Customer Reviews
Insight into an autistic mind 
2005-11-02
I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have autism and not have been diagnosed until late in life. Once she's diagnosed and realizes "idiosyncrasies" of those around her are more than they seem, I found that interesting.
Anything having to do with animals will hold my attention. The stories of gorillas with the pumpkins and the picnic tablecloth are adorable. Her bond with Congo is unforgetable. This will make you cry.
What it's like to be a high-functioning autistic 
2005-10-09
This is a memoir about being autistic and learning to accept and even revel in the uniqueness of being autistic.
Autism, in a sense, is a different strategy. It may be, in its "milder" forms, as that experienced by Dawn Prince-Hughes, who writes so beautifully well, an attempt to adapt to an ancient environment in which social abilities are not as valuable as some other talents. Many autistics would be more at home in the jungle or in woodlands or on the savannas of Africa than non-autistic people. Their ability to concentrate and to sense things acutely would serve them well. And any lack in social skill would not matter.
At least that is my impression after reading this wonderful book by a woman who "went forward by going backwards"--backwards, that is, "into the most primal and ancient part of myself." She had this experience with her "first and best friends, a family of captive gorillas, people of an ancient nation."
On the other hand, the autistic spectrum of disorders may represent imperfect ways of dealing with the world and with others. Usually autistic people are at a disadvantage, especially socially and vocationally, because other people find their behavior inappropriate and unfeeling. Dawn's behavior seemed at times cold and withdrawn and without proper affect. She had to force herself to make eye contact with people and to remind herself to engage in the social niceties. The curious thing about this is that autistics may actually feel things more strongly than the rest of us. The lack of social grace that many autistics display does not mean they are incapable of feeling or that their feelings of love and empathy are less than that of "normal" people. Clearly we can see in this memoir that Dawn has always been a deeply caring person with a great capacity for love.
The problem for some autistics is that they feel things too deeply. Many autistics have senses that are so acute that everyday interactions with other people overwhelm them emotionally. Satchel Paige famously said that "the social ramble ain't restful." He was, in understatement, expressing what Dawn has always felt.
As a child Dawn could repeat conversations verbatim and had a "vast repertoire of commercial jingles" which she would sing. She loved repetition and symmetry, and later as an adult learned from her gorilla friends "the value and beauty of ritual."
She had sensory addictions, as she calls them, to various sights and sounds and tactile sensations. She craved salt and would eat it straight from the shaker; and she would suck on burnt matchheads and "craved Alka-Seltzer for its taste and feel." She loved to smell her grandparents' car and her grandmother's purse. She felt a sense of calm and security in the presence of familiar things. Away from the familiar, she became frightened and insecure. She liked to hide in caves and other places away from people and from the "chaos of noise" all about her.
After a horrendous childhood in which she was abused by peers at school, and an adolescence and young womanhood in which she was often homeless and terribly alone, she found a sense of love and belonging by watching and interacting with gorillas at the zoo. She herself became a gorilla in part, and refers to her kin throughout the book as "people." This of course is part of the political and moral message of the book: the great apes are "people," or at least they should be treated as people and not as inferior animals to be enslaved and experimented upon.
Prince-Hughes's experience with the gentle and peaceful gorillas marked the beginning of her transformation from hopeless misfit to instructor at Western Washington University with a PhD in anthropology. It also helped that she came to understand that she is autistic, and came to accept that she is different from other people. From that understanding she came to realize that she had to consciously make adaptations to better fit in with others, and to make allowances for what they expected and considered proper even though for Dawn some of their expectations were strange and needless.
This is a fascinating, honest, and deeply revealing memoir about what it is like to be autistic.
Eloquent 2005-04-13
This is a well-written autobiography of an autistic person who at times seems doomed to failure, then becomes remarkably successful.
It is much more readable than similar books by Temple Grandin, and more careful about the extent to which her personality is representative of autistics in general.
It is occasionally frustrating that some of her successes seem to involve a good deal of luck, and I'm left wondering whether they were due largely to chance or whether she left out something.
gripping moving tale 2005-03-04
I loved this book. It is well written, gripping, moving and inspiring. It helps me understand a friend who has this and increases my admiration for others who struggle with it. I also recommend Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin and Women from Another Planet edited by Jean Miller
Searching for my son I find myself. 2005-02-14
I would like to thank the author for this book. My son has SID and is high functioning autistic. In searcing for answers my friend sent me this book for Christmas. It was looking into a mirror. Her childhood so closely followed my own it scared me. Fortunatly after high school my life took a differnt turn and I found help earlier.
But after I put the book down I called to make an appointment with
an autism specialist. I need to be diagnosed. To have an answer to why I am the way I am will be such a relief and enable me to get the help I have needed for 51 years.
