Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

LOOK ME IN THE EYE: MY LIFE WITH ASPERGER'S; John Elder Robison; New York, Crown, 2007; 288pgs.; Non-Fiction

Augusten Burroughs’ bestselling “Running with Scissors,” features stories of his brother John Elder, diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome after thinking himself a misfit and loser for most of his life. John's situation caused much more public comment than much of the rest of the book, and in “Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s” John tells his story. Although John escaped the household before his parents got as mental and as abusive as they would be with his little brother, he still suffered from his mother’s mania and his father’s drunkenness. In addition, John was almost universally tormented for his weirdness—refusing to look people in the eye; being unable to respond logically to ordinary forms of discourse; choosing different names for people because their real names didn’t make sense to him; inventing and executing bizarre and dangerous practical jokes. What is so interesting and enlightening about “Look Me in the Eye” is Robison’s remarkable ability to share what it is like to have Asperger’s from the inside out. As time went on he learned what to say in order to be considered normal, though his interior life still differed vastly from what was common to others. This well-written, funny, fascinating memoir is nearly impossible to put down, and what an education in why one ought not to condemn others for their differences or ourselves for our own.

LW