The Speed of Dark in The Alternative Worlds

Aug 19, 2008 Sandi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2009, sci-fi, cross-genre

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Jul 30, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

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 quite good, ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 Kara Babcock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, science-fiction, 2018-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. As with Sophie’s World , I had the opportunity to re-read The Speed of Dark because I’m giving a copy to a friend for her birthday (this time it’s Rebecca—so many birthdays in February!). Here’s my first review, from 2010. I still agree with most of it, particularly my past self’s views on the one-dimensional antagonists. However, I think my understanding of autism or otherwise neurodivergent people is slightly better than it was 8 years ago, and that has probably influenced my perspective so ...more

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Sep 14, 2009 Kara Babcock rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, 2010-read, owned, 2010-best10, nebula-winner

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Aug 18, 2008 Lori rated it liked it

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Nov 26, 2021 Simon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

I was recommended reading this after I read Flowers for Algernon years ago. I finally got around to picking it up and reading it. I suppose I kept expecting the plot to unfold in a similar way but this was quite different.

I imagine that the author did a good job of getting inside the head of the autistic protagonist in a story set in our near future in which most autistic people are now detected in the womb and treated before they are born so that they are "normal". The protagonist Lou is one of I was recommended reading this after I read Flowers for Algernon years ago. I finally got around to picking it up and reading it. I suppose I kept expecting the plot to unfold in a similar way but this was quite different.

I imagine that the author did a good job of getting inside the head of the autistic protagonist in a story set in our near future in which most autistic people are now detected in the womb and treated before they are born so that they are "normal". The protagonist Lou is one of the last generations of autistic people and he gets by with a good job and a number of friends but he (and his fellow autistic colleagues) come under pressure by his employer to participate in an experimental treatment program aimed at curing his autism.

Most of the book is in fact how he reacts to this pressure and makes efforts to understand the brain and how such a treatment might work. Is he happy enough how he is and should he try to change? What if he's not the same person afterwards? Also we see how he becomes the target of misplaced anger from someone he considered a friend in his fencing group and how he struggles to come to terms with feelings he feels for a woman in that group that he can't bring himself to articulate or act upon.

The book is written mainly from the point of view of Lou and as such we see the way he sees the world and the way his thought processes work. The way he struggles with the ambiguities of speech and his constant fear that he is accidentally offending people or making them angry. He compulsively obsesses over minute details of his daily life, his fixed weekly routine.

Throughout the book he ruminates on the speed of dark and whether it is faster than the speed of light. The story keeps coming back to it and I just never really got the point the author was trying to make with it which, I guess is key to the whole story. It was engaging enough but at times the continued belabouring of the protagonists obsession if the minutiae of his life began to get a little wearing.

A fairly good book but not, for me, in the same league as 'Flowers for Algernon'. ...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Suz rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, alternate, non-men-sff-authors, science-fiction, award-winner

This book nearly got three stars because of the ending.

Lou Arrendale is an autistic near genius (definitely autistic, and the genius is implied) who works at a pharma company in their bioinformatics department. He and several other autistics are employed by the company and are given accommodations so that they can work comfortably and efficiently. Their section (Section A) has proven efficient and profitable for the company.

A new man, higher up (under the new CEO) is resentful of their accommoda ...more

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Dec 14, 2009 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, book_club, award_winner

in the very near future, Lou is a near-savant autist whose flawless pattern recognition ability makes him valuable to the pharmaceutical company he works for. a new manager decides that removing the supportive environment for the "special employees" is a great way to cut costs, so he threatens to fire them if they don't undergo an experimental new treatment to reverse autism.

this could have been written as a heartbreaking cautionary drama, a corporate thriller, or perhaps a novel of scientific d ...more

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