A mostly lighthearted novel told from the perspective of Christopher Boone, a teenage boy with autism. The story begins with Christopher carrying out his investigation into the murder of his neighbor's dog. However, a huge discovery along the way causes for Christopher to investigate something more scandalous. Christopher is then determined to track down somebody who he is more interested in meeting.

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' offers a big insight into the mind of someone with autism. The story is told by a quirky narrative which details random facts, stories and opinions from Christopher, and how he best explains the reasons for his odd habits and behavior. This novel demonstrates some good introspection by the protagonist, and features his great attempts to improve his social skills and his understanding of other people.

Four out of five stars.

Re-read for my Fall 2017 YAL class.

One of the best YA books ever, wonderful and surprising on so many levels. Very moving. As a parent of a kid with autism and another kid who is spectrum-y, it hits home for me in ways it might not for others. As with many mysteries, it features some misdirection; it appears to be about a kid with Asperger's Syndrome investigating a mystery about a dead dog in the manner of his hero (and also Aspergerish) Sherlock Holmes, but becomes an even richer and ever widening investigation of human tragedy and mystery and the complex nature of love and grief. I find it very moving, having read it several times.

My feeling this time? That almost half of the book is about the London trip when Christopher goes to see his estranged mother, and maybe that's a little too long; it makes the story into a kind of movie thriller of sorts, when the heart of the book for me is about mysteries, a dog murdered and just what that means for Christopher and his family, relationships, love, the grief and despair of dealing with a kid with special needs, that heartbreak, all stuff I have been through. I was divorced in the process of trying to deal with the anguish and despair and grief of discovering my son had autism, at the same time trying to do everything we could to try to reverse the process. So I could empathize with the parents.

One thing that is different in recent readings is that I have watched and rewatched the BBC Sherlock and the American Elementary and I have this as background for a very Sherlock-focused book (it's Christopher's favorite set of stories). I also have been reading Agatha Christie Poirot mysteries, so I have that related background. And, one course I have been teaching focuses on the relationships between psychiatry, the psychic/supernatural, horror/fantasy, spirituality, the literar vs the rational and logical, and some of that figures very much in this book. I had forgotten Christopher talks of faith and ghosts in this book with respect to logic and Reason. There's a consideration of metaphor and story for the purpose of making meaning, since this first person story is told by Christopher for a school project, a story of ever widening mysteries of life. I admit to tears in several places, earned tears from Haddon.

This is the most disassociating book I've ever read. Try to read it all in one sitting -- it will totally fuck with your head and make you forget how to be normal your brain used to work.

[As I noted in the comments below, I read this book in 2004 and wrote the review in 2007, long before I understood how ableist it was for me to use "normal" as I did initially. I changed it to be more accurate and inclusive, but I wanted to leave the trail // historical record in order to show that I was wrong and there's no need to use careless language like this, which didn't even properly indicate what I meant.]

Sweet autistic boy who solves crimes and I love the title reference to Sherlock Holmes.

This book was not for me. The main character is just not fun to read about in any way.

Ok, I get the concept. A heartwarming story told from the vantage point of an autistic boy.

Heartwarming, eh. Sure. Cerebral? You bet. For the "Literary Snob"? ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY. (Because most of those people LOVE "The Catcher in the Rye"...one of my most hated books of all time...and this book has been compared to that one. I should have known).

Look. I'm smart, I'm educated. I'm a professional woman who adores literature and loves to read. I bought this book because I was told that it was GREAT by a couple of friends. I'd also read the reviews. I'll give it a shot, ok?

Ack. It took me a full month to get through this book. This from someone who can devour a book in twelve hours (including "masterpieces" such as Memoirs of a Geisha, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice....loved them all). I didn't like it. I didn't find it "lyrical" I didn't find the writing in ANY way "superior" to some of the "genre" authors I read (Nora Roberts anyone?). It left me depressed and out of sorts. And a little pissed off.

If that's what makes a "Classic" these days, please count me out. I'll stick with my "silly" genre novels ANY day of the week.

This is a terribly sad book. [prtf]

5★
“He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage. I sometimes think of my mind as a machine, but not always as a bread-slicing machine. It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside it.”

I read this when it first came out because I saw it in the library and probably noticed the award nominations – there were a lot! But I knew nothing about the story, and when I read it, I could see the similarities with some of the kids I’d volunteered with in schools.

There is no mention of autism or Asperger’s or any sort of disorder. But we do discover later that he attends a special school and there is a woman who coaches him in life skills. Christopher tells his own story, how he finds a dog murdered in the yard across the street and how he plans to solve the mystery. He picks the dog up (he likes dogs) and as he does, the owner comes out of the house.

He looks like he’s holding the smoking gun! The police are called and take him to jail, which he doesn’t mind at all. He’s watched lots of TV mysteries and he likes small, simple places, so even though he doesn’t like strange places and new experiences, this is almost familiar. Dad finally shows up.

“I stepped outside. Father was standing m the corridor. He held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan. I held up mv left hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug. but I do not like hugging people so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me.”

Now we really start to see how Christopher directs all of the action around himself. The police had trouble with him, but it’s obvious that Father has worked out how to keep his boy calm . . . well, at least most of the time. Then the policeman lets Christopher out and takes him and Father to an interview room, where Christopher gives us a blow-by-blow account.

“He was an inspector. I could tell because he wasn’t wearing a uniform. He also had a very hairy nose. It looked as if there were two very small mice hiding in his nostrils.

