john's dad in the book was going through was simillar to what i was going through all my life.so i would like to thank the man that wrote it for opening my eyes and giving me the first clue i n :idea: eeded to know who i am.G.H.