''Nothing Was All He Said'' () is a 2003 Belgian novel written by

Nic Balthazar Nic Balthazar (born 24 July 1964 in Ghent) is a Belgian film director and a TV/radio personality (presenter, reporter, producer). Family Balthasar was born into a Ghent family of politicians active in the Socialistische Partij Anders. He is th ...

. The book is based on the real story of an

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

teenager from

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, named Tim, who committed suicide because of bullying. Balthazar would later also direct the

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

Ben X ''Ben X'' is a 2007 Belgian-Dutch psychological thriller film based on the novel '' Nothing Was All He Said (Dutch: Niets Was Alles Wat Hij Zei)'' by the film's director Nic Balthazar. It stars Greg Timmermans as a teenager with Asperger syndro ...

'' in 2007. Balthazar wrote the book to raise awareness to how grave the consequences of bullying can be.

Plot

The book tells us the story of Ben. He is a seventeen-year-old boy from Ghent who has

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

and gets bullied in school because of this. He considers suicide, but meets a girl online, nicknamed 'Barbie', whom he falls in love with. They set up a meeting, and as Ben tries to commit suicide by jumping in front of an arriving train, he gets rescued by Barbie. Together, they fake his suicide and expose his bullies at his funeral. After this, Ben tries to live a normal life.

Real story

This book is based on the true story of an autistic

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

teenager who committed suicide because of bullying. He died by jumping off the Gravensteen in Ghent.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into a film ''

'', theatrical play by Frank Van Laecke and a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

by NDurie, the pseudonym of Veerle Colle.

References

{{Reflist 2005 Belgian novels Young adult novels Novels about suicide Novels set in Belgium Novels set in Ghent Belgian novels adapted into plays Belgian novels adapted into films Novels adapted into comics Dutch-language novels Novels about autism