Update: my review may not be interesting, but this one definitely is, so please read it if you read the book or plan to read the book. The author created a negative stereotype of Asperger's and autism and offended the Asperger's community. He's not an expert, has no experience with these disorders and did no research (Mark Haddon's blog). I think this is really important to know when you read the book.



I'm not enthusiastic about this book.
I kept asking myself this question : does this book really do justice to autistic children ? I had my doubts.
No doubt the thought-processes of Christopher were sometimes accurate, but I think it was overdone most of the time.
What also bothered me was the improbability that an autistic kid, who was only allowed to go to the shop at the end of the road on his own, and who has rage and panic seizures regularly, would have a Swiss Army Knife in his pocket all the time. No way!

A long time ago, I read a memoir written by a girl who has autism, and I really loved it. It was not a light read, and it left me emotionally drained, as if her life-story was about my own child. In comparison with that book, The Curious Incident was rather a light read that didn't get me emotionally involved.
I would recommend this other book to everyone but the problem is I don't remember it's title or it's author. I've done a search and maybe it was this book, but I'm not sure: Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic
While reading the reviews for that book, I stumbled on this review :

"I read this book when my own smart autistic son was very young, and was overwhelmed by it -- by the writing, by her memories, by her perspective on herself, and by her journey. It is a story of a brilliant woman trapped inside the odd shell autism creates, suffering inside it alone (and at the hands of her mother) and then beating her way out of it and learning, through trial and error, how to be herself. I don't have it -- I must have given it away -- or I would consult it to be more specific. But I have always kept it in mind as my son and I grow together, trying to figure out which extraordinary parts of him he needs relief from, and which are essential to who he is. All parents of children with autism want to hear the true voice of their kids who are locked inside their autism, and hearing Donna Williams' voice confirms that there are unimaginable riches of character and intelligence and sensitivity, even in the most apparently disconnected. This book is the reason I HATED The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime".

Well this review assured me that it's okay to write a negative review for this book, although I didn't hate the book, it only left me feeling cold.

3/10

I think it was an okayish book which was trying hard to be a good book.

Coping With Conscience

My 34 year old daughter is severely autistic, and has been since she was seven. No one knows why and the condition has never varied in its intensity. So she is stuck in time. She knows this and vaguely resents it somewhat but gets on with things as best she can.

Each case of autism is probably unique. My daughter has no facility with numbers or memory but she does with space. As far as I can tell any enclosed space appears to her as a kind of filing system which she can decipher almost instantly. When she was twelve I brought her into a cavernous Virgin megastore to get a particular CD. She had never been in the place before, but after standing in the doorway for three or four seconds, she walked immediately to the correct aisle and bin and picked out the desired CD without any hesitation.

I have a theory, probably rubbish, that autistic people perceive the world as it actually is or, more precisely, within strictly limited categories that might be called ‘natural’, somewhat in the vein of Kantian transcendentals - space, time, numbers, etc. Most, like my daughter and Christopher, the protagonist of The Curious Incident, have no facility with purely linguistic manipulation - metaphor, lying, irony, jokes, complex allusion, actually fiction of any sort. The world is not just literal, it exists in a way that ensures words are always subservient to things and without imagination that it could be any other way.

In my experience autistic people tend to become upset when non-autistic people attempt to reverse the priority by making things subservient to words. This makes the autistic person confused, anxious, and often angry. They appear resentful that such liberties can be taken with what is so obviously reality. In effect, the autistic life is devoted to truth as what is actually ‘there’, stripped of all emotional, figurative, and cultural content.

This makes autistic people often difficult to live with. They insist and they persist about things which appear trivial to others. They nag and needle until they obtain recognition. In those areas that interest them, they are capable of splitting the finest hairs to avoid abandoning their perceptions of the world. They may on occasion conform in order to gain a point but they never really give in. They are stalwart in being, simply, themselves. Adaptation occurs elsewhere, not in them.

It is, therefore, probably impossible for non-autistic people to live without tension among autistic people. The latter are maddening in the solidity of their selves. They are, in a sense, elemental, for all we know formed in the intense energy of a star in some distant galaxy. Fortunately, the fact that most of us cannot understand their elemental force is not something that worries them very much. Their emotional reactions may be intense but these attenuate rapidly, leaving little damaging residue.

Ultimately, perhaps, autistic people are the conscience of the world. And conscience is always troublesome, not because it threatens to judge but because it reveals.

Postscript 19/08/22: My daughter died today of a cerebral stroke, aged 37. I am devastated.

pooƃ ʎɹǝʌ ʇou puɐ ʎʞɔıɯɯıƃ ʎɹǝʌ sı ʞooq sıɥʇ

if you want to read an excellent book about autism in a young person, read marcelo in the real world. this book is like hilary swank - you can tell it is trying really hard to win all the awards but it has no heart inside. and yet everyone eats it up. C0ME ON!!

no one likes gimmicks.

come to my blog!

