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Read Eye Contact (2007)

Eye Contact (2007)

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Genre
Rating
3.57 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0143038907 (ISBN13: 9780143038900)
Language
English
Publisher
penguin books

Eye Contact (2007) - Plot & Excerpts

Eye Contact wants to be two books. The better book follows the path of acceptance and eventual, albeit limited, understanding between Adam, a nine-year-old autistic boy, and his mother Cara. The novel starts strongly with these two, especially in illuminating Adam’s thought processes, and in describing the mother’s difficult work of encouraging Adam to develop both within and beyond her expectations. But the half of Eye Contact that wants to be an engaging thriller is the half whose genes dominate the rest of story, creating a confusing, unfocused, quasi-mystery full of too many false leads, too many late revelations, and too many last minute characters to sustain interest and believability.The book’s turn from focusing on a youth group for developmentally challenged children to constructing a larger world in which so many characters are physically and mentally damaged is unnecessary, exaggerated, and potentially offensive. The point of Adam’s particular way of thinking is lost in a crowd of less interesting secondaries whose flaws seem manufactured and insincerely characterized.With so much of autism a mystery, and with an author whose own family experiences feed the very best and truest passages of this book, McGovern could have written a simple story of family to great benefit. In playing for a wider audience, the author's readers suffer, her plot is lost, and the topic in which McGovern so eagerly wishes us to engage is all but forgotten for a passing thrill.

This was a book I started a while ago but could never remember the name of. From the start, I thought it was an insightful read, but I just didn't see how the title related that much. But after finishing it, I think I understand.A firsthand witness is defined as someone who was at an event or observed it, and therefore knows exactly what happened. Everyone believes their account for the most part, and they provide the strongest evidence. But in this book, the reader was shown that even if someone was at an event, they don't necessarily have to be right about what happened. Sometimes the people at the events have a mental or physical condition and therefore cannot tell what occurred. Other times, people aren't even sure of what they saw or make up/exaggerate what happened to show themselves in a better light. Rarely is there just one truth of an event. Most times, there are multiple truths, all from different perspectives. None of them are necessarily wrong, but they all are different based on the person giving the account. This book made me think about not only if what other people say is the exact truth, but also it made me realize that I also exaggerate truths, or leave out certain details. The challenge becomes, using all these skewed and varying perspectives, how can you determine the truth?

What do You think about Eye Contact (2007)?

This was one of the best books I have read this year! I literally could not put it down! Well, really, I put it down twice because, much to my chagrin, I had to go to bed. Aside from that, it never left my hands! The narration of this book is what makes it so interesting; it is told from several different characters’ points of view and they all seem to have something to hide. I found it very interesting to read the narration told from Adam’s P.O.V., as a nine year old autistic child. This story focused a lot on the struggles the parents of autistic children face, which was very insightful for me since I had very little knowledge of this subject. This book is full of surprises and unexpected twists; the great thing is everything is revealed in the end so you don’t feel like you have any unanswered questions. I just finished this book yesterday and I’ve recommended it to 4 people already! Must read!
—Kristen

(4.5 stars) I really enjoyed this one. At first I was reminded of Jodi Picoult's House Rules, which like this one, centers around a murder & an autistic child. But I actually found this more compelling. Not only did McGovern do a good job portraying the subject matter of autism & family members & friends living with it, but it also touched on several aspects of children with various special needs, both on & off the spectrum. Additionally, this was a story that kept me guessing up until near the end. My only criticism would maybe be that the author also tried to get into the brain of a fairly severe autistic child, and I'm not sure how accurate that may have been. It could have been spot-on, but who's to know? Regardless, I highly recommend this one & will look forward to more from this author.
—Coleen

Wow! Eye Contact was so much better than I anticipated. I wasn't exactly sure what I expected but knew it wasn't a typical genre I read. I thought I'd pick it up 4-5x before really getting into it. I was wrong. In the beginning I struggled as so many characters were introduced in both past and present time, but I pushed forward telling myself it's highly recommended and will be good. It didn't take me long to find myself drawn in. I read the first 100 pages before I went to bed (starting around 8:30 pm), part of me wanted to keep reading but I forced myself to put it on my nightstand and sleep. I picked it up again this afternoon and didn't put it down until I finished it this evening. It has so many twists, so suspenseful. The best part however was being drawn into the mind of this autistic little boy. To begin to have some kind of understanding to how he thinks and processes things differently than I do. It was really an amazing read and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a stand alone book. I'm big on reading series and often don't even look at books that don't have 3-8 books in the series. This one I am glad I had given to me to read because it was really a great book!
—Taryn

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