Big Neurodivergent Energy Books: 1-5

Branching out into books now. Most of the entries on today’s list are middle-grade novels and series, formative reading for a neurodivergent kid who’s looking to see themselves in their books. I loved some of these when I was a kid, and I discovered others a bit later in life. Oh, and I couldn’t resist putting a little Jane Austen in there too!

 

Bridge to Terabithia

It occurs to me that, with characters who could fall within the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the most nuanced examples can often be read as autistic. Yes, Leslie comes into Jess’s life and makes it better, because she cares about chasing her passions more than what other people think of her, and she encourages Jess to do the same. When I was a kid, I was absolutely enchanted by the thought of a hideaway in the woods where I could create my own imaginary kingdom, where I wouldn’t have to think about any of the boring, frustrating, challenging things about “real” life. And I don’t know about you, but that feels like a big autistic mood to me!

 

Matilda

There have to be a lot of autistic folks who feel they’ve found a champion in the little girl who gets revenge on a bully with the power of her mind—which includes her encyclopedic knowledge from her extensive reading, her logical problem-solving, and her literal telekinesis. Three cheers for this hyperlexic kid with a strong sense of justice who’s misunderstood by her family but loved by the teacher who appreciates her extraordinary mind!

 

Pride and Prejudice

It makes sense that neurodivergent coding would jump out in a social satire, even one from the 1800s. It isn’t much a stretch to take an ADHD interpretation of Lydia or Mrs. Bennet, or an autistic read of Mr. Collins. Of course, though, this is mainly about the one and only Mr. Darcy, the most autistic Eligible Bachelor you’ve ever met. Given the age of the source material, it’s impressive just how many autistic buttons he presses for me, from his difficulty in unfamiliar social situations to his penchant for plain honesty over flattery to his tendency to say the impolite thing while doing the caring thing. So much love! 

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I already talked about the Netflix show, which feels so autistic in large part because it’s such an effective adaptation of the books. Oh, how I love Lemony Snicket stopping in the middle of the action to clarify things, define words, or reflect on the illogical nature of an expression. Nearly every character is happily obsessed with a particular subject that they’ve made their life’s pursuit, and I love that the Baudelaires process their emotions in such analytical ways. From the first book, I was utterly taken with this series, and I absolutely knew it was for me.

 

Time Quintet

Oh, Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, my beloveds! Incredibly smart, unable to fit in, willing to accept the impossible. I can totally see the Murry home as a place where it’s safe to be autistic in a hostile world, with only the twins masking reliably. Whereas Calvin might be the lone autistic in his family, high-masking to the point where he’s easily accepted by others, but he comes alive when he meets people like him. I love Meg for her anger, her insecurities, and her obstinate square-peg-in-a-round-hole-ness. These books were so formative for me growing up!

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)

*Darcy-related spoilers.*

Let’s be real. It was only a matter of time until I came around to this one. My Jane Austen journey started with the series of Masterpiece TV movies in 2007 (shoutout to Felicity Jones and Catherine Morland!), which led to all the books and then every single adaptation I could get my hands on. Hello, special interest! I’ve always loved Mr. Darcy as a character, for his complexity and fantastic interactions with Lizzy. I used to hedge a little, feeling a hipsterish need to point out that he wasn’t necessarily my favorite Austen leading man, but let’s put that aside, shall we? It’s Darcy. Over the years, I’ve only grown more attached to the character, in all sorts of incarnations (looking at you, Fire Island!) I’ve long appreciated his introverted characterization, but I’ve more recently come to view him through an autistic lens as well.

As I’ve gone deeper into my own neurodivergent journey, hearing about other folks’ autistic headcanons has really helped me expand my view of what autism can look like, and I now recognize that kinship with plenty of characters that it never would’ve occurred to me to read as autistic. But when I first saw Darcy’s name pop up on someone’s headcanon list, my immediate thought wasn’t, “Whoa, really? Well, now that I think about it….” It was, “Well, that makes total sense.”

Let’s start with Darcy in his own words, shall we? “I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.” Originally, I read this line as a Big Introverted Mood, but this is also a very autistic framing. Darcy isn’t merely shy or withdrawn. He has difficulty following people’s tone or playing along with social niceties, and despite having observed other people do this successfully, he can’t figure out how to do it himself.

I don’t want to say Darcy isn’t proud, because he definitely can be. But when he’s stiff and awkward at a ball, when he refuses to dance because he doesn’t want to, when he responds flatly to Bingley’s rose-colored impression of the evening, other people take all of that as further proofness of his standoffishness. Most everyone in Meryton thinks Darcy is a snobby dud compared to Bingley, and they take his behavior purely as slights against them, not recognizing that a big portion of it stems from his social discomfort.

