Nathaniel Clark has Asperger’s Syndrome. He also has friends, a jerk of a father, an incredibly loving mother and a completely normal crush on a girl. While navigating high school social life is a bit different for him than it is for others his age, he manages quite well for himself. His father’s relentless pushing ends up putting Nathaniel in a dangerous situation but this isn’t the only focus of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of Nathaniel’s world and perception of things. Roy attempts to capture the both the parts of Nathaniel’s life that are essentially the same as his peers, the parts that are significantly different due to his incredible intelligence and also tries to show what it must be like when Nathaniel is shutting down and withdrawing from life. It’s interesting to see all these different facets of Nathaniel’s personality.
There were two parts that felt off, one was a sort of bizarre coincidence in which everyone pretty much is going to the same Bat Mitzvah. The realization of this is based on insufficient information which makes you wonder if they all only know one Jewish person, or if only one person in their town has ever turned 13.
Also, far more importantly, at one point in the book parents supply teens with drugs and alcohol. They end up facing very stiff penalties for this, in part due to children reporting them to the police. While it would be nice to think that most adults face consequences for this type of behavior the fact is that more frequently they get away with it, and many teens would not turn in adults engaging in this type of enabling.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Nathaniel has a crush on a girl (says he’s in love with her). Parents are divorced, father remarried. He asks a girl if they’re on a date, but she’s not allowed to date until she is 16. Girls call him a hottie. Molly wants to kiss her boyfriend; they nuzzle. Nathaniel kisses a girl while drunk. While being goofy Cooper says that Algebra wears a bra and math is sexy. Nathaniel dreams of a girl kissing a guy.
Profanity – “sucker/sucka,” “retard,” “dumb,” “dang,” “g.d.” “idiot,” “ass,” “doofus,” “what the H,” “jerk,” Nathanial’s dad uses words “rated PG-13 and R”. Several times he’s quoted as saying (R-rated word), “asp-hole” clearly a play on “asshole”, “geekloserklutzdorkidiot,” “brat,” “darn,” “wiseass,” The lyrics of rap songs are described as misogynistic and profane. “hell,” “crap,” “bullsh**”,
Death, Violence and Gore – They play a video game and yell die at the enemy. Evidently, Isaac Newton once stuck a needle in his eye socket just to see what would happen. Nathaniel hits himself in the head. A lego Star Wars character is decapitated.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – When dropping Nathaniel off at a party his father tells him no drinking, no drugs. He does take prescription medications. The party includes teenagers drinking beer and the chaperones smoking cannabis. Nathaniel unknowingly drinks punch that has been spiked with vodka. He is told that it is “just fruit punch.” It has a very severe effect on him due to his prescription medications.
Frightening or Intense Things – Nathaniel’s father starts by telling his mother not to baby him so he’ll grow up. He tells him he looks like an idiot when he is messy and asks him if he is stupid and other charming things. A boy who mocks him refers to Nathaniel as “Ed. Special Ed”. After drinking Nathaniel retreats into himself. His parents and doctors are concerned he is on the verge of a psychotic break. They ask him to become more responsive or they will have to hospitalize him for better care.
