I am autistic and easily I found myself relating to aspects of Christopher's thinking within the first few pages, namely his sensitivity to colors, the "nonsense" rituals that accompany them and his fear that shouting precedes uncertain violence. Most of Christopher's thoughts and behaviors made complete sense to me because they are similar to challenges I encounter in my daily life.

From my perspective, Christopher's story contained no humor and was instead incredibly sad. The abrupt ending did not reassure me that he was truly safe and would go on to lead a life unmarred with serious trauma. From the painstaking detail that went into creating Christopher's thinking patterns, it's clear that the author has open-mindedly listened to autistic people's experiences. However, it surprises me that this novel has been heralded as a triumph of empathy when Christopher is continuously forced to live in fear because he receives so little of it.

Then again, I must keep in mind that when this book was released I was five years old and had recently been diagnosed with sensory integration disorder, which is now classified as sensory processing disorder and is no longer recognized as it's own medical condition, but a comorbid one that is diagnosed along with another disorder, such as autism, which my diagnosis was later changed to. My point being, when this book was released there were large misunderstandings about how to view and treat autism even among the medical professionals and therapists that guided me throughout my early childhood. Maybe in 2003 this really was the epitome of attempting to understand the "mysteries of the autistic mind", and I have to accept that while still demanding better representation in the present day.