In the eyes of others
In the eyes of others (original title: House Rules ) is a book by the American writer Jodi Picoult , who published her 19th work in 2010. The German translation was published by Bastei Lübbe Verlag in 2011.
This work describes the life of 18-year-old Jacob Hunt, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome . For him it is vital to have a regular daily routine and his mother Emma does everything to protect him from unfamiliar situations. In this moving novel, Jodi Picoult shows what it means to be “different” and how autism is perceived in today's society. The author has written better-known works ( On My Sister's Life ), but the book received such great approval that it reached # 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
action
The Hunt family does not lead a normal life. Jacob Hunt fell ill with Asperger's Syndrome and his father could not bear the responsibility that this disease entailed and left the family. Now mother Emma and younger brother Theo are on their own. Everything has to go according to the ideas of the 18-year-old Jacobs, otherwise he will get seizures, cramps and anxiety. This is very stressful for the family and Emma gets just enough money to pay for Jacob's medication. Theo often falls by the wayside. An integral part of Jacobs is a predilection for criminal cases. Every evening he watches the series “CrimeBusters” and then analyzes the murder cases he has seen.
Another constant in his life is the child psychologist Jessica Ogilvy, who helps him learn social behavior and understand his fellow human beings. When she is found dead one day, Jacob is suspected of murder and finds it difficult to answer questions from the police. His sincere answers make him suspect of having killed his psychologist, and Emma no longer knows how to help her son.
An inexperienced lawyer tries to protect Jacob and prove his innocence. Theo plays an important role here, because due to his neglect he has got used to breaking into strange houses and stealing video games or CDs. On the day of Jessy's death, Theo was in the apartment and surprised her in the shower. As a result, she was frightened and slipped in the bathroom and hit her head on the sink. Theo fled in panic.
When Jacob enters the house a little later for one of his therapy sessions, he sees the corpse and thinks that his brother is the murderer. He does everything in his power to cover up the "murder" and does not consider that his actions make himself the main suspect. The attorney goes out of his way to convince the jury of the two boys' innocence, and Jacob is proud of what appeared to be helping his brother and would do it again every time.
Ethical background
In the novel In the Eyes of Others , the author illuminates the life of a boy suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. It shows the reader what it means for an autistic person to be torn from his everyday life and how this disease affects a person's life.
How people with this disease perceive their environment and how they can be helped is still very unknown. Very few are informed about symptoms or know that this disease exists. Therefore, this novel offers a deep, well-researched and moving insight into the world of an autistic person and puts this topic in the foreground much more than solving the death.
Author's comment
“As a teenager with Asperger's Syndrome, she [Jess Watsky] not only allowed me to search her life and mind and use parts of it in my novel, she also read the manuscript word for word and at an incredible rate, and told me what made her laugh and what I needed to change. She is the heart of this novel. Without her, I would never have been able to create a character like Jacob. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.jodipicoult.com/house-rules.html
- ↑ http://www.dieterwunderlich.de/Picoult-augen-anderen.htm#inhaltsdaten
- ↑ Jodi Picoult: In the eyes of others. P. 685.