A review by annecatz
House Rules by Jodi Picoult

5.0

This was an amazingly painful yet reaffirming book for me to read. I don't know how to describe it better than that. As a parent of an Aspie, I was intoxicated with the main character and all of his "isms" - while he is certainly more challenged than my own Aspie son, it felt eerily as if someone had peeked into my life and written down all the feelings as a mother that I've had. That being said, I can see how some other readers might have felt hit over the head with all of the Asperger stuff - but for those of us living it day-to-day, it was reaffirming to read it here, to see areas in which my son isn't so bad off, to live through the dynamics of another family. Still trying to decide how real the story was - at several points it seems to me some direct questions to Jacob could have cleared up a lot right away, and a couple of side story lines seemed more distracting than story-enabling. Engrossing, gripping read, though, and the Aspie stuff made the book for me.