Gorrila my dreams.. 2007-04-08
I just finished reading "Songs of the Gorilla Nation", by Dawn Prince-Huges. I found it very interesting, (especially the parts about the gorillas), but also very disturbing.
Dawn is about my age, so we share having grown up with Asperger's Syndrome in a time when autism, and especially AS, weren't really recognized---especially in women---and it's subsequent late diagnosis. I guess I found it disturbing because of the many parallels in our lives, and the bad memories they brought up for me.
She mentions feeling guilty about being envious of her relative who was just diagnosed with AS, because of all the slack people cut him, and all the help he is getting. I also have a newly diagnosed nephew, and I can totally sympathize with her jealousy. If I had gotten 1/10th the understanding and help that he gets, well...who knows how much pain I might have been spared?
I also liked her point about how hard she works to act "normal", and how frustrating it is for her because people don't believe her when she says she's autistic. They think she's making excuses for being abrupt or uncaring or the million other things "normal" people accuse us of. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
I REALLY sympathized when she spoke of how she has been criticized for her
perseveration, as I have run into that a lot.
I liked the book and I recommend it with some provisos: If you are on the spectrum, it may bring up bad stuff for some of you---especially if you're a woman. It's a little patchy -she skips around a bit and leaves out some background info that I would have found interesting/helpful. The insights into the gorilla mind are absolutely fascinating, and very sad.
A good read if you can handle it---I'm still having fallout.
Overcoming multiple hurdles to lead a fulfilling life 2006-03-29
This is the autobiography of a woman who not only overcame the challenges posed by autism but also came to terms with her lesbianism and embraced both things as part of her life.
Growing up different - autistic AND gay - in a small town was dreadful, and she left at 16. Her description of the extra difficulties faced by a homeless autistic was frightening, but she managed to climb out of that hole anyway.
I would have liked to have read more details about her college life and how she managed to earn a Ph.D., largely by correspondence, from a Swiss university.
She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her life partner and their son, borne by the partner from an anonymous sperm donor who was likely as colorful as they are.
Recommended 2006-02-11
This is not just another autistic auto-biography. In talking about her life the author is also talking about her work with and her experiences of Gorillas, and what she has learned from them, creating as a result a thoughtful and intelligent book not just about one person but about what it is to be autistic and what it is to be human.
Fascinating look at autism AND gorillas 2006-01-03
I thought the title was a metaphor, but it was actually quite literal. This book provides a fascinating view of the life and coping strategies of a "high-achieving autistic." It also provides insight into the lives and societies of gorillas. This book could be enjoyed for either reason. One of the best patient autobiographies I have read.
Spellbinding 2005-12-17
I was spellbound by Songs of the Gorilla Nation, a beautifully written memoir of a young woman who has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Although she has difficulty communicating and interacting in person, she is a remarkably eloquent writer, and is able to describe and provide profound insight into the thought processes and experiences of people who have the syndrome.
She describes her syndrome as a sensory filter malfunction (interestingly enough, many people with Autism and Asperger's have asthma and terrible allergies, which can be seen as other types of 'filter' disorders). For her, to experience the world is to drown in synesthetic sensory overload. Overwhelmed, unable to process the tidal wave of stimuli, she escapes the painful barrage through obsessive compulsive behavior, repetitive actions, and solipsism. As a child she was unable to connect normally with other people and was incapable of picking up on normal social cues. Although not cognitively or verbally delayed, she was socially helpless. Blunt, inadvertantly rude, and always "different,' she was a vulnerable target for vicious schoolmates and even teachers. She suffered greatly as a tormented, confused social outcast.
Completely alienated, she dropped out of school at 16 and was moved to Seattle and became homeless, eating out of garbage cans to survive. She eventually became an exotic dancer, and with her first paycheck visted the Seattle zoo because she had always found solace in animals. There she discovers an almost mystical connection with the gorillas, and for the first time experiences empathy and connection with another primate. Adept at shutting her senses off, she is able to focus her brain like a laser, and with a formidable singlemindedness observed and learned everything she could about them. Through studying their social interactions, and from the relationships she develops with the gorillas, she learns how to interact with humans. She credits the gorillas with "civilizing" her, and forms deep, communicative relationships with some of them. She becomes involved with the zoo and eventually is able to earn her PhD in Interdisciplinary Anthropology, form a relationship with a significant other, have a child, and become an activist for gorillas. Now she works to bridge the worlds between ape and human as well as autistic and normal people.
Although she can "pass" now as a normal person, there are still some things about human society that counfound her, although I can certainly see why.
"It is hard to express the horror I feel when I am out at a parade or carnival (already a sensory nightmare) and I see a clown coming. The garish colors of an exaggerated smile, the electric daggers that are rainbow wigs, the oversized hands and feet: all of these make me want to run at top speed for the nearest exit. If I can't get away, I sometimes feel like I want to attack the clown."
Amen, sister. Amen.
