The Speed of Dark

While a number of books have made me stop and think, I can't remember the last time a book made me stop and think about myself. Lou Arrendale was born autistic. Through therapy he was able to lead a normal life, but it doesn't change the fact he is autistic. Until he is offered a chance to change.... I suffer from a mood disorder that is similar to clinical depression. It's hard to describe. Periodically, I will feel either normal or incredibly depressed for no apparent reason. Many people thought I was simply being difficult or being "whiny." I wish it were that easy. Recently I have begun taking medication to help this condition. It limits my mood swings to bearable levels, but it is something that has, and will, always be a part of me. Being this way as a child certainly set me apart from other kids and I was often the subject of ridicule, just as Lou was. Although Autism is certainly more severe than what I suffer from, I recognized many of the questions that Lou asked himself. What are they trying to tell me? I know I should say something, but what? They are looking at me funny, did I say the wrong thing? Was that a social cue? Should I have responded to that? I don't pretend to be a Lou Arrendale, but I saw parts of myself when I read this book. Now I wonder: What if I was offered the chance to change? What if I could become a "normal" person? Would I do it? And if I did, would I be the same person? Would I be better, or worse? I used to think that I wanted to be more like everyone else, to be able to socialize with others without concern, to not have to worry about what mood I will be in when I am at work or class. After having read this book, I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe if I were to become "normal," I would no longer be myself. This one is a must buy and a must loan-to-a-friend. The writing makes you believe that you are in the mind of an autistic. The only nit I would have is that some of the villains were a little shallow and predictable, seeming to exist only to further the plot. Regardless, they end up playing a minimal role, so it is easily forgivable. You see and feel what Lou sees and feels, and when he makes a final decision as to what to do ... well, I wonder if I would have the courage to do the same.

Set in the future (though the book never specifies when), when medical advances has made autism a thing of the past, this is the story of Lou, a highly functioning autistic man - one of the last autists in existence. When Lou is given the choice to undergo treatment to become "normal", he must decide whether to venture into the unknown, or remain his familiar, but flawed, self.Elizabeth Moon is a mother of an autistic child herself, and you can tell she knows the condition inside and out by the way she tells her story from the viewpoint of an autist. The Speed of Dark poses the question: How much would you do to become normal and accepted? How much would you sacrifice of your true self? And then Ms. Moon sets out to answer that question in the guise of Lou Arrendale, who is at once likable yet, at times, infuriating. The book is exhausting to read - I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to live with autism! And at the end of the book, we are given some answers... but also left with one final question: What, exactly, is normal?

I just finished reading this book. WOW! I didn't realize when reading the dust jacket that the story happens some time in the future. Very thought-provoking topic. My eyes have been opened wider than usual, and my mind has definitely been challenged. I've got some serious thinking to do!The book was well written and the story was easy to understand; however, I did become emotionally overwhelmed at times while reading it and needed to take occasional breaks because of this. Well worth reading. I give it two thumbs up!

Most fiction writers portray people with autism as freaks and highlight the spectrum's most extreme behaviors. In *The Speed of Dark*, Elizabeth Moon accurately identifies and addresses the real issues that autists face through the point of view of an autistic man, Lou. Lou has learned to function well enough within "normal" society to hold a job and to live independently. His company recognized that people with autism often have an unusual talent for pattern-recognition and created an autist-friendly division in which Lou and other people with autism work. Problems arise when a new supervisor questions the cost-effectiveness of the program and suggests (in a most coercive way) that Lou and his coworkers undergo an experimental procedure which may "cure" them of their autism. As the parent of two children who fall on the autism spectrum, I commend Ms. Moon's grasp of the major issues and their implications. She clearly understands the limitations that sensory integration disorder (the inability to efficiently and accurately process sensory input) places on life skills, the need for routine, and the feeling of living in an alien environment while surrounded by humanity. In fact, what I found most compelling was Lou's continual analysis of his every action, his need to evaluate and reevaluate, so as to appear "normal". Each day required thousands of decisions, decisions most of us make intuitively and without thought. The most mundane activities--walking through airport security, asking a woman out, deciding where and what to eat--become trials for him.Another area she addressed well was the problem that people with autism and other disabilities face when their superiors, immediate or higher up the line, decide that those with special needs are not worth accommodating or resent them for their special status. While a person in a wheelchair may advocate effectively because s/he has adequate communicative and social skills, how do people whose disability lies in their inability to communicate effectively cope? What kinds of safeguards are required to ensure compliance with the law? Those of us with special needs children deal with this daily when schools fail to deliver promised services to our children. The problem continues in the workplace. Finally, she forced me to think about "normal" and its parameters and to reassess its desirability for my children. Is it fair to make normalcy their goal, when their paradigm differs so radically from the norm? Clearly they must learn to cope with a world which is foreign to them, but should we, as a society, hold up normal as the grail? Are they flawed individuals in need of "repair" or does their orientation have validity? This book will make you think and think hard about autism and how it impacts on both the individual and society.

What are you willing to do to fit in? Feel normal? Feel acceptance? That is the premise of the book. I found it intriguing and engrossing to read. I stayed up several nights until 1:30 am reading this book, I didn't want to put it down or leave off where I was at in the book. Initially, when the book arrived and I read the content, "autistic person struggles" I was prepared to do my duty, read the book and give the review, anticipating that this would be another boring book on the hardships of person suffering from autism. Boy did I miss the mark! Yes, that is part of what the book is about. But even more, this book is about how we look for acceptance from self and others, how we interact with the world, how we interact with others, the constant and evolving process of developing our own process of understanding and making sense out of the world and defining our place in it. This book also asks us to question "social convention" as to whether it is an honest interaction between people, or even an honest response. While discussing the main characters difficulty reading social cues, Ms. Moon asks us to question our own acuity in reading emotional nuance, facial cues, body cues, intonation meanings and the many other cues and signals that we process constantly, often automatically. How often have I decided I knew what another person meant, only to find out how grossly wrong I was in my ascertaining their response. I could certainly stand improvement in my abilities to read these cues and the resulting decisions that I make. Ultimately, Ms. Moon encourages us to openly discuss our assumptions and interpretations. She is quite right. Bravo!