Customer Rating: 
Summary: Audio CD Review - Better than the Book
Comment: This otherwise excellent novel truly comes alive in the reading. If you're able to get and listen to a copy of Jeff Woodman's remarkable reading of this novel (available from RecordedBooks.com), do so by all means. Woodman brings a deeper and more authentic dimension to the story overall. I mean, it's a British novel with British (mainly English) idioms and expressions: "hearing" the dialog in your head is not the same as hearing it spoken aloud. Jeff Woodman's rendition of the various characters and their different British accents is extremely faithful and "spot on" as they say across the Pond. In particular, his voices of the various police officials and minor characters in the novel (ticket kiosk attendants, store clerks, neighbors, etc.)that Christopher the protagonist encounters are scary good.
As for the merits of the book itself, as the parent of a "special needs" child (who is now 25), I can say that Christopher's parents' respective challenges with having a child with Asperger's Syndrome were faithfully represented without being overdrawn or melodramatic. A profound book on many levels.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a very interesting book
Comment: I absolutely loved this book, it had many twists and was an interesting look to someone else's life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A different way to tell a story
Comment: I loved the different approach of hearing the story from the perspective of an autistic character. It certainly added a fresh element to the humdrum of a lot of modern fiction. This book was captivating, and I not only wanted to know what happened next, but how it would be perceived by Christopher. If you want something different that's a relaxed and entertaining read, then pick this up.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Curiouser & Curiouser
Comment: This book takes the reader into a different world--the world that seems the same as our world, only this child sees the information in another dimension. The character, Christopher Boone, takes the reader into the world of autism. I am currently using this book with an 8th grade reading group, and we are reading it aloud. Reading the book aloud brings the difference in thinking and processing and the humor and pathos to the table. The kids are fascinated by the out-of-the-norm way this character views the world. To them, it is a mystery how this child thinks and functions in our fast-paced society. I highly recommend this mystery for children and adults.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: In Poor Taste
Comment: I'm surprised by the glowing reviews this book got. I really thought it was a terrible diservice to "aspie" people. The boy seems to not care about anyone and the adults in this book are all totally screwed up. I don't like the connection that people are bound to make that the parents of children with autism can't handle the complex life they have been given. While well written in a literary sense, this book leaves you sad and feeling as though people are truly pathetic. Not a good read at all and not at all a true vision of what autism really looks like.
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