Successfully Undiagnosed

By Kian Dunn

A crafted personal memoir, John Elder Robison, touches upon the process of growing up undiagnosed with Asperger's. In his personal narrative Look Me In The Eye,

Robison's life is brought to you from early childhood to adulthood with all the challenges and gifts presented to him.

John consistently struggles with socializing. From a young age many people assumed he was simply psychotic, due to his unusual social quirks. He was often taunted and bullied in elementary school. He was a social outcast. His ability to teach himself how to cooperate in conversation with others is often displayed throughout the narrative. His obsessive interest, displayed in the majority of people of the Autism Spectrum, was his downfall in high school, but his ascendance in adulthood.

Start with undiagnosed Asperger's, add bullies, and psychologically unstable parents, and you have a magnificent personal memoir. Robison's ability to capture the personal conflicts he faces, draws the reader in with undeniable attention. You are able to connect yourself with him and his struggles right from the beginning. The connection never ceases to disconnect throughout the memoir. The book can occasionally get mixed up as he may jump back and forth between years and you aren't exactly sure what stage in his life he is at, but you are able to figure it out by the middle point of each chapter.

If you live your life with an open mind, then with no doubt check this book out. Since I have already finished the book, I can dabble in some of his other three books (or maybe read this one again).