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The Speed of Dark
Product Type: Book
Product Price: $7.99
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Description
In the near future, disease will be a condition of the past. Most genetic defects will be removed at birth; the remaining during infancy. Unfortunately, there will be a generation left behind. For members of that missed generation, small advances will be made. Through various programs, they will be taught to get along in the world despite their differences. They will be made active and contributing members of society. But they will never be normal.
Lou Arrendale is a member of that lost generation, born at the wrong time to reap the awards of medical science. Part of a small group of high-functioning autistic adults, he has a steady job with a pharmaceutical company, a car, friends, and a passion for fencing. Aside from his annual visits to his counselor, he lives a low-key, independent life. He has learned to shake hands and make eye contact. He has taught himself to use “please” and “thank you” and other conventions of conversation because he knows it makes others comfortable. He does his best to be as normal as possible and not to draw attention to himself.
But then his quiet life comes under attack. It starts with an experimental treatment that will reverse the effects of autism in adults. With this treatment Lou would think and act and be just like everyone else. But if he was suddenly free of autism, would he still be himself? Would he still love the same classical music–with its complications and resolutions? Would he still see the same colors and patterns in the world–shades and hues that others cannot see? Most importantly, would he still love Marjory, a woman who may never be able to reciprocate his feelings? Would it be easier for her to return the love of a “normal”?
There are intense pressures coming from the world around him–including an angry supervisor who wants to cut costs by sacrificing the supports necessary to employ autistic workers. Perhaps even more disturbing are the barrage of questions within himself. For Lou must decide if he should submit to a surgery that might completely change the way he views the world . . . and the very essence of who he is.
Thoughtful, provocative, poignant, unforgettable, The Speed of Dark is a gripping exploration into the mind of an autistic person as he struggles with profound questions of humanity and matters of the heart.
From the Hardcover edition.
Corporate life in early 21st-century America is even more ruthless than it was at the turn of the millennium. Lou Arrendale, well compensated for his remarkable pattern-recognition skills, enjoys his job and expects never to lose it. But he has a new boss, a man who thinks Lou and the others in his building are a liability. Lou and his coworkers are autistic. And the new boss is going to fire Lou and all his coworkers--unless they agree to undergo an experimental new procedure to "cure" them.
In The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon has created a powerful, complex, and believable portrayal of a man who varies radically from what is defined as "normal." The author insightfully explores the nature of "normality," identity, choice, responsibility, free will, illness and health, and good and evil. The Speed of Dark is a powerful, moving, illuminating novel in the tradition of Flowers for Algernon, Forrest Gump, and Rain Man . --Cynthia Ward
Reviews
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-08-21
Summary: "missed the mark"
This novel could've been about transcending the human condition. Instead, it is about embracing what holds us back. I am disappointed.
The majority of this book is a deep, compelling story about what it means to be human. That which makes the autistic special and wonderful is celebrated. I really enjoyed the majority of this book.
However, I felt like the ending was pure fantasy. We spent hundreds of pages enjoying who Lou is and watching him embrace himself as the man he is. Then, the ending is rushed, unrealistic, and empty. Ignore that I don't agree with Lou's choice (which I won't give away), the reasoning behind it and the way it is played out is absurd.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-11
Summary: "Subtle and engrossing, this book is time well spent."
Ms. Moon writes with a straightforward style that is not intended to obscure with linguistic tricks. Her characters are well developed in both imagery and depictions of their relationships. Lou is a fascinating study of an autistic savant. He is not a typical autistic, but he gives us glimpses of how the mind of an autistic savant might work. This book is purely fiction but the science described in it is well based in today's research. Ultimately, Lou's decision is one that we all face in our lives if we have the courage to do so: do we remain as we are, or change in ways that will potentially improve us as people but will unquestionably make us different from who and what we are today. This is the greatest challenge most of us will ever face. In following Lou's process we can learn a lot about how we should make choices, and about what our fear of change really does to us and those we love.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-14
Summary: "The Speed of Dark"
My experience with ording books though Amazon has always went smoothly. My only comment would be that when ording multiple books from the same company that are shipped together that we still have to pay shipping for each book.
Books have always been of the quality or better then the rating given.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-14
Summary: "Defamiliarization"
I judge a novel on different levels. Was it just plain fun to read? Was the writing convincing? Were the characters well-developed? Was the plot intriguing? Did it make me think differently, see things differently? How long does it stay with me?
Elizabeth Moon's book "The Speed of Dark" is one those rare books that satisfied all my criteria of a great book. This is the story of an autistic man, Lou Arrendale, faced with the choice of undergoing treatment to make him "normal." But as one of Lou's autistic friends notes, "Normal is a setting on a dryer." It became a constant pleasure to be challenged as to what "normal" is. Lou's views of the world were often so much more calm and rational and "normal" than the views of the non-autistic "normals" around him that his views and his world often became appealing, no more painful or less joyful than the normal world.
The writing was so convincing and fun to read that a description of Lou's experience simply buying groceries was actually suspenseful. The author's protagonist is deeply multidimensional: the book in fact is an exploration in mostly first person of Lou's debates with himself as to who he is and what he wants. Lou's friend Tom and his boss Pete Aldrin are also fully drawn.
The plot was simple but carried me forward. I was alternately angry and frustrated and joyful. The author's accounts of Lou fencing with his friend Marjory in complex rhythms were beautiful romantic dance portraits. The author's accounts of Gene Crenshaw's and Don's bigotry and arrogant refusal to see Lou's brilliance and worth as a human raised my blood pressure. The metaphors of dark and light, ignorance and knowledge, were subtly and thoughtfully interwoven throughout the story. The author has inspired me through Lou to pull out my recordings of Bach and relisten with new ears. Lou's experience simply walking in the woods near the end of the story and his literally tasting nature were beautifully written. I have been looking at things much differently, through Lou's eyes.
A Russian literary critic once said that good poetry is a process of "defamiliarization"; making the familiar deeply unfamiliar, compelling us to see the familiar through new eyes. In brief, Elizabeth Moon's book has helped me see my familiar world through new eyes and understand better the painful and joyful unfamiliar world of autism.
Finally, the book ended for me too soon, and although it arguably ended positively for Lou, I felt like Tom, that I had lost a good friend. I felt strangely sad and inexplicably dissatisfied. Was that Moon's intent? If so, the book is even deeper and more brilliant than I thought even at the beginning of writing this review. Moon's ending now makes me wonder whether Lou is better or worse at the end. Is Lou's final position in society a victory for him or a scathing condemnation of our society? Hmmmm. Even these questions though lead me to the conclusion that this is a great novel. It keeps on giving and will (I sense) for some time.
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-05-15
Summary: "A Thoughtful and Engrossing Read"
This is a compelling book even though a lot of the characters are simple. I don't mean that in a cruel way like "simple" as in "dumb." The autistic hero is likeable and smart and dedicated. The problem is the bad guys are simply bad and the surrounding cast of the hero's supporters are simply good, so a lot of the potential suspense is obvious. It's a very well-written story with the imagery and emotional the resonance. I really started to root for the hero. I just got impatient with middle part of the book waiting for the plot to develop.