Cinderella with Wrong Shoes: Poems by a young woman with autism [Paperback]

Autumn Fan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2001

Champagne sparkles. Champagne has a tiny bit of bitterness When swallowed. Our lives are like that. Many struggles lead to sparkle. from A Brighter Tomorrow by Jennifer Fan Since childhood Jennifer Fan has been unique. She had trouble concentrating and struggled to keep up with kids her age. After a psychotic episode in April 2000, Jen was diagnosed with Asperger's disorder which is also called higher fuctioning autism. As Jen recovered from her mental breakdown, her mother, Autumn Fan, strived to see the world through Jen's eyes. At Autumn's urging, Jen recorded all her fears, pain, joy, love, and her appreciation of life in a collection of poems. Through poetry, both mother and daughter are learning more about living with autism and how beautiful, simple and special that life can be.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jennifer Fan is an education major at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. She experienced learning difficulties throughout her youth yet never lost her ability to enjoy nature, to love and to hope. She lives in Holmdel, New Jersey with her parents. Autumn Fan is a free-lance journalist, writer and poet. She has raised two daughters with special needs: Jessie, a gifted child who is now a medical doctor and Jennifer, who is learning to cope with Asperger's syndrome.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (December 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595211054
• ISBN-13: 978-0595211050
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,819,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the world of autism, February 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cinderella with Wrong Shoes: Poems by a young woman with autism (Paperback)

This is a wonderful and easy to read collection of poems written by a young woman diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. It includes elegant observations about her life: the people she meets, nature and wildlife, growing pains, depression and illness. Highly recommended for readers who interact with people with autism.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable poetry, May 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cinderella with Wrong Shoes: Poems by a young woman with autism (Paperback)

I rarely find poetry that is easy to read. Most of it is convoluted in structure, or overly metaphorical. Not this book. Jennifer Fan's poetry reads like sentences, with pauses to call emphasis to certain phrases and images. She unobtrusively explains her metaphors, and discusses her own life and her observations of the world around her.

Among the topics she discusses are feeling different, wondering if she is sheltered, compassion toward animals, God, her close relationships to her mother and family, death, memories, fear about the future, depression, psychosis, American and Taiwanese cultures, and everyday life. There are too many topics to list. Her mother, Autumn Fan, adds a foreword and occasional brief comments after the poems.

The author quietly and unselfconsciously breaks the stereotypes of the uncaring, unfeeling autistic person, but her poetry is good in its own right. It makes everyday images seem unusual and important, which is what good art should do.

Some people will inevitably look at this book as an autism book, and try to dissect the writing for clues as to the nature of the autistic mind. This is what happens when autistic people write books. However, this is not an autism textbook, nor is it a classic memoir or a political book. It is primarily a book of good poetry, and it is enhanced for me by the fact that it is written by a member of my own (autistic) neurological culture.