isabookabel's Reviews (299)

Undoubtedly brilliant writing but the form of weaving one story into into another into another probably just wasn't for me - was very well read on audiobook but I needed to be paying a lot of attention because of this and so may have missed finer details.

Initially thought this was a 3.5 then a 4 star - possibly because of the ambiguity - but months later and this means I'm still thinking about this book and already debating a reread, has to be 5 🌟

Didn't have the time before I had to give it back to the library.

If I could give this zero stars I would - a very problematic book. I went into reading it open-minded and curious but found myself angrier with each page. It's interesting to see what the theory is and the viewpoint of those who believe in it but that's it. Multiple suggestions of linking autism to vaccines, suggestions of improving or curing autism (for who?!), that autistic people are unable to access their emotions and have 'temper tantrums', are just a few of the things I took issue with. Her tone throughout is so othering and deficit driven it revolted me. Took me ages to read despite only being 100 odd pages because it made me so annoyed. Lots of 'references' or things which look like references throughout, some of these appear to be where she's just changed her font type, the majority of ones by other authors are all by the same guy, who came up with the theory.

Genuinely think this book is dangerous as it speaks with such confidence about autism in such a problematic way. If you didn't know much about autism this could give you really misshapen views.