All The Little Bird-Hearts - Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Book abandoned at 60%.
My main question about this book is, "who is it for?"
I'm autistic and share many of the same symptoms as Sunday. Reading this didn't make me feel "seen" or represented - it made me feel exposed, put on display for the world to gawp at. It was a very alienating experience, and also one that made it harder for me to maintain the parts of my mask that I want to maintain. Every time Sunday repeated someone's phrasing or intonation I found myself doing it too, muttering aloud to myself as I read, and I hated it. But it's not written in a way that evokes any empathy or understanding for the struggles Sunday faces, either, so if this is for neurotypical people rather than people like me then what purpose is it serving? I'm not sure what the aim is here.
I wish that something - anything - had happened during the 200 pages that I read. All we got was Sunday repeating mannerisms and phrases, refusing to eat certain foods, not understanding social cues, and telling us how different she is (but also how lucky she is to have never had to get a job and to be independently wealthy). I can get that experience (minus the wealth and the ability to be functionally unemployed) just by leaving the house and talking to people for a bit.
Maybe this book is just a piece of escapism for the author, the chance to slip into a world where her autism isn't actually a massive detriment to her life like it is for many of us (and presumably is for her in real life, too), in which case I do understand why she wrote it, but I personally didn't get anything out of reading it other than an increasing discomfort.