"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is a brilliant work of fiction. It tells the story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Christopher who, while walking alone in his neighborhood late one night, comes across his neighbor's dog lying on the ground with a pitchfork protruding out of its side. The dog, a standard-sized French poodle named Wellington, is dead - murdered by an unknown party. Christopher, who loves animals, decides that he is going to solve the mystery of who killed Wellington, and, while he is at it, he is going to write a book about his investigation.
And that set-up should be enough for this story to proceed to some sort of satisfying conclusion, but with Christopher John Francis Boone, nothing is ever simple. Christopher is autistic, and while that condition provides some advantages for detective work - such as being highly focused and extremely logical - it also complicates his life in other ways. Christopher does not like to be touched - or to function in close proximity to other people, especially people whom he does not know, and his experience in functioning outside of his school and his home - on his own - is very limited. He can also be uncomfortably direct in his statements and questions.
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is, in effect, one book with two authors. It is in reality a novel written by Mark Haddon, a talented young author, children's author, and screenwriter who at one time worked with autistic youth. But Haddon's novel is also a representation of the book that Christopher is writing about the case of the murdered dog. The entire book is written in the first-person with Christopher as the narrator.
One of the things that interests Christopher Boone is math. While he is being educated in a special school for children with an assortment of handicaps - and learning to function in the world - Christopher is also absorbed with learning about nature and math. One aspect of his devotion to math is an intense interest in prime numbers. Christopher knows every prime number up to 7,057, and because of this fascination with primes, he numbers the chapters in his book by ascending prime numbers. The first chapter is 2, the second is 3, the third is 5, and so on. He also halts the narrative at various places to discuss certain math problems, and the appendix is a four-page discussion and resolution of a math problem that appeared in his A Level Math Examination.
In addition to the steady flow of math references, Christopher uses his own drawings to illustrate objects, concepts, and patterns in his book.
During the course of writing his book, Christopher does discover who killed Wellington, and he also unearths some family secrets that set his life in turmoil. Christopher becomes more independent as he struggles to solve the murder mystery. At one point he has to figure out how to get himself on a train and make his way to London, and then once in the big city, he has to manage to get to a particular address - all of which he eventually does.
Christopher John Francis Boone is perhaps the most engaging narrator to grace the pages of a book about troubled youth since Holden Caulfield. Christopher sets a goal and achieves it, and along the way he gets a more secure handle on his life and gives the world a clearer view of what it is like to function with autism.
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is a compelling narrative that delivers on multiple levels. And while there is no standard symptomology for autism. Christopher's responses and behaviors will be recognizable to many who have had first hand experience with individuals on the autism spectrum.
Mark Haddon's - and Christopher Boone's - book is a remarkable achievement, a stark and logical look at the world through the perspective of an individual with autism. It's a rare chance for many of us to see the world as we have never seen it before - and to be better people for the taking the opportunity.
Yes, reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" can make you a better person - if you are up for the experience!
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Popular Highlights in this book
The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.Highlighted by 3,394 Kindle readers- No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.Highlighted by 3,099 Kindle readers
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... Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" is wonderfully written. Throughout the book
A Journey Full of Undiscovered Incidents The novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" is wonderfully written. Throughout the book, the author, Mark Haddon manages to keep the reader contemplating Christopher's actions and discovering as to why he does the things he does. As the book progresses, the characters begin to develop and we have the opportunity to observe how these characters change throughout the book. It keeps the reader intrigued as Haddon includes many hints and clues which lead to unfortunate and fortunate events. The novel includes a wide range of characters, each with a unique trait and characteristics. From the main character having Aspergers and constantly battling society and trying to solve the main plot point of the novel, to discovering things that he was not prepared to discover. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" should be taught again next year. This novel includes many aspects that differ from many novels. This novel includes an unreliable narrator, who constantly manages to keep us wondering as to why the things occur as they do. A protagonist, Christopher, who struggles with Asperger's and throughout the novel, grows mentally as he discovers new things. Leading to a journey full of undiscovered incidents.Personal Reviews“This is a great novel to read in high school because it has some adult language but at the same time you see the perspective of the character and how he thinks.”“I really enjoyed reading this novel because the author did a great job of including an unreliable narrator. This novel is intriguing as the novel is full of clues that maintains us thinking.”“What I loved about this novel is the way Haddon uses the literal mind of Christopher to develop our understanding of his life. No person may ever fully grasp the working of the autistic mind. We must rely on them to tell us, and as we see with Christopher, the point of view is told in language quite different from the words we usually use for description.”“While I was reading the novel I got shocked when I discovered that his father lied to him about his mother being dead when actually she was living with another man. I feel that Christopher parents were not doing a good job raising their son and committed many mistakes along the way.”
