What if your husband came with a manual, one that might explain why he does the things he does? I haven’t met a wife yet who hasn’t at one time or another looked at her husband and thought, “What the heck were you thinking?” For the Finch family, though, the problems with husbands get a little weirder, such as his tendency to burst out quacking at parties or his inability to spend any time with the kids without blowing up in anger. Their marriage is suffering, and they may be on the brink of divorce.
Five years into their marriage, with two very young children, David discovers that he has Aspergers Syndrome, a form of Autism. Well, that explains a lot, he thinks and sets about with the precision and obsession of any proper engineer to create the Journal of Best Practices, a guide to follow to help him change his behavior and save his marriage.
The entries into David’s Journal of Best Practices include both the profound and the mundane. David struggles with the inability to empathize with others or put their needs above his own, which makes his two-year journey to be a better husband and father all the more admirable.
David is honest, charming and humorous in his self-evaluations and plans of actions. His wife, Kristin, is the kind of friend I wish I had living next door to me, and the determination and commitment that the couple have to save their marriage is to be commended. “Apologies do not count when you shout them,” and “Don’t change the radio station when she’s singing along,” are two of the typical entries into the journal.
For the reader, all of these practices are very entertaining, and the insight of what it is like to have Aspergers on one side, and to love and live with someone who has it on the other side, is fascinating. Ultimately, though this is a love story, perhaps a love letter, from one man to his wife and kids.
Related Articles:
Book Review: Juliet by Anne Fortier