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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Held Captive by Neurodiversity: Truestory by Catherine Simpson

19/2/2016

14 Comments

 
Alice doesn’t get out much. In fact, the only time she is able to leave the Lancashire farm where she lives with her husband, Duncan, and eleven-year-old son, Sam, is for two hours on a Tuesday afternoon when she sits in a sad café nursing a cooling cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. It’s not that she’s overly busy with farm work. It’s not that she’s kept away from the world by a controlling husband. But her life is restricted by her family: Sam is a boy with problems, averse to change, terrified of noise and the colour yellow, and, although he won’t let her comfort him the way a mother might, he’s liable to go into “meltdown” if she leaves him too long with a father who has little understanding of the boy’s needs.
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When Duncan brings home a man he’s met in the pub, Alice is initially suspicious. They can’t afford to pay a labourer, and a stranger in the house is exactly the kind of thing that pushes Sam over the edge. But Larry’s natural empathy, along with his passion for maps, wins him the boy’s trust. Larry’s arrival highlights everything that’s been wrong with her life as Alice finds herself falling in love with him, first for his compassion for Sam, secondly for herself. In attending to her own needs, will Alice neglect her son, and can the lovers keep their secret from Duncan?

Truestory is a poignant tale of entrapment: in mothering, in poverty, in a stagnant marriage and in terror of the things we can’t control. Alice’s chapters are interspersed with Sam’s interactions in an Internet chat room (Truestory is the boy’s username) where his attempts to get answers to life’s big questions such as “How do I know what I want?” and “Why am I frightened of something that cannot happen?” yield some amusing answers. All four main characters (even the hapless Duncan) are sympathetically drawn and I couldn’t help rooting for them. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a rut, if you’ve ever felt a failure at your primary purpose in life, if you’ve ever felt terror at things others take in their stride and if you’ve ever looked to romance to rescue you from yourself, you’ll find a point of connection in Catherine Simpson’s debut novel – and even if you haven’t, you can draw on your compassion to savour the story. Thanks to Sandstone Press for my review copy of this engaging debut novel.

There’s a movement among some people on the autistic spectrum to reject the rhetoric of disability and disorder and make a case for neurodiversity, bringing the focus away from their limitations to their skills, such as diligence and attention to detail. As I write this, the screech of a chainsaw (the neighbours pruning their trees) is tearing at my innards (too laborious to go into detail, but I interpret my fear of noise as a consequence of insecure attachment), reminding me I’m not so different from Sam as I wish. It makes me wonder, as with many sources of difference, whether it would be more fruitful to view this heightened sensitivity as a continuum rather than dividing people into categories, and whether indeed few of us would prove to be neurotypical if put to the test.

Having just missed the boat with my review of Where the River Parts, a novel about atrocities sparked by intolerance of religious and cultural difference, and incidentally another Sandstone title, when Charli Mills called for 99-word stories about diversity, I decided to go straight for the brain. (Although it wasn’t an easy decision, as I have a review I want to fit in before the end of LGBT history month.) As there’s a part of me still feeling the pull of the wild from last week’s prompt, and the shadow of boy and his dog from last month (note, that the deadline for the flash fiction contest has been extended to the end of March) this is where it took me:
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Neurodiversity

Lacing up our boots, the heather glowed pink from the rising sun. Worry-lines faded from his brow as we tramped across the moor. No sound but birdsong. Out here, Sam was a normal boy.

It crept up gentle as a bee, but soon the drone roared above us, churning the air. Sam flopped to the ground, screaming, limbs in spasm. I was helpless: hugs would make him worse.

The drone moved off. As Sam settled, my anxiety escalated. Somewhere, somehow I’d dropped the map. Got my boy doubly lost.

Sam tapped his forehead. “Don’t worry, it’s all in here.”
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
14 Comments
Lisa Reiter link
22/2/2016 08:18:33 pm

It's perhaps reassuring to know that some universities now have Aspergers/Autism support groups run by staff with the same sort of neurodiversity - which can also lead to incredible mathematical and scientific minds. I also read an article about one of the big computer companies celebrating the skills that can come from being diverse in this way. They deliberately recruit Aspies for certain projects but then put a support network around them to prevent over working etc that can come from an ability to super-focus. I can't find it again unfortunately but it was so refreshing to read 😊
Super post and delightful flash!

Reply
Annecdotist
23/2/2016 03:19:29 pm

Thanks for adding that, Lisa. It's great to know that companies are not only recruiting people with diverse brain functioning but, most importantly, giving them the support so that they can thrive.

Reply
Charli Mills
23/2/2016 08:18:04 am

I also find the book cover captivating, as much as the story. I like the idea of nuerodiversity, having long been a supporter of strengths. Too often our culture in the US, supported by the workplace and education systems, focus on fixing what is "wrong" or "weak." Focusing on strengths allows for people to grow into what they can do best. I'm also intrigued by Lisa's comment and the support that is further extended to those recruited for their ability to hyper-focus. Your flash is wonderful. The mother is the one needing her anxiety comforted and Sam has that covered! As a side note, a company in Boise, Idaho just invented a machine to block drones.

Reply
Annecdotist
23/2/2016 03:26:52 pm

I agree about the cover, Charli. We have a piece of artwork in a similar style (I think it's a linocut), although ours doesn't have the couple canoodling in the poly tunnel!
It's tragic how so much human capacity has been wasted on the assumption that there's only one way of approaching work. It's a similar situation for people with learning disabilities who are often so eager to make a contribution but are barred because they can't do all the tasks a more able candidate can do.
Glad you thought the flash worked – it was quite difficult this time to squeeze it into 99 words. I might need to find out more about that machine too, sometime. I haven't yet had my peaceful walk interrupted by drones, but I have heard reports of them in the areas I frequent.

