Customer Reviews
A Must Read 
2008-02-24
Pretending to Be Normal: Living With Asperger's Syndrome
This book is must read for anyone dealing with Asperger's children, teens and young adults. L. Wiley's insights into her own responses and feelings enables a better understanding of the behaviors we see, and also insight into some of our goals, that may not be shared by those with whom we are working.
A good first hand account of living with autism 
2007-11-17
I have now read several books by adults with autism or aspergers. This is a good book to read if you want a better understanding of the autism spectrum and how it plays out in children who otherwise appear "normal". The author describes very well what life was like for her in high school and college. She also writes about her marriage and some of the challenges in that. I believe that this is the first book I have read that goes into that type of depth of close relationships. At the end of the book she has chapters such as organizing your home life, employment options and survival skills for college students. I will probably read those chapters again and in more depth when my son is older. I think that many of the suggestions would be helpful to someone on the AS.
Amazing 2007-10-29
An unbelievable book. I laughed, I cried...
I learned more about my son, I learned more about myself.
I found myself... 2007-10-10
I couldn't believe the resemblences I found in this book.
At 51, I have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, as is my Son of 17.
Liane Willey could be my twin, with all she went through. I wasn't too sure if I had written the book. Anyone needing validation should read this book. It covers growing in all aspects of Asperger's. Childhood "fits" and College idiosyncracies. A great read for any "Aspie"or anyone with a suspision of "Aspies". (Asperger's Syndrome)[[ASIN:1853027499 Pretending to Be Normal: Living With Asperger's Syndrome]
I love this book! 2007-10-07
This was the first book on Asperger's Syndrome that I read. I loved it and still often go back to it and reread sections. It is very well-written, logical, engaging, and informative. I enjoy autobiographical books about people living with challenges and this one really holds my attention. I read it just before I was "officially" diagnosed with AS and I was so touched by what Liane shared and could identify with so much of it. It has really been a blessing to me. Pretending to Be Normal: Living With Asperger's Syndrome
Good description of Aspergers 2007-10-05
This book is able to communicate what it's like to have Asperger's, from a whole-life perspective, and generally portrays it as "different" but not necessarily "worse". Has a few minor issues that a good editor would have caught, but very readable. I found it comforting, after some of the more clinical books on the subject.
The Way We Are 2007-09-13
This book contains the autobiography of Liane Holliday Willey, a victim of Asperger's Syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder within the Autism Spectrum. The author relates her struggles to understand the social world and to understand why she seemed to have these struggles no one else around her seemed to have until she received a diagnosis of Asperger's for her own daughter. She claims reading the description of the disorder turned on a lightbulb in her head and she understood what she had been fighting all her life.
I understand and relate. My own experiences with the disorder differ from hers however, like her, I did not discover a name for the problem until well into adulthood -- and it was indeed like a lightbulb being turned on and everything could be seen for what it was.
I recommend this book to anyone that struggled in childhood to make and keep friends -- and anyone who knows someone that went through that battle or is going through that battle now. Read this. Everything then makes sense.
Asperger's and Girls
The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome
Eye opening, jaw dropping 2007-08-02
Liane Holliday brings you into the inner world of the Asperger Syndrome mind. Through out this book, she provides through her eloquent writing, the exact thought process of the Aspie child, adolescent and adult. It is absolutely eye opening, jaw dropping stuff. My heart filled with compassion, uderstanding, and my head filled with extreme knowledge. After raising an undiagnosed Aspie son, and the same son is now an adult, I am filled with pure understanding thanks to Liane. I "saw" my son in practically every page of this book. Thank you Liane for a superb book. I think my son and I are now headed to a full, loving, fun relationship, (instead of the dysfunctional one we are now in), Thanks to you!!
Buy more than one copy! 2007-08-01
Every time I loan my copy to someone, it is gone forever. Folks I share it with find it just as compelling and helpful as I do. It is filled with great stories but is also full of tips and strategies that can be employed to support people with autism labels. My personal copy is dog-earred, highlighted, underlined, and scribbled on-- it is invaluable in my work with teachers and families. Don't buy just one!
Not Really Helpful to Me 
2007-07-02
I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome after my wife started making plans to leave me. She agreed to stay, but only if would go see a counselor. This is when I discovered I had AS. My daughter also went to see a counselor (a different one) and was also diagnosed with AS. I was told there is "no cure".
Frightened by my wife's threat, my daughter's "inheritance", and in great emotional pain, I began gathering information about AS so that I could consciously learn to compensate for my unconscious failings and to at least mask my symptoms. Willey's book was one of the texts I picked up and read.
If "Pretending to be Normal" were fiction then Liane Holliday Willey is a perfect example of the "unreliable narrator". I suspect there are several things wrong with her and I am not completely convinced all of them are the fault of "Asperger's Spectrum".
On page 12 she admits that she has never been evaluated for AS. This apparently didn't stop her from declaring herself an expert and writing a 175 page self-absorbed book blaming everything bad that's ever happened to her on AS. I recognize a lot of myself in what she says (about 80% of what she says, actually) but there are some things she (or her narrator) takes pride (!) in that actually made me start to hate her (or her narrator).
It is one thing to decide that social rules should not apply to everyone (I agree) but Willey goes further to use AS to excuse herself for violating safety rules and for downright nasty behavior.
She describes herself violently attacking other children who are standing too close to her. (But that's OK "because she has AS.") She tells her long-suffering husband that he confuses and nauseates her. (But that's OK "because she has AS.") She "smiles with pride" when her daughter asks to be put into a shopping cart and covered up with groceries. When the check-out employee orders the child to be removed Willey begins to throw a fit, teaching her frightened and confused daughter that safety rules in stores don't apply to everyone if you have a strong enough temper. (But that's OK "because she has AS.")
Everyone around Willey has to talk quietly and slowly, sit still (well away from her), refrain from interrupting, and to follow various rules dictated by Willey herself. But not Willey, because she's special and rules don't apply to her. (She hands out business cards that states all this to people who don't know her.)
Needless to say I cannot use Willey's book because her "solution" is to tell everyone she has AS and to turn them all into "enablers" who let her get away with her "symptoms". Maybe people are willing to "cut her slack" because she's female. In my experience (as a male) when people discover your weaknesses they tend to attack them at every opportunity, usually behind your back.
