Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

   Gentle and bittersweet, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is the second movie adaptation of "Everything is Illuminated" author Johnathan Safron Foer's novel. Although the movie is littered with stars such as Viola Davis, Tom Hanks, and Sandra Bullock, newcomer Thomas Horn steals the show in a flawless performance as Oskar Schell, a troubled eleven-year-old prodigy struggling with his dad (Hanks') death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

   Oskar could be rude, he could treat people sh**ty, but I immediately rooted for him. It helps that he reminded me of a friend of my brother's I'm fond of. While Oskar's dad was alive, he would send him on scavenger hunts. When Oskar rummages through his dad's closet and finds a key with a word on it, Oskar believes his father wants him to find the lock the key belongs to.

   Oskar probably has Asperger's, and that becomes a factor as he travels through New York City battling anxiety, loud noises, and his own worst fears about Urban terrorism. Meanwhile, his well-meaning mother (Sandra Bullock) tries to get through to her angry loner son. I wasn't sure about Sandra Bullock prior to this movie because I thought she was undeserving of the Oscar for "The Blind Side" but she was good here. You can't help but feel for her when her son throws angry words in her direction.

   Linda (the mom)'s unconditional love for her son touched me, as did her quiet grief, but Oskar and the otherwise unnamed 'The Renter' played by Max Von Sydow were my favorite characters. 'The Renter,' true to his title, rents a room from Oskar's grandmother and accompanies Oskar on his perilous quest.

   The only complaint I have with this movie is that the premise was very unrealistic. I mean, the word 'Black' that comes with the key could meet anything and Oskar is immediately on the right track. Not only that, but as Oskar looks for people with the last name 'Black,' he doesn't even think that not only is 'Black' a ridiculously common name, but there's no guarantee that if this 'Black' is a person, that they live in New York city!

   I liked Oskar a lot. I liked his way of looking at things. Thomas Horn interpreted Oskar honestly and touchingly. This is one of the most underrated child performances of all time (probably because the movie wasn't received well, for what reasons are mysterious to me.) I wanted him to be happy, and move beyond the tragedy of his dad's death and the tragedy of 9/11 in general. Many lives were affected that day, and this movie offers sympathy to both the lives lost and those left behind.

   To breach another subject, I thought the depiction of Asperger's  was very good as someone diagnosed with the condition. The funny, idiosyncratic things Oskar said seemed very typical for someone with AS, while his social anxiety was easy to relate to. A lot of movies exaggerate AS symptoms for 'Hollywood' effect, making the hero some kind of head-banging, socially defective prodigy. I mean "Rain Man," that was put out near the beginning of Autism research. But "Mozart and the Whale?" Seriously?

   And let's not forget how good the entire cast was throughout this movie. Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Max Von Sydow, Thomas Horn of course... they all played their roles wonderfully and were touching and likable. I'd say Von Sydow and Horn were the standouts among this amazing cast. Von Sydow as the silent renter had no spoken lines, but managed to convey emotion like a pro. I'm going to have to diverge from the critics and say this movie is absolutely worth seeing. It's worth it.
                                           Rating-
                                                 9.0/10

Temple Grandin (2010)

"Temple Grandin" is a really interesting movie about a fascinating woman that allows us an inside look at an unknown world. This is a must-see for people struggling to understand loved ones with autism or for AS people themselves, because close family members will understand autism better and people on the spectrum might see themselves in the intrepid but troubled Temple.

   "Temple Grandin" is the real-life story of the eponymous character, who struggles with severe autism from an early age, then goes on to become a pioneer in the cattle industry. Temple suffers from an autistic condition which deprive her of a ordinary childhood, but give her an astonishing and intuitive mind and a unique way of looking at things.

   As a young woman, Temple (Claire Danes) stays at her aunt's farm, where she becomes familiar with the cattle who live there. When she witnesses a cow being calmed by a squeezing machine, Temple is inspired -- when she leaves the farm and goes to college, she builds her own 'hugging machine' to dilute the tension that most people relieve by giving and receiving hugs.

Book Review: Genus by Jonathan Trigell -- Dark Dystopian Fiction, Anyone?

Publication Date: 2011

Publisher: Corsair, Constable & Robinson, Ltd.

Format: Paperback

Genre:  Literary Fiction/Dystopian

Why I Chose It: Because it was written by the author of Boy A, which I loved; many thanks to the author and publisher who kindly gave me a copy of this novel with no obligation to publish a review.

