• Reading Group Guide

Comparisons have been coming thick and fast for Elizabeth Moon's
riveting new novel THE SPEED OF DARK, released in January. This
delicate, insightful and sometimes terrifying first-person account
of how "normal" life challenges the autistic Lou Arrendale
resonates powerfully with readers who have been enthralled by
movies such as Flowers for Algernon, Forrest Gump and
Rain Man.

But THE SPEED OF DARK is anything but derivative. Comparisons are
only the beginning when it comes to appreciating the depth and
empathic precision that Moon --- a Hugo Award finalist and herself
the mother of an autistic child --- brings to a near-future world
where the intellectually "different" find themselves caught up in a
truly oriental crisis of mixed danger and opportunity.

Behind a seemingly dull exterior of minimal outside contact and
almost emotionless expression, Lou lives in a rich, intricately
woven universe of trusted social routines, a specialized pattern
recognition job, regimented personal care and carefully
choreographed pleasures, such as fencing, music and art. He is not
retarded, intellectually deficient, psychologically damaged, or
schizophrenic. In fact, Lou and his close-knit colleagues, who form
a special problem-solving team in one small department of a huge
research facility, are not a great many of the things that society
tends to label them.

Instead of responding to the usual fear and prejudice through
righteous anger, sentimental preachiness, or idealized fantasy with
the requisite happy ending ("boy gets new brain and all is
well..."), Moon and her delightfully believable protagonist meet
the real world head-on and make whimsical, workable sense of it.
Her deft rhythm, diction and nuance capture Lou's terse, yet
sophisticated, chains of thought, expanding and contracting like
the dynamics of a cosmic symphony inspired by an undecipherable
theme.

But it isn't easy when your brain is the square peg that "they"
(lovers of conformity and homogeneity) want to force into a round
hole. Lou's perceptive running commentary on his gargantuan efforts
to fit into "normal" society speaks volumes about the enigma of the
autistic mind and its unrecognized potential. This inner world, so
rarely shared with outsiders, is challenged by an opportunity to
perhaps experience what life might be like as a "normal" human
being. And Lou's captivating "voice" is very nearly silenced
forever.

With THE SPEED OF DARK, Elizabeth Moon has formed and sculpted a
heroic plotline from seemingly mundane ingredients, taking the
reader into fictional, ethical and even spiritual realms that have
rarely been so memorably blended. It's a bona fide page-turner ---
with surprises and magic around every corner --- and is guaranteed
to leave a lasting impression.