Review: Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

I finished Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison last night. For me, it was a fairly quick read and very interesting. It's a memoir of John's life with Asperger's Disorder, a mild form of Autism. Briefly, people who have Asperger's may be highly intelligent (Savants) in certain areas (John is highly intelligent in engineering), but are socially isolated and have a hard time expressing emotion and communicating with others. For example, John discusses several instances where he heard about someone's death, and despite feeling sad, or knowing it was bad news, was grinning while hearing it.

Summary: John is now in his 50's, but grew up almost his whole life never having a diagnosis for what was wrong with him. As a child and young adult, he had a very tough time fitting in with others and was often made to feel like an outcast or misfit. Many people wrote him off as just being "bad" or troubled, as Asperger's was really not heard of until more recent years. His childhood was difficult because of his inability to connect with others, and a very disturbing household with mentally ill and somewhat abusive parents. This memoir chronicles a lot of John's life from childhood until now. He regales us with many stories, both funny and sad. It is broken down into 30 or more chapters, each a story of its own that chronicles something about his life. Despite his Asperger's, he has managed to live a fascinating and successful life. At one point, he talks about how he got into engineering and the music scene, even going on tour for awhile with the band KISS and engineering guitars for them with special effects. He now owns a successful car repair business, is married and has a son. In his 40's, he was finally diagnosed with Asperger's, which revealed a lot to him and helped him understand himself.

My Thoughts: I thought this was a fascinating read. I really enjoyed having a peak into the mind of an Aspergian (don't know if this is the correct term, but it's what John uses). This story was funny at times, talking about how he has always given people his own names that he actually uses instead of their real names (Cubby for his son, Little Bear for his first wife, Varmint for his brother). He is also lighthearted and genuine about Asperger's, and makes light of it while still being honest and true. Some of this story was sad as well because John had to go through a lot of hard times to get to where he is today. It was nice to see that he was able to overcome the disorder though, and live a very happy life. This story was quirky, entertaining, and eye-opening. A must read for memoir lovers, or those that are interested in learning about Autsim disorders. His brother, Augusten Burroughs, is also the author of the very famous memoir, Running With Scissors (which is somewhere waiting to be read in my mammoth stack(s) of books!). Special thanks to my friend Sarah for recommending and loaning this book to me!

Rating: 4/5

*To learn more about Asperger's, I'd recommend visiting this website.

Currently Reading: Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. This is a novel written in 20-something short stories, that is supposed to be pretty scary. I'm a big Palahniuk fan, so am looking forward to this one.