Rating: (5/5 stars)

Imagination

   I'll admit it, I didn't come to this film with high hopes. I had seen Netflix reviewers trash it again and again, but I hoped that it would at least be original. By the middle, when the talking fruits showed up, I was waiting for the one hour ten minutes to end.

   By the credits, I was wondering how such a horrific train wreck ever came into existence. There's a vague possibility that this could have been a good, albeit strange, film. What went wrong? As it turns out, almost everything.

    The plot (if you can call it that) follows two prepubescent girls named Anna and Sarah through their joined imaginary realities. Their parents are struggling -- Sarah is nearly blind, and Anna has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. As their psychiatrist attempts to understand their increasingly bizarre fantasies, we watch dream-like sequences done through stop-motion animation and special effects. When tragedy strikes, the girls retreat further into their imaginations, causing the psychiatrist to wonder what the visions mean.

    That's pretty much the sum of the story, avoiding spoilers. It actually was an interesting idea, visualizing two introverted girls' secret world. The result, however, is horrendous. First of all the acting is pathetic -- it's hard to watch. As you watch the actors' pitiable attempts to be "emotional," you wonder how they could have possibly set themselves up for this kind of humiliation.

   It feels like the director went out to a local park, watched people for a while, and chose a few, asking them to be in a movie. They agreed, despite their complete lack of dramatic skills. The two girl's performances are understandable -- they're still young, after all. However, watching the adults, especially the psychiatrist, desperately trying to play their roles leaves you shaking your head in horror.

     The other problem with Imagination is that Anna's "Asperger's Syndrome" and Sarah's blindness are pointless, more or less just there to rationalize bizarre dream sequences. What may have helped this film is to explain why the girls "live in a world all their own." Anna, we are told again and again, "can't socialize," but we rarely see her interact with anyone in the film.

   It would have been interesting -- more interesting, perhaps, than the weird trip scenes -- to try to explain Sarah and Anna's need to go into their own realities. Ben X did this efficiently. We understood why the main character, Ben, became obsessed with the virtual world and tuned out of real life. Imagination, however, is obviously a miserable attempt to play with hallucinogenic effects and claymation, without a glimmer of character development or logic to make sense of it.

    There is one good quality, however. Even though the filmmakers got so many other things wrong, their skills at claymation are apparent. One scene, in particular, is darkly creative and weird, in a good way. In this case, the bizarre imagery actually attracted my attention. It makes you kind of wish they had kicked out the actors and let the clay figures take center stage.

    All in all, I wouldn't recommend this movie to practically anyone, unless they are especially fond of weird for weird's sake. Do not watch this looking for a realistic or informative view of Asperger's -- you won't find it here. If you want something unusual, watch The Fall -- in fact, watch practically anything else. Just stay far away from this bizarre, pointless mess of a movie.

 

 

Ben X

Ben X, Belgian director Nic Balthazar's film debut, is an ambitious drama exploring the autistic mind and how far harassment can go before the victim loses control.

  At the beginning, we are introduced to Ben (superbly played by Greg Timmermans), a teenage boy with Asperger's Syndrome who lives with his well-meaning mother and younger brother. Ben spends all his free time playing Archlord, a fantasy role-playing game where he becomes Ben X and plays alongside Scarlitte, a teenage girl who is impressed by his gaming skills. The game gives him a sense of purpose in a world that becomes increasingly out of control.

 Ben's life at school, quite simply, is hell. He is relentlessly tormented by two repugnant teenage boys. His teachers try to help him but are ineffectual. The situation worsens when an embarrassing prank perpetrated on him is videotaped and posted all over the internet.

   Feeling that he has no where to turn, he hides what happened from his family and teachers and becomes increasingly disturbed and suicidal. Finally, close to breaking point, Ben decides to meet with Scarlitte, who is interested in visiting him in real life. Together with Scarlitte, his divorced father, and his desperate mother, he comes up with a bizarre plan to get back at his tormenters.

    I waited a long time for this movie, and as it generally is in this case, was disappointed. Which isn't to say that Ben X is a bad film. On the contrary, it has many good qualities. The main thing that struck me was that this is one of the first times a character on the autistic spectrum takes center stage and is treated as a person, not a plot device. Often, the character with autism is used to evoke feelings from the other people in the movie or to teach them what is really important in life.

   This film, without avoiding the family's perception of the situation, concentrates on Ben and his reactions to what's happening around him. Secondly, the acting in Ben X is top-notch, especially from Greg Timmermans and Marijke Pinoy, as Ben's mother. Greg Timmermans has excellent facial expressions and mannerisms, and in his and the directors hands, the main character becomes a real person.

