A review by andintothetrees
How to Be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe

3.0

Mixed feelings about this one... On one hand, I think it's great books like this (about autism, by autistic people) exist, and this was an enjoyable read. Also, props to the author for having the guts to put this very personal work out there for us all to see. I really enjoyed the chapters on the author's special interests too (e.g. body modification and fan fiction). But... the structure and depth of the book felt more like a series of blog posts than an actual book (which made it easy to read, but ultimately unsatisfying) and wasn't clear enough about what autism actually is (I came to this with a lot of prior knowledge, but if you didn't have that, I don't think you'd have learnt a huge amount). Finally, in keeping with the blog-like feel, I found the writing style rather immature at times - two specific examples being apologies to family members for writing about them/events that may upset them, and the frequent "jokes" or other comments about being "so old". Charlotte is in their early 30s. Yes, no longer a teenager, but hardly pension age.
ETA I also *really* wasn't into the ~creative writing~ bits in italics within the book. But I'll admit that's just not my cup of tea in terms of reading material anyway - maybe it's yours and you'll love them!