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Do the fiction books on this website explain Asperger's Syndrome in some way, or are they just written by people who have it?

I've read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". It is written by a non-autistic individual about a 15 year old boy with High Functioning Autism.

I think it hits and misses. The book does a pretty good job of explaining autism, but some of the assumptions made about how our (mine at least) minds work I think misses the mark.

The sensory issues are right on. However, the book seems to change the individuals level of functioning whenever it is convenient. For example, it shows his internal understanding of social cues to be very, very limited, while his speech to be very close to normal, if pedantic.

For example, at one point in the book, he assumes that his neighbor, who has yelled at him several times in the book, will let him live with her, because she is not a stranger.

To me, for an individual that is portrayed as being capable of writing the very book (it is a first person narration that he has "written"), I cannot reconcile that with the utterly simplistic emotions the book gives him.

I feel the book would have been better by showing the complex string of thoughts I would expect the child to go through trying to understand the emotional world. Example. "Ok, this person is yelling at me. They must be upset. What have I done recently? Would that upset them? Why would it upset them? What do they want out of me as a response? Should I say I am sorry now?"

Other times the book hit so close to home that it was very overpowering. A lot of his monolougues I have echoed many times before.

So I have mixed opinions.

I also read A Curious Incident...... Mark Haddon, in a television interview, said he based the story on a young man he knew. He did, of course, amplify some of the Aspie characteristics though.

I also read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time".

I think for many people, that is their only exposure to ASDs, so they have this impression that Autistic people must be like that.

I think the book was well written and badly written in specific parts. I liked it how the entire prose was in a straightforward blunt manner, because people with ASDs are known for being honest and straightforward.

I didn't like how the physical sensitivities and obsessions were exaggerated though, like the thing with the yellow cars, and screaming when someone just touches him.

If I ever tell people that I have Autism/Asperger's, and they say I don't because I'm not like Christopher from that book, I'll say to them "So you'd rather believe a novel about someone who's Autistic than someone who actually has it in real life??"