    Many scenes and situations in Ben X, however, are very melodramatic and over-the-top, but the ending is its greatest weakness. Alternately bizarre and unrealistic, it detracts from an otherwise good movie. The director seems to think that neatly tying things up is more important than realism, and it shows.

   The film builds up a great deal of suspense and a foreboding that something terrible will happen, but seems to wimp out toward the end. I don't enjoy depressing endings, but I felt that the conclusion wasn't believable at all. I am bound to cut this film some slack, because there are so few movies about high-functioning autism and because I waited a long time to watch it. Although I think it was ultimately disappointing, it also did many things right and tried to do what most directors haven't done effectively before.

 

Parallel Play: Growing Up With Undiagnosed Asperger's by Tim Page

In the years since the phrase became a cliche, I have received any number of compliments for my supposed ability to "think outside the box." Actually it has been a struggle for me to perceive just what these "boxes" were -- why they were there, why other people regarded them as important, where their borderlines might be, how to live safely within and without them. My efforts have only partly succeeded; at the age of fifty-three, I am left with the melancholy sensation that my life has been spent in a perpetual state of parallel play, alongside, but distinctly apart from, the rest of humanity. (p. 3)

Tim Page was a gifted child and, encouraged by his devoted mom and his quirky, intellectual dad, he explored his interests freely. His teachers were concerned about his abysmal performance in school, and he had to undergo all sorts of testing, both for his giftedness and his limitations. Yet he was an autodidact, passionate about music, writing, and old films. He explored all kinds of music, including classical, opera, and rock, created interesting stories, and wrote, directed and filmed his own movies.

In adolescence, an age in which people become acutely aware of their differences and their yearning to connect with others, he struggled with depression. This is a common experience, especially among those of us who are wired a little differently. However, he went on to pursue his dreams and became a music reviewer for the Washington Post; he won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1997. He is also the father of three sons.

In 2000, at the age of 45, he received an Asperger's diagnosis, a label that had not been officially on the books until 1994. He was surprised and also felt liberated -- he knew he was not alone. With his growing self insight, and his incredible gift with words, he penned this memoir. It was an opportunity to tell his story and to help readers grasp this much misunderstood condition.

We are informally referred to as "Aspies," and if were are not very, very good at something we tend to do it very poorly. Little comes naturally -- except for whatever random, inexplicable, and often uncontrollable gifts we may have -- and, even more than most children, we assemble our personalities unevenly, in bits and pieces, almost robotically, from the models we admire. (p. 6)

I won't beat around the bush; I loved this book. I read it in one sitting, mesmerized by Page's beautiful writing, his insights, and his edgy sense of humor. At moments I was deeply moved, and I was often laughing hysterically. His description of his childhood felt familiar to me on several levels. For example, he described eloquently how he came to really understand death at the tender age of four and already distrusted religious answers and comfortable platitudes. This reminded me intensely of one of my children, whose insight and understanding of these issues was beyond her years, unleashing emotions her preschooler's heart was not prepared to cope with. And some of his struggles in school, often driven by his inability to focus on what was "important," could have been lifted from my autobiography.

I also enjoyed the glimpses of his ambivalent feelings toward his younger siblings. These problems are certainly common, but they seemed to be intensified a bit by the anger stemming from Timmy's inability to fit in.

...I was especially jealous of Betsy, who had been born about twenty months after I was. Once, when I was about two, I was caught throwing handfuls of sand and dirt on her as she screamed in her baby carriage. I envied our pediatrician his privilege of sticking needles into he unwanted intruder and making her cry, something that I knew would have gotten me into serious trouble. "Timmy continually uses violent language" my mother noted in her diary. "This afternoon, he got very angry and came up with a real prize: "Betsy, I'm going to smash your little bones!" (pp. 21-22)

In addition to hearing Page's personal story, the reader gets a lighthearted tour through contemporary history, from the apocalyptic mindset of the Cold War, during the 50's and 60's, to the acid-laced culture of the 1970's. I loved the author's dry humor and his honesty in describing the awkwardness of his early sexual encounters and his disastrous experiences with recreational drugs. He also allowed intense affection and sadness to shine through, as when he described the death of adolescent friends in alcohol-related accidents.

