03. A Real Person, by Gunilla Gerland

Title: A Real Person
By: Gunilla Gerland
Rating: 5/5

Language I read it in: Swedish
Date I finished reading it: Spring 2007

Original title: En riktig människa
English title: A Real Person
Published: 1996
Length: 256 pages (Swedish edition)
Genre: Autobiography

Main character(s): Gunilla.
Synopsis: This is the story about what it was like for Gunilla to grow up in a dysfunctional family that didn't even try to understand her and the way she saw the world.
Best: That she so openly tells the story about her life, both the good and the bad parts. That she sticks to the subject and doesn't wander off and write about other things, like so many other writers do when it comes to talking about themselves.
Worst: I can't think of one single bad thing about this book.
Quotes: Translated from Swedish by me:
"When I didn't understand I didn't care that much about what adults said, at least not in terms of obedience. But I became sad inside because they thought I was spoilt and lazy, and I thought they were right."
"My family and I didn't live in the same world. We hardly even came from the same planet."
Comments: This has to be the best book I have read about Asperger's Syndrome / High-functioning Autism, and it was also one of the first. I'll probably re-read it a million times before I get tired of it, it's just that good. It was like reading the story of my own life, and for the first time realizing that I wasn't alone. Like she said herself in the part I quoted, she felt like she wasn't even from the same planet as the rest of her family and that's how I felt too, before. When I read this book, it felt like I had finally found someone from my planet. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good autobiography or wants to learn what it's like to live with AS.