House Rules is about an eighteen year old boy, Jacob, who has Asperger's which is a form of autism. He is not handicapped though, he is incredibly intelligent and understanding, that is of a lot of things, yet, he is socially awkward and doesn't understand emotions the way other people do because of the Asperger's. His mother pays a college girl, Jess, to help him with social interactions and learn how to properly behave in social situations. Yet, when she goes missing and her body is found, dead, Jacob is suddenly being put behind bars and accused of killing her since he was one of the last ones to see her alive. This story takes place in The United States of America in our time period.
The MIP is, "Instead, he closes his eyes. He sways forward and rests his cheek against the window, spreads his arms as wide as they can go. I realize he is trying to embrace me. I put the receiver down and step up to the window. I mimic his position, so that we are mirrors of each other, with a glass wall between us. Maybe this is what it is always like for Jacob, who tries to connect with people and can't ever quite manage it."-(Picoult, 223)
I think this is the most important passage because it shows what it's like to be in prison and yet shows what it's like to have Asperger's at the same time. It makes you really feel emotion too, how hard it is to not be with a loved one for so long and when you finally are and you want to hold them, in jail, you can't.
The SOB is: "'And you're basing
your assumption on the evidence, without ever having met Jacob.'" -(Picoult, 237)
I think this sentence is brilliant because the woman they are questioning in court is Jacob's therapist and they are telling her she is basing her views on knowing Jacob and not the evidence so that is her response. It's so cunning because it makes you wonder whether it should be based on evidence or of what you know of the person because evidence can always be wrong, but sadly, so can what you know of a person.
