Heart-Warming Tales of Asperger’s

Those with Asperger's Syndrome have unique challenges and gifts, but it's only recently that the greater world has been paying attention. For those curious about what it's like to relate to someone with Asperger's, there are plenty of nonfiction titles; but some of them can get a little dry, so one can also get a good idea from the three novels below, two of which attempt to see things through the eyes of a person with Asperger's.

Kit wants to know who his mother is, and suspects she may be one of the guests descending on him and his dying father, Guy, for one last bash this weekend in Iain Banks' The Quarry. These are Guy's friends from "uni," the British slang term for university, and they're hot on the trail of a videotape that could prove mortifying to all of them. Kit, who has Asperger's, has to navigate the labyrinth of relationships and resentments among these disillusioned former arts students as they talk and talk and talk. On top of that, the house Guy and Kit inhabit is going to be razed  to make way for the quarry that has been slowly eating  up the countryside, and much of the talk is about what Kit will do next. Despite the serious set-up, this is really quite a funny book, with Kit as the ultimate insider/outsider observing the jungle-animal politics of his elders. While not much happens (a trip to the pub and a local tower excepted), this is a sweet yet perceptive coming-of-age novel.

Lana is on her own raising two teenagers (Byron and Abby) after separating from her controlling husband in The Art of Adapting by Cassandra Dunn. Add to the household her younger brother, Matt, who has Aspergers' and his own way of ordering the world. Byron has a crush on an older (read, college-age) woman and Abby is slipping into an eating disorder while trying to be an honor roll student. Lana is learning to do things for herself and manage freedom. As it turns out, Matt provides invaluable to this new family with his different way of relating to people and the world around him. This is a character-driven story of flawed but likeable people, told in alternating chapters by each of the main characters in their own distinct voice.

In The Penalty Area by Alain Gillot, Vincent lives an orderly, solitary life as a boy's soccer coach after his own dream of a career as a professional soccer player was cut short by an injury ten years ago. Enter Madeline, Vincent's estranged sister, who drops off her odd son, Leonard, supposedly for a week while she attends a training course for a new job. What to do but to take Leonard to soccer practice, where he proves a prodigy as a goalie. After some screening, Leonard is found to have Asperger's Syndrome and Vincent decides to get him some help, falling for the psychologist along the way. Caring for Leonard brings Vincent out of his shell, but Madeline reappears, wanting Leonard back, and there's a satisfying dramatic climax that also involves their dying mother and the home Leonard has been living in. This is another heartwarming tale about complex characters whose personalities drive the story.