Reply
Charli Mills
24/2/2016 05:34:46 am

Ha! I hadn't noticed the couple canoodling! I can't imagine one of those drones disrupting a walk. Seems so disruptive.

Annecdotist
24/2/2016 10:07:26 am

Actually, it's really subtle – I didn't notice it either until I came to the appropriate point in the novel. (I don't think that's a spoiler given that it's referenced in the blurb.)

Tony Amore link
23/2/2016 08:32:35 pm

I especially loved the final line in response to the intrusion of the mechanical and in response to the loss of boundaries implicit in the misplaced map. Very nicely done...

Reply
Annecdotist
24/2/2016 10:09:00 am

Wow, thanks for picking that up, Tony – I really hadn't noticed it at that level myself! I love how the conscious can engender these subtleties.

Reply
Mrs Sherri Matthews link
24/2/2016 12:09:45 am

Ahh Anne, this is a subject so close to my heart as you know. There is so much I'm coming to learn about Asperger's and Autism, studies showing the actual brain differences between the two (and the worry that in the US, the DSM manual now clumps Asperger's under the umbrella of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder rather than seperating it. The differences between the two are more defined than first realised. My cousin's eldest son is fully autistic, at 20 he has the learning age of a five year old, but my daughter at 23 is high functioning with Asperger's yet ruled by sensory and anxiety issues. I'm preparing another post on this subject, next week hopefully, been a while, but I've been very stirred up for several reasons and when that happens, I can't contain myself, ha! Seriously though, I've found out that the brain of someone on the spectrum works 45% harder at night than that of the neurotypical. No wonder my daughter is always so exhausted and wrung out. And yes, neurodiversity rather than disability is something I think we really need to put much more emphasis on. Because my daughter didn't act like other girls at school and college (or if she did, it was through learned, forced behaviour, in a mammouth effort to try and fit in so that her differences wouldn't be noticed - she despises being the centre of any attention - ) she paid the price with isolation. But she was/is happier that way and can cope with life better. Oh I could go on. Your flash is wonderful. Understanding goes such a long way and respecting the needs of those on the spectrum rather than treating them as 'special'. I realted to the mother! My anxiety has gone through the roof in recent years having had many bad days and nights that throw our world apart in an instant and leave me drained for longer each time (I can't write or blog when that happens) when my daughter's meltdowns are at full force. We joke in our good times that we are a right pair! Thankfully they are happening less frequently (she's 23 now), but I long for the day when she can find her way back into the world, on her terms and accepted for who she is, the beautiful, bright, articulate, wise, old soul that she is. Actually, I will whisper who 'he' is, but I will leave that here because I know you will understand and I wanted to give you some inkling of the extent of my 'daughter's' difficulties while we 'wait'. I was so grateful for Charli's prompt this week. Thank you too for your wonderful review, this is a book I must read. Great post Anne. Thanks for listening...

Reply
Annecdotist
24/2/2016 10:17:25 am

Thanks for your detailed comment, Sherri, adding another perspective from your own experience.
I was interested in your point about the differences between Asperger and autistic brains. A friend who is a psychologist with a lot of experience of working with people with learning disabilities doesn’t believe in autism as a separate entity. I hope I’m not misrepresenting the complexity of his reasoning, but it’s partly about there being no distinct interventions for autism which don’t also apply to people with learning disabilities, and the sense of hope, or lack of shame (not that it’s anything to be ashamed of of course), for parents in being able to link their child’s difficulties to the less stigmatising Asperger’s.
And oh for that change of pronoun at the end of your comment, coupled with your lovely diversity flash over at the Carrot Ranch brings an extra layer of complexity to the struggles of you and your daughter. Don’t know (and don’t know whether you know) at this stage whether that heralds another problem to deal with or a potential route to her finding more comfort in her own skin. Virtual hugs to you both and glad she’s got you to support her through. Look forward to your post on the theme.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
25/2/2016 12:37:08 pm

I thoroughly enjoyed this post and the added richness through all the comments, Anne.
Your post title drew me in immediately. I love that term: neurodiversity. As you say, I'm not sure that any of us deserve the label "neurotypical". I think we all have our own little kit-bags of quirks and idiosyncrasies. I wondered about the title of the novel but appreciate where it has come from. Thanks for pointing that out. I think I'd enjoy this novel and would definitely be putting it on the list if I had more novel reading time available. I'll have to remember it for the future. I have just finished "The Social Brain", which also fits this theme well and I am grateful for your recommendation. (I've read a few from your reviews. :))
You flash captures so well the diversity in both parent and child, showing both strengths and weaknesses of each. Together a good pair. With the understanding and compassion each has for the other, they make a good team. A great piece of writing.

Reply
Annecdotist
25/2/2016 05:36:16 pm

Thanks, Norah, and you have indeed taken a few reads from my reviews, as well as identifying a few you'd read if you had a clone to find the time to get through them! Looking forward to hearing more of what you thought about The Social Brain.

Reply
Catherine Simpson link
30/9/2016 05:47:08 pm

A wonderful review and fabulous flash fiction. Thank you so much.

Reply
Annecdotist
2/10/2016 06:20:26 pm

You’re welcome, Catherine, thanks for reading.

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