The dark and the light

Two of the most recent books I've read have been polar opposites.

First I listened to the audio book of Sonya Hartnett's Surrender, in which a young man on his death bed remembers the harrowing events of his childhood. This incredibly dark tale recounts the twisted friendship between repressed Anwell (who at the age of seven accidentally killed his disabled brother) and free-spirited Finnegan. In a moment of bonding, Finnegan absolves Anwell from doing any wrong and names him Gabrielle. Finnegan vows to always do bad so that Gabrielle can always do good. Finnegan begins by setting fire to things and those things always belong to people who have crossed or slighted Gabrielle in some way. Gabrielle grows increasingly anxious at Finnegan's retribution and their friendship gradually erodes. As the lines between good and evil start to blur the story gets even darker.

Not a book for the fainthearted, but a beautifully told tale nonetheless.

And then there's The Rosie Result. I adore the Rosie books by Graeme Simsion. Heartwarming, funny and uplifting they are a delight to read. The first two books in the series probably had more laugh-out-loud moments than this third and final instalment, but as the parent of someone on the autism spectrum I found The Rosie Result highly relatable. Don and Rosie's son has issues at school. The school would like to have Hudson assessed for autism, but Don and Rosie are reticent. Don decides to take time off work (which wasn't going so smoothly anyway) to help. Applying his unstinting logic to the Hudson project, Don manages to make things a whole lot worse before they get better. 

Amidst the hilarity, The Rosie Result debunks many of the myths surrounding autism and addresses some of the problems faced by many parents with kids on the spectrum.

And to finish, a quote that is neither dark nor light, but important:

'I'm not a person with autism any more than I'm a person with lesbianism. I'm lesbian. I'm autistic. When I get a cold, I have a cold; I'm a person with a cold and I want to get rid of it. Medical help appreciated. But being autistic and lesbian – that’s who I am, and I’m not interested in anyone trying to cure me of who I am.' - Liz the autism activist from: The Rosie Result – Graeme Simsion