Rating: 2* of five

I'm grateful to Mariah for commenting on this vanished review. I had no idea that it was gone.

I will attempt, through the group read, to reconstruct the earlier review.

***UPDATE***17 April 2017

I read this story 14 years ago, and the review I wrote then was testy because I was too often and too deeply reminded of Forrest Gump as I read it. I ***LOATHE*** every single frame of that film, including the titles, the union notices, and the copyright information. It is sappy. It is manipulative. It is far, far too convinced of its own cleverness. It smirks at its main character behind his back, smiles dazzlingly to his face, and expects all of us to get the joke: The dumb guy's got dumb luck! Haw haw. Like that Swedish hundred-year-old man farrago.

Yuck.

Now, on dredging this book out the dark corner where it's been blocking a draft for a good long time, I can be a little less wrathful about the story. It's not as mean-spirited as either the Swedish mess or the Gump grimness. I still don't like it, the similarity to the mean-spirited smirky stuff gets in my way far too much. But I can finally tell the difference between this story and those: This one is interested in angles of perception and fields of vision. The conceit is not the point here. The point is to experience the world in a foreign way.

While I don't particularly enjoy the story, I no longer want to hurl the book in the path of a draft so as to get some use out of it. (But back it goes because it's the perfect size to plug the space and nothing else I dislike is the same dimensions.)

Rating raised to 3 stars.

I'm at a loss to explain why this novel is so special, but special it is. Haddon operates on the Poe principle - not including any wasted words, making every character come to life with a minimum of description and fewer lines of dialogue. I fell in love with the narrator, but I am not certain why - except perhaps that he's transparently innocent and confident in his constellation of quirks, preferences and behaviors that many would characterize as off-putting and/or anti-social. It is difficult for him to move through his world. It is difficult for those who love him to parent him. Heck, it's difficult for the police to assist him, when that assistance is necessary to his well-being. But he's unforgettable and I found myself rooting for his success in every interaction he has and each event that transpires. Oh, and the dog of the title? Such a red herring. It's only there to lure you in and it serves that role well.

En primera instancia no creí que fuera a gustarme tanto porque no es un género que suela visitar muy a menudo pero me equivoqué rotundamente. Como pasa siempre que llevo las expectativas demasiado bajas o muy altas.

Seguimos la historia de Christopher, un chico de quince años que tiene un trastorno del espectro autista (específicamente el síndrome de Asperger), quien se embarca en la osada investigación del asesinato del perro de su vecina.

La condición de Christopher es una de las cosas más trabajadas del libro porque cumple con los síntomas sin ser en ningún momento inverosímil. Esto mismo también le agrega originalidad al cómo se narran los sucesos desde un punto de vista muy particular.

La verdad que he quedado satisfecho y aunque no me sorprendieron las revelaciones es demasiado entretenido e interesante por lo que lo recomiendo para pasar un buen rato entre sus páginas. Además, cuenta con dibujos, un apéndice y una notas hechas por el prota que le dan su toquecillo especial.