why i'm old and bent and devil-spent, running out of time
Book Report #97, Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark
Quite an impressive piece of work. One of the things I was most interested in was how the book itself succeeded in making me anxious, which is to say, made me feel the protagonist's anxiety as life is sort of rushing at him from all directions. At one point, I almost didn't want to keep reading, because it was too hard to maintain my separation from the story.
Also, Ms. Moon can write. I love the parallax view of Lou's view of Mr. Aldrin, and Mr. Aldrin's view of Lou.
That said, I did think the characterizations were a little one-dimensional, and would have liked people to vary from their assigned roles as heroes and villains a little more. Which I think was why I liked Aldrin so much; he's complex, and has moral weaknesses and strengths.
Quite an impressive piece of work. One of the things I was most interested in was how the book itself succeeded in making me anxious, which is to say, made me feel the protagonist's anxiety as life is sort of rushing at him from all directions. At one point, I almost didn't want to keep reading, because it was too hard to maintain my separation from the story.
Also, Ms. Moon can write. I love the parallax view of Lou's view of Mr. Aldrin, and Mr. Aldrin's view of Lou.
That said, I did think the characterizations were a little one-dimensional, and would have liked people to vary from their assigned roles as heroes and villains a little more. Which I think was why I liked Aldrin so much; he's complex, and has moral weaknesses and strengths.
lazy
I will never re-read /The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time/. I'm sort-of glad I read it, because it was brilliantly done, particularly letting you observe what the narrator sees but doesn't understand, but it made me cry.
My youngest brother is a high-functioning autistic and the contrast between his life and the boy in /Curious Incident/ is too much, and I got upset thinking of all the other children who don't have parents as forceful and determined as ours.
/Speed of Dark/ is much more positive a read, while still conveying that different way of viewing the world.
We (by which I mean me and my husband) have an autistic family member, and two autist friends (+ one borderline). It is an interesting insight...and the feedback from other autists seems to be that she has, indeed, captured something of the experience.