I loved the way Page illuminated the way he sees the world, and much of it resonated with me. I wish he had delved more deeply into his relationships with peers. I got a clear sense of his emotions, his connections to other people, and his struggles to relate to others. And I got a peek at various friends from childhood and adolescence. Some of his escapades with friends were hilarious or heart-wrenching. However I would have loved to have gotten a better sense of how he formed friendships, given his difficulty at "reading" other people and having reciprocal conversations, and of the quality of these relationships. I am hopeful that, in time, he will write another book about himself, just as beautifully crafted, insightful, and funny, that will explore these questions further.

I highly recommend this book, especially to people who enjoy memoirs or are interested in Asperger's Syndrome.

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Mozart and the Whale

In many books and movies dealing with autism and Asperger's, a related disorder, a scene is added where a person, generally a psychiatrist, explains the situation to another character.

This is most likely not added to aid character or plot development. Probably this part is there to help people who are not in the know about it, in other words, people who don't get what these conditions are, so they'll understand the story better.

In Mozart and the Whale, the main character, Donald (Josh Hartnett), pauses in the beginning to talk about life with Asperger's. One might think these would be interesting, and a good departure from the "shrink explains" cliche, but actually it becomes rather irksome.

Judging from this movie, people on the autistic spectrum like nothing more than to sit around and discuss their conditions. Mozart and the Whale is a romantic drama based on the memoir of the same title, which I've never read. The main characters, Donald and Isabella (Radha Mitchell) have Asperger's Syndrome and meet during a support group meeting. The film chronicles how their relationship begins and the difficulties of trying to coexist in a romantic situation on the autism spectrum.

    Well, I'm guessing some people might have no clue what Asperger's is. I suppose, though, by telling you, I will be making the same mistake the film did and boring people who already understand it. I guess the difference was that Donald was discussing this with fellow Aspergians who were already in a support group and probably didn't need instruction.

   Then again, maybe you don't either. In that case, skip the following paragraphs and cut to the chase. Asperger's, in short, is a difference in the mind that cause difficulties relating to people, and in some cases, uncommon reactions to certain stimuli. It's related to a more commonly known condition, autism, but tends to be milder. People with Asperger's have problems with social skills, have certain interests they dwell on, and don't easily "change gears."

   Some of them are introverted, and others try to relate but come off as sort of odd. Introversion, possibly, could be a reaction to being misunderstood. Generally they are gifted and grow up to live more independently than people who are autistic. In the beginning of  Mozart and the Whale, Donald meets Isabella, a new addition to the support group. Isabella is a bright, excitable, and socially challenged artist who immediately tells fellow group members about being raped as a teenager.

   Obviously she is angered when a severely autistic woman displays a grossly inappropriate reaction and begins laughing, although she doesn't understand the woman's problems or her own flawed behavior. Infuriated, she is stopped from leaving by Donald, who convinces her to keep going to meetings. One of the group members has a nervous crush on Isabella, but she is more interested in Donald. Soon, she invites him to a costume party, which he doesn't arrive for.

   She comes and knocks on his door dressed as Mozart, and he joins her to walk with her, him in a whale costume (hence the title). They spend time together, and even a near-breakdown from stimulus overload at the carnival doesn't ruin the night. Before departing, they have their first kiss. After their bond deepens and they move in with each other, they start having problems in their relationship. Several times they leave each other but get back together.

   However, problems arise when Isabella feels that Donald is unaccepting and is trying to"'normalize" them for the outside world, and she and Donald break up. The two of them feel lost without each other and Isabella becomes suicidal, but they're afraid to get back together. Mozart and the Whale is a okay movie, although at times it becomes irritating, especially at the beginning.

   When we are first introduced to the main characters, the director seems to be afraid we'll forget the condition of the group members, so we're constantly hit atop the head with "autistic" symptoms. The characters mention their disorder just about every five minutes, and their "interests," such as mathematics or art, seem so hackneyed that it's difficult to relate to many of them.

    On the plus side, the movie is made so that each person, in many ways, is vastly different from the others. Although they share Asperger's, their general personalities and mannerisms are their own, though at times overdone. Actually, Donald and Isabella are not very alike, although they both lack proper social skills.

    All in all, Mozart and the Whale seems like more of a tool to explain Asperger's than a proper story. I don't have the book to judge from, but the film is well-intentioned but plods heavily at times. It's definitely not the worst view of the autistic spectrum, but it's far from the best.

Up High in the Trees by Kiara Brinkman

Mother got married on a sunny day ... Cass was already there, inside of her stomach. Mother could feel the baby kicking inside her the whole time. The baby kicked until mother kissed Dad and then the baby stopped kicking.

Where was I? I asked Mother.

