The Speed of Dark
by Elizabeth Moon
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Read in October, 2007
In the future, science has progressed to enable people to live longer, to pay to have their brain chemistry altered so that they may enjoy greater longevity and functionality. People who commit acts of savagery are not locked in prison cells with violent recidivists, they are re-programmed, their antisocial urges removed so that they may be returned to society. In many other ways this future is no different from our present… except if you happen to have been born with autism. In this new reali...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Tom, Dawn, Luan, Melissa, Karen, Marci
I wouldn’t call this story science fiction even though it is set a little bit in the future. The timeframe is just far enough ahead to a time when scientiests have discovered how to correct the brain damage that causes autism. In The Speed of Dark, the protagonist was too old for the treatment by the time the breakthrough was made, but he was able to take advantage of some advanced treatment and training that helped him learn how to function in a more normal way than the autistic people...more
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Barely Sci-Fi. I understand that the book was pretty interesting, not terribly written, and fits very nicely into the modern P.C. zeitgeist, but it saddens me that both the Nebula and Clarke fell into the trap of picking the easy choice. Sci-Fi should never be about the easy choice.
It really feels like she stamped on the Sci-Fi elements in order to draw the specific audience. I hope that isn't true, because this just feels like a modern, pop-fiction, 'emotionally confessional' book with a ve...more
It really feels like she stamped on the Sci-Fi elements in order to draw the specific audience. I hope that isn't true, because this just feels like a modern, pop-fiction, 'emotionally confessional' book with a ve...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
science fiction fans, health professionals
The Speed of Dark is an eloquently written examination of the internal life of an autistic man, as he considers whether or not to try an experimental cure for his condition. It is told from the first person point of view of Lou Arrendale, and his voice is so strong and unique that I found myself becoming personally involved in his dilemma. I didn't want to loose his voice, or any of his uniqueness. Through the window of Lou's experienc...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Lisa by:
Jenniferrecommends it for: Everyone. Think about how you deal with people who are different from you.
What a special and beautifully written book. It presents autism from the autistic person's point of view, and he is someone you can really relate to and begin to understand. Through Lou, readers also see ourselves and our social group interactions--"normals"--from an outside perspective, which has caused me to think about some things in my life differently.
The book has a great plot, all while asking profound questions. It challenges readers to think about what makes them who they ...more
The book has a great plot, all while asking profound questions. It challenges readers to think about what makes them who they ...more
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Read in February, 2006
I wasn't really sure where to classify this book and I'm still not convinced if it's sci-fi or if it should be considered more related to psychology and mental health...
The story revolves around a group of workers with autism that play a special role within their company based on their talents. Because one of the company higher-ups feels that the autistic workers are a liability, they threaten to fire them if they do not have an experimental treatment that may cure them.
It was an inter...more
The story revolves around a group of workers with autism that play a special role within their company based on their talents. Because one of the company higher-ups feels that the autistic workers are a liability, they threaten to fire them if they do not have an experimental treatment that may cure them.
It was an inter...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
This book loosely resembles The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in that they both have narrators with autism, but there they diverge. The narrator of The Speed of Dark is Lou Arrendale, a man living in the near future when major developments have been made in treating individuals with autism. His work group consists entirely of people with autism. The group splinters when a new manager at the company learns of an experimental treatment that could cure autism, and d...more
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Read in April, 2008
Really, really liked this book. Told (for the most part) from the perspective of a high functioning autistic adult, it was a look into the different thought process of someone who "normals" think of as disabled. The thing I loved was the Lou is so normal! The things that he does that normal people would see as affected (seeing patterns in colors of the cars in the parking lot, counting things, focusing on music) don't seem all that odd when you know the thoughts and the decisions that ...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Just about anyone
There is no single thing about this book that I can say great things about, but there is absolutely nothing negative to say. In one of my groups' discussions I summed the book up with one word. "Wow".
