The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna

The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna

The story is written from the perspective of Jimmy Flick. Jimmy is the autistic son of a working class Australian couple. The story begins in the late 80s when Jimmy is six.  It reflects the fact that Autism wasn't widely recognised at the time. The word is never mentioned, instead Jimmy is described as retarded, special or different.

Jimmy's mum has asthma and his father has a drink problem. Tales of domestic violence are narrated through the eyes of a child with Autism.

What makes the story special is the insight it provides into Jimmy's thought process. Jimmy sees lines joining the people he loves to one another. He is aware of his body and how it speeds up and slows down as he heads towards a meltdown or before he begins to run around in circles. I used to think that children with Autism were cold and treated people like objects; I've recently learned that they are often oversensitive and treat objects as if they had feelings. This is reflected in the book.

Mid way through the book I began to suspect that nothing much was going to happen, but that all changed and it turned out to be great read. I'll finish with an extract as you've really got to read the book to get a feel for how Jimmy sees the world. The passage below is Jimmy meeting Ned the dog.

"I touched Ned's head with my fingers and a small current entered my hand wires. We couldn't have a dog at home because its fur would clog Mum's air ducts."

"Ned sat on his back legs and I went closer. Ned didn't blink as he took in the scent of me and made his decision. I looked into his eyes and I saw myself inside them...I felt my cells slowing down until they spun at the same speed as Ned's; there was no difference."