Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s, Book Review Example

In this highly entertaining book, John Elder Robison explores his personal life and struggle with Asperger’s Syndrome which he describes as dating back to 1981 via Austrian psychiatrist Hans Asperger; in 1984, Asperger’s was fully recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and then added to its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of the profession of psychiatry (2008, p. 3). Robison also adds that Asperger’s Syndrome, although considered as an abnormal mental condition, “isn’t all bad” since it can bestow “rare gifts” for the afflicted child. For example, some children with Asperger’s have gone on to become “brilliant engineers or scientists,” while others have exhibited “perfect pitch and otherworldly musical abilities” (2008, p. 4). Overall, being diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at a young age made Robison a special child, even though he experienced great difficulty fitting in with his environment and had an especially poor relationship with his alcoholic father.

Look Me in the Eye is divided into twenty-nine chapters or sections and begins with Robison describing how he was seen by his parents and family members as a “misfit” who was much unlike other children of his age. Around the age of eight or so, Robison realized that he was different and in some ways used this as an advantage to get what he wanted from this parents and often escape from being punished by his doting mother. Robison also vividly describes his relationship with his father who bought “Gallo wine by the gallon jug” and often drank long into the night (Robison, 2008, p. 2). Some of Robison’s close relatives even went so far as to call him a “sociopath” and a “psycho” which caused Robison to withdraw into himself and read about “deviant personalities,” all the while wondering if one day he would “go bad” and grow up to be a psychotic killer or end up in a “vicious state prison like Attica” in New York State (Robison, 2008, p. 2).

Some of Robison’s experiences as a child are especially heart-breaking and bring to mind a child that has been left behind by society, his parents, and those whom he loves the most. For example, in the section called “A Little Misfit,” Robison declares that “all my attempts to make a friend had failed. I was a failure. I began to cry” and in the corner of the school playground, “I sobbed and smashed the toy truck” he had been playing with “into the ground again, and again, and again” (2008, p. 10). Also, Robison provides some great details related to his inability to feel empathy for other persons. For instance, Robison relates that he once tried to pet a small girl as if she was a dog. But it “never occurred to me that Chuckie (the small girl) might not respond to petting in the same way a dog would. Also, Robison often tried in vain to act “normal” in front of his teachers but failed miserably. “My teachers,” he says, “and most other people saw my behavior as bad when I was actually trying to be kind” (2008, p. 11).

Although Robison suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome all the way through childhood and into his teen and adult years, he nonetheless managed to overcome some of the symptoms of the disorder or to live with the symptoms as best as he possibly could. Today, Robison is happily married with one son and works for his own business company as a restorer of rare European automobiles. Robison also acts as a role model for others stricken with Asperger’s Syndrome and speaks in public meetings all over the United States. Certainly, Look Me in the Eye symbolizes how an affliction as serious as Asperger’s can be relatively overcome in order to live as normal a life as possible and be accepted by society as a fully functional and caring human being.

References

Robison, John Elder. (2008). Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s. New York: Three Rivers Press.