However, people who know Darcy well have a very different opinion of him. Bingley is maybe a bit impervious to his friend’s moods, but Darcy is the friend he brings along to Netherfield. They spend a great deal of time together, and as amiable as Bingley is, I don’t think he’d keep dragging Darcy to balls he doesn’t want to go to if they didn’t genuinely get along. And when Lizzy visits Pemberley, Darcy’s housekeeper is full of warm remarks about him and specifically notes that a lot of people have the wrong impression. I’m a person who can struggle in social situations until I really get to know someone (and even then, I’m better one-on-one or in very small groups,) and I know what it’s like to have people assume I’m stuck-up.

Darcy is bluntly honest to his own detriment—especially in this sort of drawing-room polite society, where it’s all about saying things in the “correct” or expected manner. His first proposal to Lizzy is a disaster, and not just because she’s totally blindsided by the fact that she’s into him. No, he bursts in, declaring, “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you,” and then he proceeds to tell Lizzy about how hard he’s tried not to love her, due to her undesirable family connections. And the thing is, he thinks he’s nailing it. Yes, on a class level, it’d be unthinkable for a woman in Lizzy’s position to turn down a man of Darcy’s standing. But from his perspective, he’s also 1) being honest, which is good and 2) telling Lizzy that his love for her is strong enough to overcome his numerous misgivings about her family and status, which he thinks is flattering to her. When Lizzy flatly turns him down, he doesn’t know what to think.

(Side note: much of Darcy’s reluctance toward Lizzy is down to the Bennets’ “inferior” class, and some of it is about the boorish behavior of characters like Mrs. Bennet and Lydia. But it’s also worth mentioning that Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are like a walking sensory overload.)

Fortunately for Darcy, Lizzy clarifies her reasons, and once he understands, he writes her a long letter to add context to everything she’s heard about him. As their relationship continues to shift and deepen, he thinks he can feel that shift but remains wary. The next time he broaches the topic of love, it’s to quietly share, “My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever,” putting the ball in Lizzy’s court. First of all, thank you, gentleman, for respecting a woman’s boundaries. But also, we see how he wants to wait for explicit confirmation that Lizzy feels the same way before he tries proposing again, having misread the situation before.

So yeah, one of the most popular romantic leads of all time can be easily read as autistic, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, Darcy’s literary swoonworthiness doesn’t really translate to people with those traits in real life, but I still appreciate watching this heartthrob character deal with his socializing struggles and bad first impressions on the way to finding true love.

Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix (2018)

I really loved this YA novel. It’s by Ibi Zoboi, who co-authored Punching the Air with Yusef Salaam. This is obviously a very different kind of book, but it’s incredibly well done, and like the best modern reimaginings of classic works, it has something of its own to say outside of its original source material.

Zuri Benitez and her four sisters are shocked when someone buys the long-vacant house across the street of their Bushwick block, turns it into a “mini-mansion,” and moves in. She immediately associates the wealthy Darcy family with the gentrifiers who’ve been moving in, and while her older sister Janae quickly falls for the affable Aisnley, Zuri wants nothing to do with them, especially the stiff, standoffish Darius. But appearances can be deceiving, on all sides, and Zuri and Darius begin to learn that there’s more to one another than meets the eye.

We’ll talk about the book as a Pride & Prejudice adaptation first. All the best interpretations of this story recognize both Lizzy and Darcy experience both parts of that title over the course of the novel. Zuri side eyes Darius’s bougie background, thinking him less Black because he’s not hood, and Darius makes some tactless assumptions about Bushwick. His pride keeps him on the edge of unfamiliar situations where he feels uncomfortable, and hers is wounded by his less-than-favorable first impression of her. Both characters are calibrated really well to be modern Black versions of their Austen counterparts (Afro-Latina on Zuri’s side,) and the supporting characters are all quickly recognizable from the book. I especially want to shout out Warren (the Wickham character,) Mrs. Benitez (Mrs. Bennet, obviously,) and Georgina (Georgiana Darcy.)

Plotwise, there are some clever updates in adapting the particular plot beats. The increasing gentrification of Brooklyn is a good way to put the Benitez’s home in peril, and Zuri’s hood pride helps gives context for her automatic resistance to Darius. Everything surrounding Warren’s character, especially his history with Darius, is well executed. I also like how the book explores slut-shaming and Zuri’s preoccupation with not wanting her and her sisters to get a “reputation”—it can be tough to translate the sexual mores of a Regency-era novel to the modern day, and this gives the reader a good “in” to Zuri’s worries about her younger sisters’ behavior.

And like I said, I love what the novel has to say beyond the bounds of a Pride & Prejudice adaptation. Zuri’s ruminations (and poetry) on what’s happening to Bushwick as white hipsters move in are beautifully done, and I love seeing the contrasts between how the Darcys move through the neighborhood compared to how she does. I appreciate that the Darcys are a Black family, both for the representation it offers up in the central romances and for the way it adds further nuance to Darius as a Black kid from a rich family who’s spent most of his life in white spaces.

It's funny, romantic, poetic, and thoughtful. What more could I want in a modern Pride & Prejudice?

Warnings

Language, sexual references, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.