Picoult, J. (2010). House Rules. New York: Atria.
Annotation: Eighteen year-old Jacob Hunt, an "Aspie" who is obsessed with forensics, is accused of murdering Jess Ogilvy, his social skills teacher.
Summary: Jess Ogilvy, a vivacious grad school student and social skills tutor, is found dead in the house she is watching. Jacob, an 18 year old with Asperger's disorder is one of her students. Jacob is obsessed with forensics and keeps a detailed notebook of crimes and their solutions. Jacob's fingerprints and backpack are found in the home and the notebook of crimes is found in the backpack with an unnamed crime scene that seems identical to that of Jess makes Jacob a suspect in her murder. After Jacob admits to moving her body he is arrested and charged with the crime. Because he is 18 his mother Emma is not allowed to be present during his interrogation and the detectives mistake common Asperger's symptoms like the inability to look them in the eye as a sign of guilt. As Emma fights to protect him from the police and the court system his fourteen year old brother Theo is neglected and becomes resentful. Eventually we find out that Jacob solved they mystery of Emma's death and that she wasn't murdered, but that she slipped and fell in the shower. Theo witnessed the accident and Jacob was aware of this because he saw Theo leave the house.
Review: I was interested in reading this because the main character is "on the spectrum" and I've worked with many autistic children through the years. I'm glad that Picoult is bringing these disorders to light, but I think that her approach was too heavy handed. Jacob has EVERY symptom of Asberger's and very severe cases of them, which isn't how Asperger's works. Once I got past that I enjoyed the characters in this book. I felt for Emma and especially Theo and could really see how having a family member with Asperger's would overshadow so many other aspects of family life and make a "normal" child's needs secondary. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for realistic fiction with a little something else thrown in.
Possible recommends: Other Picoult books, Ann Hood, Anna Quindlen, The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
Rating: 3Q, 4P
Summary: Jess Ogilvy, a vivacious grad school student and social skills tutor, is found dead in the house she is watching. Jacob, an 18 year old with Asperger's disorder is one of her students. Jacob is obsessed with forensics and keeps a detailed notebook of crimes and their solutions. Jacob's fingerprints and backpack are found in the home and the notebook of crimes is found in the backpack with an unnamed crime scene that seems identical to that of Jess makes Jacob a suspect in her murder. After Jacob admits to moving her body he is arrested and charged with the crime. Because he is 18 his mother Emma is not allowed to be present during his interrogation and the detectives mistake common Asperger's symptoms like the inability to look them in the eye as a sign of guilt. As Emma fights to protect him from the police and the court system his fourteen year old brother Theo is neglected and becomes resentful. Eventually we find out that Jacob solved they mystery of Emma's death and that she wasn't murdered, but that she slipped and fell in the shower. Theo witnessed the accident and Jacob was aware of this because he saw Theo leave the house.
Review: I was interested in reading this because the main character is "on the spectrum" and I've worked with many autistic children through the years. I'm glad that Picoult is bringing these disorders to light, but I think that her approach was too heavy handed. Jacob has EVERY symptom of Asberger's and very severe cases of them, which isn't how Asperger's works. Once I got past that I enjoyed the characters in this book. I felt for Emma and especially Theo and could really see how having a family member with Asperger's would overshadow so many other aspects of family life and make a "normal" child's needs secondary. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for realistic fiction with a little something else thrown in.
Possible recommends: Other Picoult books, Ann Hood, Anna Quindlen, The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
Rating: 3Q, 4P
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