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ranniewhitlock 's review for:
When My Heart Joins the Thousand
by A.J. Steiger
This is a book where so many bad things happen right from the start that it loses its emotional impact. It feels like it’s constantly trying to outdo itself. We have all the difficulties that come with autism in our MC and osteogenesis imperfecta in our male - great! Love a good book about representation. But then we have our MC almost biting someone’s ear off, freeing a bunch of captured, about to be euthanized animals, breaking into a zoo and destroying a sign, keeping a wild animal in her one room apartment for weeks (?!) being “captured” by security guards, escaping security guards. Add in homelessness, emancipation, a murder/suicide attempt, themes of physical and sexual abuse, discrimination, romance…IT IS A LOT OF THINGS. TOO MANY THINGS. All the while being very heavy-handed.
I am not autistic, but I know and love a lot of people who are, and have taught kids on the spectrum as well. And Alvie just doesn’t quite ring true for me for some reason. I really wish she did, because I honestly can’t think of many books with an autistic main character. But in a book about dispelling stereotypes, we have some surprising stereotypes still embedded. Like this quote, from our main character: “he’s definitely not autistic, because his speech comes too easily, too fluidly.” Literally some of the most well-spoken, chatty people I know are autistic. I know that’s more rare than not, but you can’t just throw a blanket statement like that. Also Alvie is a savant character - obsessed with quantum physics from age 11, knows a ton about science, biology, human anatomy, animals, etc. but the autistic savant character is also a stereotype. I think this book did a good job addressing some stereotypes (like the misconception that people with autism don’t feel empathy, that they don’t have feelings, can’t have a relationship), but Alvie’s overall portrayal wasn’t as nuanced as I was hoping for.
ALSO can we not have graphic sex stuff between characters who are MINORS in a book marketed to MINORS?
But mostly there was just too much happening and it felt way too messy for me to suspend my disbelief and get invested in these characters or story.
I am not autistic, but I know and love a lot of people who are, and have taught kids on the spectrum as well. And Alvie just doesn’t quite ring true for me for some reason. I really wish she did, because I honestly can’t think of many books with an autistic main character. But in a book about dispelling stereotypes, we have some surprising stereotypes still embedded. Like this quote, from our main character: “he’s definitely not autistic, because his speech comes too easily, too fluidly.” Literally some of the most well-spoken, chatty people I know are autistic. I know that’s more rare than not, but you can’t just throw a blanket statement like that. Also Alvie is a savant character - obsessed with quantum physics from age 11, knows a ton about science, biology, human anatomy, animals, etc. but the autistic savant character is also a stereotype. I think this book did a good job addressing some stereotypes (like the misconception that people with autism don’t feel empathy, that they don’t have feelings, can’t have a relationship), but Alvie’s overall portrayal wasn’t as nuanced as I was hoping for.
ALSO can we not have graphic sex stuff between characters who are MINORS in a book marketed to MINORS?
But mostly there was just too much happening and it felt way too messy for me to suspend my disbelief and get invested in these characters or story.