Look Me in the Eye

Title:Look Me in the Eye
Author: John Elder Robison
Series: None
Genre: Non-Fiction




I passed this book at Target and the title and cover drew me in. I read the back and knew it was right up my alley.

Look Me in the Eye is the memoir of John Elder Robison. His brother has written other books such as Running with Scissors. John Elder (as he is mostly called) has Aspergers, which wasn't diagnosed until he was in his forties. The story follows his life and all the struggles he went through.

One interaction that I love throughout the book is that of John Elder (JE) and his little brother (Given name Chris, later changed to Augusten) One of JE's quirks is that he names people/places instead of calling them by their given name. He originally calls Chris/Augusten Snort when is a baby and as a small child he calls him Varmint. There are some touching passages between the two early in life, such as when JE teaches him to walk.

JE's parents have a rocky life, his Mom ending up in a mental hospital for a while and his father an abusive drunk. This in combination of his struggles from his social short comings leads him to have a rough childhood.

I felt the story was touching and a wonderful insight into the way that Aspergarians think. I do feel, however, that each chapter could almost be read individually because sometimes thier chronological order is a bit off. Characters would be refered to that I didn't remember reading about yet. There was a time when one chapter he was married to his first wife, the next chapter to his second, and the third chapter he talks about divorcing the first and marrying the second. It was just a bit off.