Comments: 7
bookaneer 10 years ago
Agreed. Darcy is painfully reserved and rather too pleased with himself. That doesn't mean he's in the DSM. Geez. Nice review!
Murder by Death 10 years ago
Apparently, the woman forwarding the autism theory has found 7 of the P&P characters that "fall onto the spectrum". Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar...
bookaneer 10 years ago
You could probably diagnose Mr Collins with something. But 7??

Although with DSM5, between ADHD and autism as a spectrum disorder, everyone is probably diagnosable with something.
Did you know that in DSM5, if you experience grief (e.g. for the death of a loved one) for more than 2 months, it's now "depression" rather than grief?
Argh, DSM5.
Murder by Death 10 years ago
Is 5 the latest one? I had heard that Asperger's (sp?) was removed from the latest DSM5.

But really, 2 months is all you get to grieve before you're depressed? That's insane. Ouch... bad word choice... That makes no sense. Unless you're a pharmaceutical company.
Degrees of Affection 10 years ago
Wonderful review! Glad you enjoyed the book. And yes, I reacted rather strongly to that chapter myself. Like you, the previous chapter was just absurd...and frankly made my head hurt at times. But Darcy with Autism Spectrum disorder was simply more then I could bear. Research the times before you make that kind of call...and yes, sometimes they're just dicks!

I also find classifying basic human grief exceeding two months as depression to be idiotic bordering on completely unfeeling. It took me about a year to get over my Grandfather's death, so too my Grandmothers. I found perfectly normal ways to express my grief and would never have considered myself depressed. I've always personally rather liked the Victorian way of dealing with close family deaths - mourning bands, not seeking any change is status for a time, limited engagements - with the caveat that it should be at the person's own desecration. Some people might only need a few months; some might grieve in a small way their whole life.

And yes, it seems to me it only really aids to pharmaceutical groups. Funny that.
Murder by Death 10 years ago
I agree - I think some of those Victorian traditions of mourning have a lot to recommend them. Especially observing a time period where no changes in status are made; grief expresses itself in a lot of ways, including the making of rash decisions. When my dad passed it was everything my sister and I could do to keep my mom from making huge, life changing decisions right away.
Degrees of Affection 10 years ago
People do odd things when grieving. My Grandfather died just as my final exams for my first semester of freshman year in college were taking place. Two I opted out of. One was a paper and I remember typing on it while I was getting dressed for the funeral. I've never had the heart to read it, as I'm not sure it even made sense. The only one I had to take was Latin...I passed the class but I couldn't tell you a single word in Latin while I was studying for it.

After that though, exams never seemed that hard. I was just glad none of my grades rested on my final's score!