It's a very easy read and I love being able to see through someone else's eyes and mind. At first I was confused as to why there were so many diagrams thinking 'have I got the right book?' The story was not really what I expected but it worked. I liked reading Christopher's flow of thoughts because it's somewhat similar to mine. His parents seem like they're trying their best but still they don't succeed in giving Christopher what he needs and that's just sad, like some parts of the story were really really heartbreaking. But I think it's done really well showing the ugly and real parts of living as a family and raising a disabled child. And also how Christopher navigates his world and how the people around him react to it.
I've heard a lot of praise for how it vocalized how someone on the autistic spectrum thinks and it's really interesting. The scenes of Christopher travelling on the Underground were so well-done and I felt genuine anxiety imagining how he was navigating through London. I found the whole book very easy to visualize and the story ran with a perfect pace, I enjoyed the tangents that Christopher went on - particularly gripping was his retelling of a recurring day/dream that he had involving most of the world dying from a virus (that only affects people that can mimic certain facial expressions). I thought in spite of everything it was a really grounded tale that focuses on the strain that Christopher caused between his parents and how difficult his life can be while also hopeful in what he hopes to achieve in his later years - while he can't be an astronaut, there's still hope that he can go on to do amazing things with his capabilities in science and math.
It also irritates me how they react to Christopher. I understand it's incredibly hard to work with a child classified as 'special needs', but there is such a lack of care and consideration sometimes for this child - though I understand how the parents become frustrated. It just feels as though they really could never and were never prepared to raise a child, which to be honest begs the question can anyone say that they are really prepared to raise a child? What does raising a child even mean? Sometimes I fear that people want children as a certain fulfillment to their lives, never truly realizing how difficult it would be to raise a human being...maybe I'm just rambling...yes I think I am. I just hope people take having children as a serious responsibility and not just something to do because it's what's "expected" of them.
