The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by mark haddon

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Our review regarding the handling of the main character's autism can be found on the Disability in Kidlit website.

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The main character has an unspecified condition that's widely interpreted as autism (although the author has stated it's not). Many in the autism community dislike the portrayal of the main character's condition, finding it exaggerated and unrealistic.

Here's an article about the novel and the author's research. It sharply distinguishes between Asperger's and autism, but is a relevant read aside from that. It's written by the non-autistic father of an autistic child, but does quote some autistic people: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-ol...

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TheChosenUndead0

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

I really wanted to like this book. I thought the title was brilliantly quirky; I'd heard lots of good things and read many a positive review; I was completely open-minded. And I enjoyed the first half. It was the second half that really set me against this book.

I enjoyed Christopher's story and his inner monologue, his innocence and simplicity and attention to detail and linear thinking. I started to really feel for him and sympathize with his differences. From what I know of autism (and it isn't terribly much, so don't count me as an expert or anything) I thought Christopher's character was a good portrayal of an autistic child, how their minds work, what they feel and don't feel and how they react to things.

It was when shit hit the fan for Christopher and his dad and he took off on a whimsical quest to London that I lost all patience with him. Maybe this makes me a terrible person. I know that I'd never be able to work with autistic children, but I respect the people who do all the more. I understand that it's not a choice for Christopher to be unable to feel or reciprocate people's feelings, but it still drove me over the edge. He stopped being charming and innocent, especially with all of his talk of stabbing people with his Swiss Army knife. Who gives an autistic kid a knife anyway, when he's known to hit people when feeling threatened? Bad move, mom and dad.

I don't know. Maybe I was disappointed because this book was billed as a mystery and darkly comedic, and I didn't feel like it was either of those things. For a good, darkly comedic mystery about an autistic child, check out Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This one didn't quite measure up, and left me disappointed and irritated.

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Newheights

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Hollywood has a number of unwritten rules for screenwriters, the oldest of which happens to be: Don't Kill The Dog. There's good reason for this. People, as a general rule, don't like to watch dogs die. Not the family pet or the stray or the bomb-sniffer or the police canine. Even the dogs one gets the sense need putting down, say Old Yeller or Cujo, come with an adverse emotional risk. And it's a risk you can easily perceive. (Just ask Michael Vick.) Rare is the heart that wants anything at all to do with this. Rarer still, the author who can handle the matter in a manner that delivers sufficient regard to the valiant spirit of Man's best friend. Few folks end up watching the best of those movies twice, or re-reading those particular books. Been there, done that, let's move on.

Mark Haddon opens his novel with the killing of a dog. He is, however, merciful about it. This dog is, from the very first sentence, already dead. It's one of those giant poodles, and it's stretched out on a neighbor's lawn with a big ol' garden fork sticking out of it. And because the boy who's telling the tale is an autistic fifteen-year-old, there's going to be a very pragmatic approach taken to all of this - which means we won't be cattle-prodded through the kind of emotional hoops other writers force into play just because they can. Christopher's mind is afflicted with a distinct disconnection between logic and feeling. His logic will be relaying the story. His feelings will come in through the back door - as did, for example, the throwaway fact that he was rocking the dead dog in his arms when the police arrived.

Christopher decides to investigate the death of Wellington. As this investigation proceeds, we will learn not only about Christopher's family, his school, his everyday life, but also what it's like to be in Christopher's head. And that's where Haddon's gift shines. His is a tremendous achievement in voice, in the restriction of a compartmentalized awareness, and the impact of our culture on those it simply wasn't designed for. There is not a single false note to be found. It is also a page-turner. Had the clock not hit 3 AM, I'd have finished this in one sitting. I was thoroughly compelled.

If you're looking for something to jar you out of the same-old, same-old? Look no further. This is it.

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KillTheFuture42

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

Winner of the 2003 Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and the Book of the Year; the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book; and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. On rereading, this is still an amazing book, Haddon's bestselling, eye-opening, both beautiful and heart breaking look at the world through the first person narrative of a person with an emotionally dissociated mind (autistic?).