I think Polyanna and Kim St. John nailed down some of my observations in their reviews. All I can add is the amazing bravery Lou shows in expanding his horizons throughout the book is inspiring. Though some people didn't like the end, it was the next logical step for him to take. I...more
I think Polyanna and Kim St. John nailed down some of my observations in their reviews. All I can add is the amazing bravery Lou shows in expanding his horizons throughout the book is inspiring. Though some people didn't like the end, it was the next logical step for him to take. I...more
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Read in January, 2007
I was intrigued because this book was mentioned several times at WisCon’06 as an example of disability in science fiction and austism in general. Congoers had varying opinions—some touted it as the Best Writing About Autism Ever, while others said it was unrealistic. I have little experience with autism (besides being in fandom and reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), so I can’t comment on how realistically Moon recreates an autistic experience. As a book, it’s qui...more
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Read in August, 2005
A group of autistic staff are "elite" pattern-recognition analysts at a major corporation, sometime in the future. Lou, the protagonist, is a high-functioning autistic & the reader is forced to consider the line between "normal" and "autistic" views of the world. Eventually Lou must choose whether to have experimental surgery that will cure his autism & change his life forever -- or continue on his present course. I felt this book described how autistic ...more
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Read in January, 2007
This book has everything going for it. It takes place in a future in which a young man with autism (Aspergers, really) is able to figure out patterns and is invaluable in the field of computers but unable to understand personal relationships. A “cure” is discovered in which he has the opportunity to become “normal.” This, however, would mean abandoning his own identity and his way of understanding the world, for something totally unknown. The story is written in the first person, and,...more
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Read in January, 2007
Elizabeth Moon's son is autistic, and her love for him comes through in these pages. The narrator is an autistic man who must navigate his own way through the world. The plot takes place in the near future, when there is minimal treatment for autistics, but enough that it they can care for themselves at a basic level. A treatment is invented that might allow an autistic to become just like everybody else, and the hero is forced to confront what it means to change, to become an entirely new pe...more
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I loved everything about this book except for the last chapter or two. I hated, hated, hated the ending, not because it was poorly written but because it seemed to betray the spirit of the novel.
Otherwise, I found this an enjoyable read that was hard to put down. Moon does a great job in assuming the voice and perspective of someone with unusually high functioning autism (due to futuristic advances in treatment). I do wish she'd done a better job of bringing in tidbits about the future world...more
Otherwise, I found this an enjoyable read that was hard to put down. Moon does a great job in assuming the voice and perspective of someone with unusually high functioning autism (due to futuristic advances in treatment). I do wish she'd done a better job of bringing in tidbits about the future world...more
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Lou Arrendale is one of those characters with whom a reader can fall in love. Moon depicts Lou with an amazing depth insight and with such care that it was easy to become engaged with Lou and with the choices that he had before him. Lou is someone who I will never forget and who broadened my perspective on humanity and human interactions. I found the ending bittersweet, and when I thought about what the alternative ending might have been it would have been equally bittersweet. Moon shows us the ...more
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Read in March, 2008
I liked this a lot, maybe for the same reason that other people didn't so much. This isn't a book about autism so much as book about one particular autistic character. Whatever larger themes it addresses they are always addressed from within the voice and the choices of this particular man. I admire the authorial discipline required to make that choice and to stick with it and I think it pays off. I don't feel like I was subjected to a polemic or educated about a disease, I feel like I met a ...more
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Dlora Dalton recommended this book and it was a winner. The book takes place in a future time when medical advances have cured most mental problems either befor birth or shortly after. This book is the story of a high-functioning autistic who was born before the cures were available and thus part of the last generation of autistic people.
It is a real opportunity to go inside of an autistic person's mind and life to better understand what life is like for them and to see how their minds work...more
It is a real opportunity to go inside of an autistic person's mind and life to better understand what life is like for them and to see how their minds work...more
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Lou Arrendale, an autistic man living in the future, is pressured by his boss to reverse his autism with a new treatment. His symptoms already somewhat controlled by medication, he lives independently and holds a full-time job where his different way of looking at things has, until now, been appreciated. Lou struggles to decide what to do. Would becoming “normal” outweigh the risk of losing what makes him unique? Is autism a disease or just an alternate way of life? A provocative and to...more
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Read in April, 2006
This book was a nice surprise. This is a book narrated form the perspective of an autistic character. The deft device of learning everything about the story and characters via an autistic narrator was daring enough, but to be able to make you care deeply about the main character and others in the story makes the feat more amazing. After looking at the other titles from the same author, it seems this was a departure in the type of sci-fi she usually writes. I often wonder what caused her to think...more
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This is set in the near future and centers around a high functioning autistic man who is faced with an experimental treatment and harassment from his employers. The plot is pretty unremarkable but what shines is the insight into the autistic mind. The author, Elizabeth Moon, has an autistic son and her compassion and knowledge of that world shines through in the writing.
I've probably read this book a dozen times and keep going back to it again and again.
I've probably read this book a dozen times and keep going back to it again and again.
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