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

2.0

Everything the author says about autism in this book is factually correct, but the book doesn't express the information about autism in a clear way. However, it would be fine to include in a list of books about autism and written by autistic people: some people might find it helpful. For me, it doesn't really work as a description of being autistic because the author jumps around the topic too much, and it's grasp what they're saying. As well as that, it doesn't work well as a memoir, because the author doesn't seem to have really processed what they're talking about emotionally: they qualify everything they say, and apologise to family members for writing about them in way that makes the work feel immature or uncertain. At times, the writing is so raw I feel protective of the author: "Don't put it out there yet!" I wanted to say. "It's clear you're not ready to talk about this!" Overall, I found reading this made me very uncomfortable, but I had a lot of empathy for the author and everything they have been through. My experience being autistic is very different, but I felt a similar level of pain and hurt.