A truly remarkable piece of a fiction, that is still yet to be really matched for its blend of reality, humour, pathos and pragmatism. A book that takes a high-functioning person with a social disability that not only shares their struggles but also goes all-out to highlight the positives (angering some of the community in the real world) of having such a condition. 9 out of 12.

2017 review:

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mexicans1d

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

What a massive undertaking it must have been to tackle this subject, especially with writing from the pov of a teenager with asperger's. And yet he made it look so easy.

The writing was smooth, and what was especially enjoyable was being able to simultaneously see things from his perspective while still being able to understand with great clarity what was actually happening, based on the dialogue from the adults.

Overall it was a good read, despite the fact that I was hoping for the ending to be different as well as more detailed.

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Tyrraell

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

I wanted, really really wanted, to love this book. I did everything in my power to love this book. In the end, this book sucked the life out of me and forced me to hurl itself across the room in frustration because it NEVER got GOOD. It was MISERABLE and DEPRESSING.

I thought I would love it because it is (supposedly) a detective story from the POV of an Asperger's kid. I work in special ed, and I have a place in my heart for kids with this syndrome because they are so incredibly interesting and emotional. And I am ALWAYS down for a detective story.

But really, what I ended up taking from this story was that this amazing kid wore his parents down to the point that they were wretched people making horrible, selfish decisions that made this boy's suffering even worse. They did not deserve this kid, and he did not deserve them.

And don't forget, a good story about a poodle PITCHFORKED to the ground always makes for a FANTASTIC GOOD TIME. I really should have known better.

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Krugo

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

My older son is autistic spectrum, so this was a must-read. But even if you don't know any autistic people, it's a great novel. The central character is engaging and totally credible. Funny how it's suddenly become cool to be autistic... Lisbeth Salander from Män som hatar kvinnor is the latest and most extreme example. What does that say about our society? Have we been too respectful of people whose main ability is to manipulate the emotions of others, and are we now thinking better of it?

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aldori1

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 1,2025

[7/10]

Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.

Fifteen year old Christopher has major difficulties understanding human speech patterns and human emotions, so he finds refuge in the cold equations of advanced mathematics, in scientific papers based of facts instead of emotions and in the ocassional murder mystery novel that uses logic to solve mysteries.

We meet Christopher at a moment of crisis: his parents divorce has uprooted the strict routines that make his existence bearable. When the young man discovered the dead body of a neighbourhood dog in his backyard, he decides to emulate his idol Sherlock Holmes and investigate the murder, writing down the clues and his logical deductions in a private journal / novel.

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I have come late to the party with this very popular novel and, to be honest, I was mostly disappointed in the journey. I thought the author did a poor job of accurately representing the autistic personality disorder and was twisting the facts around based on the needs of the plot, with little concern for consistency. I know I am nitpicking through the text, but Christopher’s issues with metaphors and similes come and go at random. Similarly, his agoraphobia, violent reaction to strangers and self-control appear and disappear according to plot convenience.

Furthest away in the sky were lots of little white clouds which looked like fish scales or sand dunes which had a very regular pattern.

In the end, I got reconciled with Mark Haddon and with Christopher after I finished the book, when I read in an interview with the author that his intention was not to analyze the medical condition, into which he had done little research, but to illustrate the impact autism and other mental disabilities have on families and friends, the need for patience and understanding in caring for the special needs of persons who struggle with a lot of the things we take for granted.

We all make mistakes, Christopher. You, me, your mum, everyone. And sometimes they’re really big mistakes. We’re only human.

As such, I conclude that Mark Haddon has done a decent, necessary job of putting the issue into discussion and I am thankful for my friends from the book reading group who picked the title for a monthly read.

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an answer to them. It’s just that scientists haven’t found the answer yet.

Instead of criticizing minor plot holes or inconsistencies, I prefer to close my review with my favorite quote from the novel, another necessary appeal to fight ignorance and malice with critical thinking and with kindness.

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

mark haddon

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Christopher John Francis Boone

Toby

Siobhan

Mr. Jeavons

Mrs. Alexander

Ed Boone

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mark haddon

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