'Rozanna Lilley is a social anthropologist, autism researcher, and Oscar’s mum. Oscar is on the autism spectrum, which means he has a particular way of being in the world and understanding the lives of those around him.
'As Rozanna and her husband Neil navigate Oscar’s childhood, the author reflects upon her own childhood and adolescence, spent in a libertarian, self-consciously bohemian household first in Perth and then in Sydney presided over by her parents, the writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley.
'Through personal essays, Lilley works through the ongoing repercussions of childhood trauma and captures Oscar’s rich inner world, as revealed through his vivid fantasy life and curious observations. Do Oysters Get Bored? is a shimmering examination of an eccentric family, the complexities of care and the toll of grief in middle-age. A set of poems serve as a counterpoint to the essays in this directly charming and surprisingly funny account of daily life.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Writing Disability in Australia:
| Type of disability | Autism. |
| Type of character | Primary. |
| Point of view | Third person (subject of memoir). |
'In her groundbreaking 1988 study of women’s biography Writing a Woman’s Life, literary scholar Carolyn Heilbrun wrote:
Feminist criticism, scholarship, and theory have gone further in the last two decades than I, even in my most intense time of hope, could have envisioned. Yet I find myself today profoundly worried about the dissemination of these important new ideas to the general body of women.' (Introduction)
'At the nucleus of Rozanna Lilley’s memoir, Do Oysters Get Bored? A curious life, is Lilley’s son Oscar, a funny and endearing 12-year-old with a penchant for cartoons, a fear of dogs and a dislike for crying babies. Oscar is autistic, diagnosed at the age of three. But autism is just one small piece in the puzzle of a complex family story, as Lilley unravels memories of her own fraught early years.' (Introduction)
'In her groundbreaking 1988 study of women’s biography Writing a Woman’s Life, literary scholar Carolyn Heilbrun wrote:
Feminist criticism, scholarship, and theory have gone further in the last two decades than I, even in my most intense time of hope, could have envisioned. Yet I find myself today profoundly worried about the dissemination of these important new ideas to the general body of women.' (Introduction)
'Rozanna Lilley didn’t recognise the description. Intellectually, sure. But as it applied to her? No way. Lilley was in the office of her therapist, seven or eight years ago. It was their first session. To begin, Lilley tentatively offered a disclosure about her childhood. Tentatively, because she was unsure of its relevance. “Okay, I’m going to tell you a few things now in case it’s important.”' (Introduction)
'Dorothy Hewett is remembered as a leading poet, playwright and novelist. Admired for her passionate and politically charged writing, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to literature in 1986.' (Introduction)
'At the nucleus of Rozanna Lilley’s memoir, Do Oysters Get Bored? A curious life, is Lilley’s son Oscar, a funny and endearing 12-year-old with a penchant for cartoons, a fear of dogs and a dislike for crying babies. Oscar is autistic, diagnosed at the age of three. But autism is just one small piece in the puzzle of a complex family story, as Lilley unravels memories of her own fraught early years.' (Introduction)