3.5 ⭐️

Me gustó mucho. Siento que sabe transmitir muy bien lo que puede ser la mente de una persona neurodivergente, así como también cómo se relaciona con el mundo, con su familia y cómo los afecta a ellos también. Me encantó estar un rato en la mente de Christopher y entender cómo ve y percibe al mundo, me pareció un gran cambio de perspectiva. Siento que a pesar de no ser un libro con una trama tan interesante, deja mucho que pensar y aprender. El final me dejó

The Prime Reasons Why I Enjoyed Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time:

2. Death broken down into its molecular importance.

3. Clouds, with chimneys and aerials impressed upon them, and their potential as alien space crafts.

5. Black Days and Yellow cars.

7. Red food coloring for Indian cuisine.

11. Christopher's reasons for loving The Hound of the Baskervilles and disdaining Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

13. White lies.

17. The patience of Siobhan

19. Father’s frustration, and Father's love.

23. “I reasoned that....”

29. Metaphors are lies and similes are not.

31. The intimacy of fanning out the fingers and pressing the hand of another.

37. Christopher punches a policeman and later decides he doesn't like policeman much after all.

41. My empathy for Father's pain.

43. Mystification through demystification.

47. Father admitting one of his “crimes” before he was caught.

53. Did I mention Christopher?

59. A Level Maths.

61. The London Underground as a scary, thrilling adventure.

67. Toby the rat.

71. Wellington forked.

73. The book has yet to be discovered by Oprah.

79. Behavioral Problems

83. Maps

89. Prime numbers = Prime chapters

97. That every day life, if seen from a certain perspective, can provide the conflict for a compelling novel.

You can't please everyone, and I guess books can be a good example of that statement. I know a lot of people who liked this book very much, but on the other hand, I also know a few people who would not hesitate to burn this book. I'm on the positive side. I really enjoyed this short novel.

I've said this numerous times in my other reviews that I like character driven novels. This book obviously focused on Christopher's development more than the plot's. The author succeeded, because I've gotten attached to the little kiddo. I have a soft spot for people, more on children, with disabilities. I can't stomach to be annoyed at them because it's not something they can control. While I don't know anyone personally with autism, the author managed to give justice to the sickness. It's not the best book on autism, but it's a short preview of it.

I honestly don't like reading huge novels during the school year. I'd rather read those gigantic books during my breaks because I tend to enjoy them better when read at my own pace. Reading is not a task for me, but it's something that I consider to be leisure. Stress from the university is not something I could control, so reading shorter novels help me unwind at times. It's actually my exam week next week but I managed to squeeze this book in my hectic schedule. I didn't feel like rushing because it was so short to begin with. Aside from being short, it was also really entertaining.

Like I said, it's not a novel that everyone's going to love, but I'd recommend taking the risk and find out for yourself. Sometimes the opinion of others may seem right, but in the end it's all about what the novel made you feel after reading. You don't have to go with the flow and hate on something you actually like.

this book rocked my world, and i've been trying for weeks to understand why. here it is:

* because the plot is flawless

* because the voice is flawless

* because it's amazingly tender without being cute

* because there's a christopher boone in me, and a christopher boone in everyone i love or at least try to get along with

* because the christopher boone in me loves to see itself written about lovingly, like it's the coolest kid, if not on the block (it will never be the coolest kid on the block), at least in the annals of literature

* because the christopher boone in those i love or at least try to get along with is telling me, "be patient; please, be patient; i'm doing the best i can"

* because i understand this plea, since it's a plea i issue myself like 230 times a day

Reading because I’m going to try and loosely base some of my picks on the Great American Reads list!

Al fin he tenido la oportunidad de leer este libro que tan buena crítica ha logrado, y afortunadamente no me ha defraudado. Es una lectura ágil gracias a la narración en primera persona por parte de un joven de 15 años, que nos ayuda no solo a comprenderlo a él sino también a conocer un poco más sobre cada una de las personas que nos rodean, por que al fin y al cabo, todos somos especiales.
¿Qué he aprendido de esta lectura? Además de lo mencionado, he llegado a la conclusión de que desconocemos la vida y circunstancias de los demás, y no deberíamos juzgar sus decisiones; y que los malos quizás no sean tan malos ni lo buenos, tan buenos.
Y por último, me ha hecho llegar a la conclusión de que en el futuro debo tener más paciencia, aunque puede que esto no esté directamente relacionado con la lectura.
* Lectura del grupo: CLUB LITERARIO (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...)*

