Book #33: The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion
This is the third novel about autistic professor Don Tillman, and starts with Don and Rosie worrying that their eleven-year-old son, Hudson may himself be autistic, after he starts displaying autistic traits at school.
The previous novel, The Rosie Effect included Don committing a huge gaffe near to the start, a theme that recurred in this book. This time, it was race-related, with a student filming a race-related lecture that Don was giving, only for the video to immediately go viral, and for Don to get suspended before he had even finished his lecture, on the grounds of being a suspected racist. The aftermath of the incident put me in mind of the debates that have been going on as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, so it definitely felt like an appropriate time to be reading this book.
In the book, Don's reaction was different from what I expected, quitting his job so that he could open a bar, the planning of which was a good excuse to explore some more of Don's habits (most of which were about his obsession with order, and people being served in the correct order at a bar, and also his dislike of crowded bars). In this case, he reason for doing this was so that he could spend more time with Hudson, teaching him how he was expected to behave (similar to events in previous titles, Don ended up seeking advice from others and even getting them to teach Hudson for him).
Hudson really felt like the central character of this book, as well as Don's efforts to be a good parent. The book turned into a story about an autistic character overcoming stigmas and barriers associated with his school life, and his relationships with other students, including a girl with albinism.
I don't know if this is the final Don Tillman book, but if it is, it is definitely a fitting finale. The book shows that autism is more common than a lot of people think, and feels like a really good way for raising awareness of the issue, particularly the way that it addressed common misconceptions that people might have of autistic people.