My wife assured me that I did not need to read the two previous Rosie books to appreciate this one by the hilarious Aussie novelist, narrated in the first person singular by Rosie’s socially inept husband, Don. But then she conceded that I would have found the many characters much easier to keep straight if I had read the other two books.
The characters are indeed a mishmash of social misfits, including Rosie and Don’s eleven year old son, Hudson, and his albino classmate named Blanche. Political correctness is pilloried as Don gets suspended from his job as a university genetics researcher for his apparently inappropriate characterization of racial differences in a lecture, only to find a calling as a high end cocktail innovator. Numerous social gaffes by several characters lead them to consider whether or not they belong on the spectrum of autism. The criteria for this now popular diagnosis are also mocked as several characters, including the narrator, self-diagnose the condition, even as they develop advanced social skills. The reader is left with the impression that almost everyone has some of the traits said to be characteristic of autism. They are all ‘autistic’ or ‘people with autism’ as the debate rages about which is the correct wording. At the most basic level, the serious message from this not-very-serious book is about being comfortable with who you are.
The characterization of school authorities and school psychologists as they work with parents to ensure that all children ‘fit in’ is also subtly mocked. In the past, when autism was not a well recognized condition, and the school psychologists were all amateurs known as teachers, we just considered those children ‘on the spectrum’ to be weird or social misfits. Now it appears that getting a diagnosis of autism is an acceptable explanation for all kinds of unusual behaviour and socially unacceptable conversations and actions. Perhaps I should seek a diagnosis of autism to justify my frequent embarrassing social gaffes.
I enjoyed reading this book, but I would recommend reading the previous two Rosie books, The Rosie Project, and The Rosie Effect, first, and in that order.
The Passionate Reader 