Αυτο το βιβλιο το διαβασα ολόκληρο φωναχτά στα παιδια μου.
Παρ ολο που μαλλον δεν ηταν και εντελώς στην καταλληλη ηλικια ακομη για ενα εφηβικο βιβλιο, ομως τους αρεσε, και ως ενα βαθμο κατανοησαν.
Ο ενας γιος μου εχει στην ταξη του ενα παιδι με παρομοιο διαγνωσμενο αυτισμο, και μας βοηθησε πολυ να καταλαβουμε τη συμπεριφορα του (ειμαι κι εγω εκπαιδευτικος κ μου ηταν εξισου βοηθητικό κ διαφωτιστικό και χρήσιμο).
Νομιζω οτι προκειται για ενα σημαντικο βιβλιο.

Γιατι μιλαει για πραγματα για τα οποια οι ανθρωποι"δεν μιλανε" γενικά, και βοηθαει χωρις να ειναι ενα δυσκολο, επιστημονικο βιβλιο.
Και ειναι και αστειο
Και ειναι και τυπου "αστυνομικο"
Και ειναι και συγκινητικο
Και ειναι και ανθρωπινο
Και ειναι και 'ενοχλητικό'
Οπως θα οφειλε να ειναι ενα τετοιο θεμα - disturbing

Και μου αρεσει που δεν κανει καμια προσπαθεια να ειναι συγκινητικος ή να εκβιασει το συναισθημα και να ωραιοποιησει/λυρικοποιήσει και να προσπαθει να μας κανει να νιωσουμε λυπηση για οτιδηποτε μη "ταιριαστο" στην "τέλεια" κοινωνια που επιδιωκουμε να εχουμε.

Πρεπει να τελειωνουμε πια με τα ταμπου και να μιλαμε ανοιχτα για όλα.
Η άγνοια φερνει φοβο και απομονωση.

____________________
"Οι ανθρωποι πιστευουν στον Θεο γιατι ο κοσμος ειναι πολυ περιπλοκος και γιατι νομιζουν οτι ειναι πολυ απιθανο να υπαρχει τυχαια οτιδηποτε τοσο περιπλοκο οσο ενας ιπταμενος σκιουρος ή το ανθρωπινο ματι ή ενας εγκεφαλος. Ωστοσο θα οφειλαν να σκεφτουν λογικα. Κι αν σκεφτοταν λογικά θα εβλεπαν οτι μπορουν να θεσουν αυτη την ερωτηση μονο και μονο γιατι εχει ηδη συμβει και αυτοι ηδη υπαρχουν. Υπαρχουν εξαλλου δισεκατομμυρια πλανητες όπου δεν υπαρχει ζωή, αλλά πανω σ εκεινους τους πλανήτες δεν υπαρχει κανείς με μυαλό για να το προσέξει."

A very charming, insightful, engaging book. From the perspective of a 15-year-old boy who has a kind of high-functioning autism (which may not be autism, actually, but Asberger's?).

Some mature themes. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (footnote: But I wouldn’t have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown.) I start thinking about Coco Pops and lemonade and porridge and Dr Pepper and how I wasn’t eating my breakfast in Egypt and there wasn’t a rhinoceros in the room and Father wasn’t wearing a diving suit and so on and even writing this makes me feel shaky and scared, like I do when I’m standing on the top of a very tall building and there are thousands of houses and cars and people below me and my head is so full of all these things that I’m afraid that I’m going to forget to stand up straight and hang on to the rail and I’m going to fall over and be killed. This is another reason why I don’t like proper novels…” pg. 19

“I said that I wasn’t clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn’t clever. That was just being observant. Being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new. Like the universe expanding, or who committed a murder. Or if you see someone’s name and you give each letter a value from 1 to 26 (a = 1, b =2, etc.) and you add the numbers up in your head and you find that it makes a prime number, like Jesus Christ (151), or Scooby-Doo (113), or Sherlock Holmes (163), or Doctor Watson (167).

Mr. Jeavons asked me whether this made me feel safe, having things always in a nice order, and I said it did.
Then he asked if I didn’t like things changing. And I said I wouldn’t mind things changing if I became an astronaut, for example, which is one of the biggest changes you can imagine, apart from becoming a girl or dying.” pg. 25

t“Mrs. Alexander didn’t say anything. She walked to the little red box on a pole next to the gate to the park and she put Ivor’s poo into the box, which was a brown thing inside a red thing, which made my head feel funny so I didn’t look. Then she walked back to me.” pg. 57

t“On the fifth day, which was a Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.” pg. 103

“And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn’t any space left to think about other things. And when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and they can talk to you and do things that you don’t expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well. And sometimes when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my years and groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be going.” pgs. 143-144