Customer Reviews

So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice'

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I love the many scholarly approaches which can be taken for all of the world's great literature! This is definitely one of my favorites. This is NOT a sequel, or fanfiction at all. It is one author's interpretation of the various personalities found in "Pride and Prejudice". Her field of expertise is in autism, and she effectively proved that all of the characters exhibited autism in some form and some degree. Autism is a condition that was completely unknown during Jane Austen's time, and so this is a fresh and maybe 'radical' view for all of us Austenites.
This is a very well-written book and while I may not agree with every chapter, I greatly appreciate her point of view and respect her ability to prove her theory. A very good and interesting read for a different perspective on a beloved classic of English literature.

I have always enjoyed Jane Austen-one reason was her eccentric, quirky, off-beat characters. She was very talented at making her characters "individuals" and "real," quirks and all.

I also enjoyed Charles Dickens for the same reason-his quirky off-beat characters.

However, to say fictional characters have Aspergers or autism, I find a bit far fetched. They were not "real" people, even if many fans almost feel they were real people. Unless Miss Austen fashioned each of these characters after a person she knew in real life, I do not see how this could be possible.

I did however enjoy reading this, it helped me to understand Aspergers better. A few years ago, at age 50, I was diagnosed with having aspects of Asperger's. I had no idea what that meant. But after reading this book, at least I have an inkling why I unintentionally irritate people.

So, this book does have value, I just take the statement that the characters of Miss Austen's books having autism with a grain of salt. Ignore that, and it does give you valuable information