indohyus's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I picked this up from the library during Banned Books Week. It was very good, and I quite enjoyed the narration's unwavering commitment to the protagonist's perspective. The book would not be the same without it. Thanks to this choice, as well as the matter-of-fact way the protagonist describes all that is relevant, I found myself empathizing strongly with him. I found many of the behaviors and thought patterns he exhibited are ones that I too experience in some circumstances. I appreciated that this book gave me a window into the perspective of another person who is both very close to and distant from myself, not only learning how he navigates life's complex challenges but also how he sees the biggest and smallest parts of the world-- cars, cows, creation, time, space. This book is written at a suitable level for audiences as young as middle-grade, and beyond serving as a means of empathy, I think this book could be a very useful tool for exploring what a novel can be and learning how to analyze a fictional text that provides a limited perspective. I would very roughly guess that took me 10 hours to read this book from cover to cover. 

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anjh's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

not rly sure what to say about this. it was good. not amazing but good. as an autistic person i related a bit to Christopher with his obsessions around numbers and perfection and maths but there were times where i felt a bit awkward reading it i guess? perhaps from empathy around feeling his discomfort in situations and social anxiety around awkward social interactions. 
i liked the graphics in this book and feel like it adds friendliness to it for younger readers especially. 

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buzzinfly's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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itsatyepo's review against another edition

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dark informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

A shocking representation of autistic people by a writer who said that “imagination trumps research” in response when asked if he did any research on autism. 

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pam_simpson06's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5


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vanessatombolini's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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scoads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A book with more than a few problems and an interesting yet problematic take on autistic stereotypes in young boys, but a very compelling and suspenseful story told from an interesting perspective, very close to my heart.

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camoo3032's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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lillelow's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read this when I was younger and for some reason something about it stuck in my head, so I decided to read it again as an adult. Apparently I’d forgotten most of the plot because I didn’t remember the major plot twist, but other than that, the book didn’t stand out to me as much this time around.

If you have no experience with autism and would like an insight into what that might look like (which I think everyone should) this will probably be a very eye-opening book and I’d absolutely recommend it. But if you’re already familiar with autism, I guess it doesn’t make that much of an impact - hence why I don’t find it as mind-blowing to read now as when I was younger and probably didn’t know as much. The story in itself is actually quite tragic and other than the plot twist, it’s all rather predictable - so the score ends up somewhere in the middle for me. 

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reddeddy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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