This is my first book blog, so I'm experimenting on how it should be done. So bear with me. I'm picking one of my favourite books, House Rules by Jodi Picoult, which right now is #46 on Chapters.Indigo's Top 50 Books.
My Sister's Keeper was my first Jodi Picoult book. I HAD to read the book since I had already seen the movie, and the books are ALWAYS better than the movies. Always. I've read quite a few of her books since then, and she has become my favourite author. She gets into your head and your heart as she combines love, romance, family relationships, courtroom thrillers, and controversial issues; that enthrall, and make it very difficult to put the book down.
House Rules, is about a teenager named Jacob Hunt, who has Asperger's Syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, he has a special focus on one subject – in his case, forensic analysis. He knows more than enough to replace Horatio Caine on CSI Miami (since everyone seems to hate that show because of him). Jacob keeps a police scanner in his room that clue him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what they're doing wrong. And he's usually right. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to him this time. All of the trademark behaviors of Asperger’s – not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate affect – can look a heck of a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder. House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way; but awful for those who don’t.
Jodi Picoult's cousin, who was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, was the starting point of the novel. I can relate to this because one of my younger cousin's has been diagnosed as having autistic tendencies. But the book is very well researched and educates you on what exactly some families have to go through on a daily basis and how the law and its enforcement, affects other people. The book keeps you spellbound by grabbing at your heart-strings and illistrating a searing examination of how we treat those who are different and the societal expectations we have of them.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone, as it will NEVER disappoint.
To get back to the Powassan and District Library website:
http://powlib.www2.onlink.net/
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