By: Jodi Picoult
“Rest easy, real mothers. The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one.”
Jacob hunt as Asperger’s Syndrome – he has high functioning autism. But he is still autistic. He cannot read social cues, cannot feel empathy, lives by rules, and is obsessed with crime scenes and forensic science. Jacob is arrested for the murder of his tutor. His lawyer wants him to go with the affirmative defense of not guilty by reason of insanity due to his Asperger’s. Jacob just wants to tell the truth. But what is the truth?
When you read a book by Jodi Picoult, you know that it’s going to be highly emotional, polarizing, well researched, and deep. That’s exactly what this book was. There is an in depth discussion of Asperger’s. I am slightly familiar with it, but for anyone who isn’t, this book does a great job of explaining symptoms and trying to get you feel what it’s like to be a person with it.
The court case part of this was particularly interesting to me just because of the nature of my profession. I appreciated everything that Oliver, Jacob’s attorney, did for Jacob. Every strategic move, every word and thought.
Another beautiful thing about this book was the focus on the sacrifice that Jacob’s mom, Emma, has made in her life in order to care for him. The same goes for his brother Theo. Things in their family looked a little different – colors of foods on specific days, Jacob’s need to watch a certain show at 4:30pm every day, etc… It’s not easy raising kids no matter what. Picoult really made Emma and Theo human, they tried to do their best, but sometimes, they made mistakes and were just human.
This is a fantastic book and one that I suggest everyone to read. If for no other reason than to gain a better understand of those that are different from you and to gain some empathy.
You can find a copy of this book here.
Book Addict Book Blog 
This was a decent read but the autism rep was way off, as somebody with autism spectrum disorder. Most people with autism DO have empathy, they just feel it differently. Jacob came off as selfish to an extreme degree and is not a typical example of someone on the spectrum. It felt like Picoult read a bunch of Tony Atwood books and cobbled together every conceivable symptom into a single character. A lot of the book was contrived and Picoult’s understanding of high-functioning autism was off, IMO. I haven’t read any of her other books.
LikeLike
I can completely understand all of this. In fact, a lot of people in my book club said the same. This was written many years ago, so I do give her a little leeway. I would hope that if the book were written today, it would be different.
LikeLiked by 1 person