But in a discussion about the book on Tuesday night at the Salt Lake City Library's Main Branch, its occasional profanity hardly entered the conversation. Instead, the 20 or so people who met for one of many discussion groups citywide wanted to talk about the book's central character, their reactions to the story and what they felt the book had to teach them.

In the book, an autistic boy named Christopher discovers a neighbor's dog has been killed, and he decides to find the culprit. The boy himself is the narrator; because of his autism, his construction of reality is based on hard logic rather than nuance. Most in Tuesday's meeting were fascinated by the glimpse the book gave them into a different way of looking at the world.

"It was kind of disorienting thinking in those terms rather than the usual," said reader John Cooper. "It's kind of like putting glasses on for the first time."

The conversation ranged across many topics. Was the book an accurate look at autism? What did people think of the use of humor? Was the ending bleak or uplifting? And who would play the characters in a movie version?

Some people had read the book in their usual book clubs; for others, the meeting was a new opportunity to consider a book more fully.

"Most things you read about and you do want to talk about it," said Bill Cordray, who suggested the library host more groups in the future. "My wife and I have talked about [Haddon's book], and it's nice to be in a group and get insights you didn't see before."

The participants barely acknowledged the flap over whether the book was an appropriate choice for a program targeting the entire city.

Some wondered, jokingly, why City Councilman Eric Jergensen wasn't at the book discussion; Jergensen has complained about the book's profanity. But most saw the words as appropriate to the book's tone and the circumstances it portrays.

"If you go to England, and you go to that level of society, that's how people talk," said Cooper, who served a mission in Britain for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Christopher's detached portrayal of the people around him and what they say, "No word is loaded, the way we look at it," said Hikmet Loe, a librarian who led the discussion.

A few lodged complaints, but they weren't about the book: Participants want more meetings and felt it was hard to find information on this first wave's times and locations.