You were up there in the trees. I was happy and kept jumping from one tree to another and the branches scraped my arms and legs when I jumped and landed, and jumped and landed. I had scratches all over. I could see the red scratches, but I couldn't feel them because I wasn't really me yet. I was just a part of Mother floating up in the trees.

Eight-year-old Sebby Lane tells this story in a poetic stream of consciousness style. He shared an intense bond with his mother who died, along with her unborn baby, after being hit by a car. He is often cared for by his teenage siblings, Cass and Leo. They are frustrated by his odd behaviors, like lying down, perfectly still, under a table in the library, but they are devoted to him.

After an incident at school, Sebby's father decides that the two of them will spend some time alone together. But the isolation causes Dad to unravel, leaving Sebby alone much of the time. As he tries to understand his loss, he writes letters to his teacher, offering vivid glimpses of his life and what's in his heart.

Sebby is deeply in tune with details, like his father's big, soft hands, the earthy smell under the sink, the crunch of frozen grass underfoot, and his sister's long, yellow hair flying in the wind. In many ways, the world through his eyes is a collection of images, like the snapshots he collects, along with sights, sounds, smells and tastes. So as Sebby quietly sifts through his thoughts and memories, he treasures certain objects that belonged to his mother -- a pair of shoes, an old photograph, a record album. In this way, he tries to make sense of what's going on around him and inside him.

This is a lovely book, full of vibrant detail, beautiful language, and partially suppressed pain -- and also a story of hope.

Many reviewers have said that Sebby has traits of autism or Asperger's. I agree. However, part of the beauty of this book is that there are no convenient labels; there is no line tidily drawn around what's "normal." The protagonist is neither "autistic" nor "neurotypical" -- he is just Sebby. What makes this book stand out is the richness and depth of his mind and his experience.


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Mary & Max

   Mary & Max, which, as you might have guessed from the trailer, is not for kids, is a grim, bleakly animated affair, and is allowed by the director the smallest rays of sunshine. It is the story of 352-pound Jewish New Yorker Max Jerry Horowitz and a lonely eight-year-old named Mary Daisy Dinkle, who lives with her alcoholic shoplifting mother and taxidermist father (whose middle name, "Norman," and hobby of stuffing birds may be an oblique reference to Psycho) in 1976 Australia.

   A male chicken named Ethel is young Mary's only friend, while Max lives with his pets, including an ever-dying line of fish, in a cheap apartment. Max doesn't know it, but he has Asperger's, a neurological, autism-like condition which impairs social interaction. It is quite a coincidence that Max and Mary meet.

    She picks his name from a phone book and decides to ask him where babies come from in America. She has been informed by her deceased granddad that Australians find them in beer glasses. Another name, and she could have picked a pedophile, who would have been very glad to hear from her, but for different reasons. (No, this is not a story about pedophilia.)

    Max answers, in his own eccentric and slightly unrealistic way, and an unusual friendship begins, despite interference from Mary's mother, who, frankly, has a reasonable motive to be suspicious of her child's strange new pen pal. This all leads to a conclusion that made me shed a tear for the first time in an animated movie since some of Pixar's new releases.

    Mary & Max's world is populated by strange claymation characters -- a Greek stutterer, an agoraphobic amputee, and a blind widow -- who are even stranger than they sound. The animation is detailed, gratuitously weird, and frankly, a little hard to take, but the story makes up for it.

   . The bitter-sweetness of the film makes it hard not to cry a little, think a little, and lament for the loneliness that hounds some people throughout their lives. Philip Seymour Hoffman does not sound like Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max and Toni Collette is good as the adult Mary. Mary & Max is not without humor and definitely worth a watch.

 

 

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

I was skeptical when I started Marcelo in the Real World by Francesco X. Stork. It seems that his knowledge of his subject -- a person on the autism spectrum -- stems from spending about a year working part-time with people with what we now euphemistically call "special needs." This included individuals who probably had Asperger's Syndrome, though that diagnosis wasn't added to the DSM until 1994. How could this author, a Boston attorney, have the understanding to create a rich, convincing portrait of a young man with Asperger's? However, I was pleasantly surprised.

The protagonist, Marcelo, is 17 and almost ready to start his senior year of high school. His father's income as founding partner of a law firm has provided the opportunity to attend Paterson, an excellent school for individuals with disabilities. There, he has been accepted for who he is and allowed as much time as he needs to process what's going on in his environment and finish tasks. This is the one place where Marcelo isn't rushed.

