I’m not usually drawn to “problem” novels, by which I mean those with a main character who is dealing with some life-altering (you guessed it) problem: an eating disorder, abusive parents, fatal illness, bullies, what have you. Not that there aren’t excellent novels with these themes—in fact many of the best and award-winning novels contain just this type of subject matter—but these types of novels aren’t my first-choice reading material. Give me a good classic adventure, mystery, history, or literary fiction any day over something I think might possibly make me cry. (And if there is the slightest chance a dog might die in it, I will not touch it with a ten-foot pole. I learned that lesson many, many years ago with Where the Red Fern Grows.)
However, as any well-read person should, I sometimes take a chance (and read a great review) and choose books I wouldn’t otherwise read. The reviews of Anything But Typical told me that the novel was amazing, but also something I wouldn’t ordinarily choose.
IndieBound.com’s description:
Jason Blake is an autistic 12-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does.
Jason can be himself when he writes and he thinks that PhoneixBird--her name is Rebecca--could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to met her, he's terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca will only see his autism and not who Jason really is. By acclaimed writer Nora Raleigh Baskin, this is the breathtaking depiction of an autistic boy's struggles--and a story for anyone who has ever worried about fitting in.
Eh. Not my usual choice, but I’m always looking for great YA and middle-grade fiction, and the description reminded me of one of my other, most-favorite books in the whole wide world, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, which is also told by a first-person narrator with autism. So, early Saturday morning, before my daughter was awake, when the house was still quiet and the day still laid out before me full of possibilities, I picked it up with the intention of reading a few pages while I sipped my coffee...
…and I finished it a few hours later, just before lunch. It was fantastic, of course, as most of the reviews said it would be, though I think my reaction was heavily influenced by large amounts of caffeine and the fact that the main character is an aspiring writer.
If you are a writer, or if you have middle-school children (or, lucky for you, you have middle-school children who want to be writers) you will love this book, especially the ending, which I promised I wouldn’t ruin for you.
Whether you know anyone with autism or not, or are even interested in learning about it, you probably will love this book. The perspective of the first-person autistic narrator, just as in Curious Incident, is a fantastic, mind-opening description of how we all think, act, and behave in different ways, and how those thoughts, actions, and behaviors are judged to be normal or not.
More fantastic books (though they didn't make me cry) that I’ve recently read and highly recommend:
Erik Larsen’s Thunderstruck, Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman, Roland Smith’s Elephant Run, and Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia.
P.S. Anything But Typical is available anywhere, including most likely at your library, but all my links are to IndieBound…just ‘cuz. Also, I used their pic of the book cover.
ETA: Italics to the book titles and several spelling corrections, because despite an advanced degree in English, I apparently can't seem to remember to proof read before I post.
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