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 [Larger view] | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Vintage Contemporaries)
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 A peek into an unusual mind | |
| When you read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", you get a glimpse into the thought processes of an autistic savant. Written in the form of a journal by the teenaged Christopher Boone, this innovative story ostensibly takes us through the boy's efforts to find the killer of his neighbor's dog. But what we really experience is a bittersweet journey of self-discovery for a boy who finds the world a most confusing and illogical place. Haddon, who has worked with autistic children, does a wonderful job of explaining how Christopher perceives his environment and tries to cope with its perplexities. Examples abound of the contrasts between Christopher's literal, logical thought processes and the more typical imaginative and emotional ones. A powerful illustration of intuition versus logic is presented in a deceptively simple "Let's Make a Deal" probability problem that had me struggling for an entire day before accepting and understanding the answer. Don't let the thought of an unemotionally narrated story with math problems in it put you off, however. This book is a delight in every way. We still witness the emotional impact of events on the people around Christopher. Although we feel frustrated over his inability to read others, we cheer him on as he manages to get by in the world in spite of his disability. There are humorous touches throughout the book to prevent it from becoming too maudlin. What more can I say? Read this book! | |
| Lives Up to the Rave Reviews | |
| You may have read (in the rave New York Times review(s) and elsewhere) that "Curious Incident" is a (fictional) first-person account of the life of Christopher Boone, an autistic teenager. He's a math whiz who can't stand to be touched, who groans and screams when approached by anybody except close family, who carries red food coloring with him so he won't have to eat anything yellow or brown. A neighbor's dog is brutally killed with a garden fork; Christopher's journals describe his attempt to solve the crime. (True to his disorder, he uses only prime numbers to number the chapters, with occasional departures from his investigation to describe interesting math problems). His investigation leads him deep into his own family's sad secrets. But CI is definitely neither a 'disease-of-the-month' type of novel, nor a detective whodunit. You may struggle at first to figure out who the 'bad guy' is, as you might with a 'real' detective novel, only to realize that there aren't any-Christopher's autism seems to bring everyone to the end of his/her rope. On the other hand, the view of autism is not 'four-handkerchief' tragic, either. Christopher, despite his problems, grows and changes. He proves to be a capable detective; he overcomes tremendous fears to solve the mystery; he even becomes the first student in the history of his school to pass his A-levels. It is really is more of a coming-of-age family drama, it just happens to be told by the autistic member of the family. It's a fast read, told with a surprisingly light-hearted, even humorous touch, and the plot carries several entertaining surprises. Readers, please don't turn aside this book because you think it might be 'heavy' or sad. Go ahead and take it on vacation. It's sure to be one of the best books of the summer! | |
 Christopher's world | |
| I do not know a thing about autism--so maybe this has something to do with why I was drawn into Christopher's tale. I found this character to be very interesting as he explained to me, the reader, how his mind works and why it works the way it does. I credit the author, Mark Haddon, for sticking to the challange of conveying such a story. There's much skill in the craftmanship and I find it to be a very intelligent read. I don't understand how another person here said they read--which caught my eye because I did as well--'Simon Lazarus' and found that to be more "worthy" and that 'A Curious incident..'is "drivel" or gimmicky. I see nothing of the sort here. Both of these works are distinct in their own right, and both are smart and quite readable. So for this reader: 'Simon Lazarus' and Christopher's story here are both entertaining and fascinating reads in their own distinct way. That's what literature is all about. Appreciate them both. |
