Play Book Tag discussion

Jacob Hunt is an eighteen-year-old young man with Asperger’s. He lives with his mother Emma, who adapted her whole life around his “quirks,” and his younger brother Theo, who both loves and resents him. When his tutor Jess is found dead, apparently murdered, Jacob is drawn to the whole thing because of his obsession with forensic science. But the police quickly see him as a suspect, and he is put on trial for the murder. The story is told in little chapters from different point of view - Jacob, Theo and Emma, but also Rich, the detective on the case, and Oliver, the young lawyer defending Jacob.

As I find with nearly all of Jodi Picoult’s books, I was so engrossed in this story! It’s a lot about Asperger’s, and I’ve seen some comments that it read like a textbook about autism, but others say she clearly did her research and is spot-on. I thought it was a wonderful insight into the disability, both from the point of Jacob and that of the people around him, having to, willingly or not, follow his rules.

I should have seen the ending coming. It really wasn’t actually hidden, and I’m usually good with this kind of thing. But when I read the conclusion, my jaw literally fell open and I smacked my open hand on my mouth. It was all done so brilliantly, I’d spent the entire novel wondering if Jacob actually could have committed murder! So I can totally see how terrible that situation must have been for Emma. How can you ask yourself that about your own child?

And there’s also a huge “discussion” about accessibility and the adaptations of the justice system for a neuroatypical (disabled) person. AKA, there are none. I kept reading these terrible passages about Jacob being thrown in jail, or manhandled, or yelled at for being “abnormal,” and I was like, no way, she’s gotta be making this up, no way this would happen in real life. But on the other hand... I have no trouble believing it would happen in real life...