House Rules by Jodi Picoult

I loved this book. It was recommended to me by someone who knows that I have a son with Aspergers Syndrome. Jodi's portrayal of what her characters life is like seems very well researched.

Jacob is 18 years old and his obsession is forensic science. He has an extremely high IQ but his Aspergers makes life difficult for him. His favorite show is CrimeBusters and he watches it every day at 4:30. He writes notes as he watches, he knows which episode numbers relate to what case and everything that happened on the show. And yet he watches them over and over and takes notes each time. He doesn't quite grasp the fact that the show will always end the same way. 

When his tutor is murdered Jacob is arrested and put in jail. Anyone who knows anything about Aspergers knows that went over like a lead balloon and caused a reversion in his behaviours. 

This book was difficult to read. My son is not like Jacob. No two Asperger individuals will be alike. My son doesn't have a high IQ but unlike Jacob he does have a driver's license. Of course we had to wait until he was 20 before we felt it was safe for him to learn to drive. He has had his license for almost 10 years now and no accidents. In many ways he functions better day to day than Jacob but the similarities, the problems socially, misreading cues, etc. are all too familiar to me. 

It's my hope that people who don't know about this Syndrome will read the book and it will become better known. It's an "invisible disorder". People who meet my son think he is shy or eccentric but other than that "normal" in their view of normal.