Like Christopher Boone, the Aspergian protagonist of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Marcelo has a special interest. While Christopher's passion is math, Marcelo is fascinated with God and religion. His family is Catholic, and he enjoys praying the Rosary. He also delves into the holy books of different religions, and his mother arranges for him to have regular discussions with a rabbi. This is not a pervasive interest that lends itself to static thinking -- he is not memorizing train schedules or sports scores. He is exploring abstract ideas, like Man's relationship to God and the experience of prayer.

When Marcelo finishes his junior year of high school, his father decides he needs to come out of the protected environment of Paterson and learn to cope with the "real world." This involves a summer job with his father's law firm, which is a bit like being thrown into a viper pit. While Marcelo asks his rabbi friend questions like "Why were Adam and Eve ashamed, after eating from the Tree of Knowledge, when they realized they were naked?" he experiences his own journey from innocence to knowledge. He is facing human evil in various forms. And he has to make some very difficult decisions.

As we watch Marcelo leave the Garden of Eden, we also see him struggle with various decisions -- large and small. He is no longer in a static world where tasks are clearly laid out, he gets as much time as he needs, and right answers are usually clear. He has to decide whether a task merits being done at a slow, meticulous pace or if it has to be done quickly. He has to "read" people who are not being straightforward about what they mean. He has to improvise. He is learning what the best autism therapies try to teach -- to "read" people and situations, adapt, solve problems, and make choices. Part of this is deciding how to respond to unethical behavior, even on the part of his own father. When his dad puts Marcelo in the "real world," he gets more than he bargained for.

I found Marcelo to be a multi-layered, believable character with a compelling story. There are many layers of truth in this novel, from how people with neurological differences learn to the role of faith in human life and the nature of good and evil. It's definitely a book I won't forget.

While I recommend this novel to all readers, especially young adults, it might have particular interest for teens on the autism spectrum. It could stimulate discussion about the particular gifts and challenges they face, relationships, and how they feel about their differences.

Check Out this Great Review of this Book: Marcello and the Real World at the YA YA YAs

And This Fascinating Post

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster

 

Thirty-nine-year old Edward Stanton has obsessive compulsive disorder and Asperger's Syndrome. His illness -- the OCD -- is treated with medication and therapy, and the Asperger's is just part of who he is: a bright, funny, methodical man who likes concrete facts and predictable routines. Edward has many abilities, but his rigidity and difficulty communicating with others have kept him from holding down a job. He is supported by his father, a wealthy developer and county commissioner.

Edward is often baffled by other people's behavior, and he vents his frustration by writing letters of complaint. After his complaints to a popular Country-Western singer escalated to the point where he faced legal action, an event later known as "The Garth Brooks Incident," his father decided Edward needed to move out. He now lives in a house his parents purchased and structures his life around careful routines.

Edward is sliding into middle age; like T.S. Eliot's J. Edgar Prufrock, he measures out his life in coffee spoons, focusing on quotidian household tasks, errands, visits to his therapist, and his favorite television program, Dragnet. However, changes are coming. Through his tentative forays into internet dating, his budding friendship with a neighbor -- a single mom recovering from an abusive relationship -- and her 9-year-old son, and a crisis that strikes his family, Edward finds his life changed in ways he'd never expected.

 This is not a fast-paced edge-of-your seat kind of story. We're guided through 600 hours of Edward's life, an existence that is defined, in many ways, by repetitive routines. However it is a wonderful character study with several interesting twists. As an Aspergian with OCD, Edward dislikes ambiguity. He has spent his life avoiding shades of gray; as he often tells you, he prefers facts. However he is facing incredibly ambiguous, emotionally laden questions -- the kinds of things that often overwhelm "neurotypicals." For example, how do you forgive, and fully love, a parent who has been unkind and has shut you out of his life? What should you do when what you're supposed to do conflicts with what you believe is right? What are the "rules" and boundaries of friendship? And, for God's sake, when you're on a date, how do you figure out what a woman wants?

All of this leads to a turning point in Edward's life -- a coming of age. And yes, I believe "coming of age" can happen at any stage of life. This is a sweet, funny and occasionally heartbreaking debut novel that will appeal to fiction lovers who enjoy character-driven stories. I look forward to seeing what Craig Lancaster creates in the future.

 Hat Tip to the FTC: I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, for review. Many thanks to Chris Cauble at Riverbend Publishing for this opportunity.  

Read more reviews: Life With Asperger's, That Chick That Reads, Coffee Books and Laundry; hear from the author at For the Sake of Joy  





Rating:4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me