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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780345481399
ISBN number: 0345481399
Label: Del Rey
Manufacturer: Del Rey
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: June 28, 2005
Publishing house: Del Rey
Release Date: June 28, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 22053
Studio: Del Rey
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com:
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
Product 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.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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There is a lot to like about this book. It's intelligent, thought provoking stuff. It is about more than just Autism - it pokes at the whole idea of personal change and whether it is important to embrace change or oppose it.
But at the same time, there is a warmth that is lacking in this novel. Granted, that may be by design - seeing things from the main characters point of view is an exercise in seeing something from the point of view of a colder (for want of a better word) personality. But still... It feels lacking.
I also take exception to the end of the novel. I don't want to post a spoiler here, so I will try to talk around it. And actually this is a good point of the novel - I disagree with the main character and his choices, but the author gave me enough information to fully flesh the main character out enough for me to actually disagree with him. But it does not change the fact that I have serious disagreements with the way this book ended.
Overall, this is a good book. It's not a simple read and it is not quick. But it is worth reading.
Rated by buyers 
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Lou Arrendale is an autistic man who is living in the 21st. century at a time when research has enabled scientists to tinker with brain function. The ultimate question is, does he want to go through an experimental procedure which will take away his autism but cause him to face an uncertain future, or does he wish to remain as he is, an autistic man with a satisfactory lifestyle and many outstanding characteristics and abilities?
This brief outline does not do justice to the depth of the book or the insightful author who created the wonderful character of Lou Arrendale. He is at once simple in his social naivete, yet complex and gifted in his ability to see and react to patterns. His life revolves around his work, his hobbby of fencing, and his carefully ordered home life. The author uses Lou to ask some deep and probing questions about a fine balance between what is "normal" behavior and what is acceptable behavioral intevention by those in authority. Because we are able to intervene medically in people's lives, is it always ethical to do so? Elizabeth Moon poses these questions, which cause the reader to ponder the options. This is truly one of the best and most thought-provoking books I've read in a long time.
Rated by buyers -
I find myself drawn to this book over and over because of the accuracy in depiction of the world of autism. That pull to delve again into the excellent and moving portrayal of life with autism is however counterpointed by the horrible writing. It makes it hard to review as either good or bad. Honestly the worst writing I have ever seen is in this book by Elizabeth Moon. It is the story of a man with autism and the moral dilemma he faces on whether or not to choose a "cure" that would make him "normal".
If you can stomach the horrible, and I mean truly terrible prose (a smart drunk fifth grader could duplicate the style easily) and still enjoy the situations, the view of the protagonist, there is much to enjoy here. As a man with autism I feel a connection to the world described. As a man capable of reading words I threw the book to the floor several times while reading the same page. Still, I was touched and because of that I will probably read it again.
Truman Capote once said of Jack Kerouac's book "On the Road" - "That's not writing, that's just typing." If it weren't for Moon's insight into autism, this book wouldn't reach even that level.
Rated by buyers 
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I won't bother discussing a summary; read any other review for that. I found this book to be: stark, imaginative, beautiful, lyrical, but ultimately unfulfilling. Why? The ending. *STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE NOVEL*
For the bulk of the novel, Moon so beautifully imagines this simple, kind and gentle autistic man's way of moving through the world, that when the book suddenly shifts, and he has become "normal," I felt profoundly cheated. Up to that point, I felt the message of the book was that anyone is fine just as they are, and, silly me, I thought Lou felt the same way. He didn't seem to change his mind and think he should go through with the treatment until he went to church and did some soul-searching - and then, suddenly, BAM - he wants to be a different person. Why? He'd been happy the way he was for 95% of the novel. Sure, he felt like he didn't fit into the "normal" world, but everyone feels that. It's what I related to the most.
But I just hate the ending, in which he accepts the treatment, and becomes a different person, who no longer needs his old friends. Sure, he gets to go into space, but at what cost? He has completely lost his old life, his friends, his love for Marjory. Is that the message of the novel? That no matter how different we are, if given the chance, we should alter ourselves to become "normal"?
Don't get me wrong, I really loved most of the book. But the ending makes me extremely sad. I want "Before-Lou" back, the man who so loved Marjory, who stood up for himself and enjoyed fencing.
Rated by buyers 
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Poor novel that seems to have won a PC (and I don't mean personal computer) Nebula.
Centers around autistic people in the future, when there's a "cure". Tries to change views about autistic people while admitting it's a future where some help that doesn't exist now has helped the characters. Even worse, it fights stereotypes by stereotyping almost every other character.
Most of the characters are completely cardboard. The "bottom line" business guy who pays no attention to the financials of the group. The guy who violently hates anyone who's different. The noble woman to who it just doesn't matter, or the noble man who heroically stands up for the main character.
The very first quote on the back of the paperback says it all. That Ms. Moon has an autistic child seemed to both prevent her from looking honestly at the subject matter and make the Nebula voters give her the sympathy vote.
If anyone wants to read a much better book about autism, read Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin, PhD. She's mentioned in Moon's book and is an autistic person who is one of the most famous people in the meat processing industry. It's a very first hand account of autism and so much better than "Speed of Dark".
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