Title: Look Me in the Eye
Author: John Elder Robison
Pages: 304
Publisher: Crown
Publishing Date: Sept. 25th, 2007 (Randi's library version)
Publisher: Crown
Publishing Date: Sept. 25th, 2007 (Randi's library version)
Audience: Adult
Source: Library (Randi & Becky)
Rating: 3 - I'd friend this book on Facebook (Randi) 3- I'd reluctantly friend this book on Facebook, knowing I'd need to hide their feed info.
Goodreads Summary:Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.
After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a “real” job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be “normal” and do what he simply couldn’t: communicate. It wasn’t worth the paycheck.
It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world.
Our Thoughts
Randi in black. Becky in Grey
Hi there! Long time, no Twice-Baked Thursday! I'm glad the chaos that has been life these past few months has slowed enough to get back to the blog for a change. Agreed! Anyway, I have wanted to read John Elder Robison's memoir for awhile now. I'm not really into Non-fiction, but I gave it a few tries this month. I'm particularly interested in reading the point-of-view of a character with an autism-spectrum disorder such as Asperger's. My interest comes partially from the fact that I read Jodi Picoult's House Rules,(loved it) which features a male teen protagonist with AS (Asperger's Syndrome) and loved it, and also since I am also a teacher-in-training and clearly it is to my advantage (as well as my future students') to know as much as possible about autism-related disorders. In that respect, this memoir definitely provided me insight into some of the feelings and thought processes of an adolescent with AS (the book covers early childhood through adulthood, but I found the childhood & teen years the most interesting). I work at a public library where we do have patrons who have AS. We're actually doing an educational program about it soon. Awesome!! Apparently we moved the furniture once and our AS patron was very upset, yelled at several staff members and refused to come back for some time. That's unfortunate :( but I can understand how that might upset someone with AS or another autism-spectrum disorder. I thought it might be useful to understand someone with AS' thought process a little more for the future...although we will still shift furniture.
Overall, I appreciated this book. I think most of my issues with it were related to the writing style, which was primarily due to John Elder's different thought process. I just found it hard to relate to and often offensive, which isn't especially surprising. (Agreed on the difficult-to-relate-to-ness!) However, I found some parts mind-numbingly dull. Those parts tended to be the ones where John Elder talked a lot about machinery (YES) or technology matters because his knowledge is so advanced in those areas while mine is so not, that I just sort of spaced out and tried to get through them quickly. I just skimmed. I found myself thinking "I do not care I do not care" a lot when he wrote about his pyrotechnics and other electronic shenanigans." Right! I thought "Oh, that's interesting...but I don't need details." There were places where I wanted to (and did, at some points) want to put this book down and forget about it because of those dull areas. But I'm glad I finished it. The epilogue in particular was one of my favorite parts. The book made me think about how we as a society judge others and expect everyone to conform to a specific version of "normal." I don't like that. I dislike how so many of John Elder's tribulations throughout his life are because other people are unwilling to be flexible. That really bothers me. But I also was reminded (quite unexpectedly, actually) of how important it is to forgive others, even when they might not always particularly deserve that forgiveness. I'm not sure I agree, honestly. Even John Elder often stated how much his life improved when he began to train himself to act more like "the norm". I think society has evolved in certain ways for ease of communication and socialization. Obviously I don't believe in Stepford communities where there is a scripted dialog and way to live. However, if someone walks up to me and tells me I look fatter, I'm not going to like them regardless of any other factors. (LOL. You make a valid point! I just mean in a broader sense of having one set idea of what constitutes "normal" and sometimes shunning anyone that doesn't fit. I agree that society has evolved for important reasons, but I don't like the judgmental mentality in general.)
I'd recommend this with the caution that some parts will likely drag for most readers; however, if you can get through those parts (or skip them!), it's a worthwhile read. I came into this story interested mostly in John Elder's childhood, but most of this is about his adult years. Fair warning. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not sure it changed my views much. I found Elder's abusive home-life most disturbing, and I honestly feel it had a much greater impact on his struggle than his AS. I've already recommended this book to two people :).
Overall, I appreciated this book. I think most of my issues with it were related to the writing style, which was primarily due to John Elder's different thought process. I just found it hard to relate to and often offensive, which isn't especially surprising. (Agreed on the difficult-to-relate-to-ness!) However, I found some parts mind-numbingly dull. Those parts tended to be the ones where John Elder talked a lot about machinery (YES) or technology matters because his knowledge is so advanced in those areas while mine is so not, that I just sort of spaced out and tried to get through them quickly. I just skimmed. I found myself thinking "I do not care I do not care" a lot when he wrote about his pyrotechnics and other electronic shenanigans." Right! I thought "Oh, that's interesting...but I don't need details." There were places where I wanted to (and did, at some points) want to put this book down and forget about it because of those dull areas. But I'm glad I finished it. The epilogue in particular was one of my favorite parts. The book made me think about how we as a society judge others and expect everyone to conform to a specific version of "normal." I don't like that. I dislike how so many of John Elder's tribulations throughout his life are because other people are unwilling to be flexible. That really bothers me. But I also was reminded (quite unexpectedly, actually) of how important it is to forgive others, even when they might not always particularly deserve that forgiveness. I'm not sure I agree, honestly. Even John Elder often stated how much his life improved when he began to train himself to act more like "the norm". I think society has evolved in certain ways for ease of communication and socialization. Obviously I don't believe in Stepford communities where there is a scripted dialog and way to live. However, if someone walks up to me and tells me I look fatter, I'm not going to like them regardless of any other factors. (LOL. You make a valid point! I just mean in a broader sense of having one set idea of what constitutes "normal" and sometimes shunning anyone that doesn't fit. I agree that society has evolved for important reasons, but I don't like the judgmental mentality in general.)
I'd recommend this with the caution that some parts will likely drag for most readers; however, if you can get through those parts (or skip them!), it's a worthwhile read. I came into this story interested mostly in John Elder's childhood, but most of this is about his adult years. Fair warning. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not sure it changed my views much. I found Elder's abusive home-life most disturbing, and I honestly feel it had a much greater impact on his struggle than his AS. I've already recommended this book to two people :).