He said, ‘I have spoken to your father and he says that you didn’t mean to hit the policeman.’

I didn’t say anything because this wasn’t a question.

He said, ‘Did you mean to hit the policeman?’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He squeezed his face and said, ‘But you didn’t mean to hurt the policeman?’

I thought about this and said, ‘No. I didn’t mean to hurt the policeman. I just wanted him to stop touching me.’

Then he said, ‘You know that it is wrong to hit a policeman, don’t you?

I said, ‘I do.’

He was quiet for a few seconds, then he asked, ‘Did you kill the dog, Christopher?’

I said, ‘I didn’t kill the dog.’

He said, ‘Do you know that it is wrong to lie to a policeman and that you can get into a very great deal of trouble if you do?’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘So, do you know who killed the dog?’

I said, ‘No.’

He said, ‘Are you telling the truth?’

I said, ‘Yes. I always tell the truth.’

And he said, ‘Right. I am going to give you a caution.’

I asked, ‘Is that going to be on a piece of paper like a certificate I can keep?’

He replied, ‘No, a caution means that we are going to keep a record of what you did, that you hit a policeman but that it was an accident and that you didn’t mean to hurt the policeman.’

I said, ‘But it wasn’t an accident.’

And Father said, ‘Christopher, please.’

The policeman closed his mouth and breathed out loudly through his nose and said, ‘If you get into any more trouble we will take out this record and see that you have been given a caution and we will take things much more seriously. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

I said that I understood.”

The word that kept coming to mind for me was ‘exasperating’. He would be so hard to live with, but his father tries his best, occasionally blowing his top but not nearly as often as I bet most of us would. He's the kid who will keep saying “but you PROMISED!” and we will have to admit we follishly did.

We must keep bearing in mind that this is all told from Christopher’s point of view. He’s not a child. His age is “15 years and 3 months and 3 days”, but his unfiltered language, fixation on games or timetables, and tantrums are the sort of behaviours we expect more from toddlers.

He is not going to change, but in his 15 years, he has learned a lot about what is expected of him, and I enjoyed watching him use his wits and his brains to figure things out that are outside his experience. And I loved seeing him challenge himself when he was dreadfully uncomfortable.

Not a spoiler, just a personal digression:
[I remember my parents saying “Patty doesn’t lie” and “children are so literal”. I was the eldest, and mostly I didn’t lie and I did question all those ridiculous things grown-ups say to kids that aren’t meant literally. I liked words and I expected them to mean what I was told they meant. But I always loved puns and jokes and plays on words, sarcasm, irony and all of those things that are so difficult for some people with autism. And I grew up telling the same lies everybody does, but I suspect the autism and the Aspies in my family have made me sympathetic to Christopher, although nobody is as challenging as he is.]

Christopher is not going to grow out of it. His basic personality and character are pretty well-formed. He’s a whiz at mathematics and distracts himself from worry by imagining complicated problems. He’s hiding and scared, so he retreats into his mind.

“And I did some more quadratic equations like

and I made some of the coefficients large so that they were hard to solve.”

Another short personal digression:
[The best I can do is put myself to sleep by counting by 3s or 7s or something, and that’s about it. But I don’t think I’m quite as exasperating as Christopher is either.

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

Τις τελευταίες μέρες είμαι άρρωστη και μόνη στο σπίτι και αυτό το βιβλίο μου κράτησε πολύ καλή παρέα. Αναλαφρο, ευχάριστο και ευκολοδιαβαστο, ακριβώς ο,τι χρειαζόμουν στην παρουσα φάση.

Ο Κρίστοφερ ειναι ενας αυτιστικος έφηβος που βρισκει νεκρό τον σκυλο της γειτόνισσας του και αποφασίζει να διερευνησει το μυστήριο αυτης της δολοφονίας. Και μεσα απο αυτη την αναζήτηση εμεις μαθαίνουμε για τις ιδιαιτερότητες του Κρίστοφερ, για τη ζωη του και την οικογένειά του και ολα αυτα διανθισμένα με κάποια "fun facts" που μοιράζεται ο Κρίστοφερ μαζι μας σχετικά με τους αριθμους, τα μαθηματικά, τα αστερια και το συμπαν. Απο ο,τι ειδα στο εξωφυλλο εχει κερδισει καποια βραβεια παιδικής λογοτεχνίας αλλα πιστευω οτι ειναι ενα βιβλιο για μικρους και μεγάλους. Ισως λιγο περισσοτερο για μικρους για να εξοικειωθούν απο νωρίς και να κατανοήσουν τι σημαίνει να ειναι κάποιος αυτιστικός. Οτιδηποτε βοηθαει να μειωθεί η δαιμονοποίηση και το στιγμα γυρω απο τον αυτισμό - και τα τελευταία χρόνια ευτυχως εχω πεσει σε αρκετές σειρές ή σελιδες στο fb που εχουν τετοια θεματολογία - ειναι πολυ σημαντικό και απο αυτη την αποψη το βιβλιο σίγουρα κανει σπουδαια δουλειά.

I started reading this book with the expectation that it is a mystery novel featuring an autistic sleuth - something like a young Mr. Monk, an American TV shows featuring a detective with extreme OCD and phobias.

But to my surprise I found that this book is much more than a mystery novel!

A murder has been committed – a dog has been killed with a garden fork – a dog that the narrator Christopher Boone liked.

Now, let me introduce you to Christopher. He is a fifteen year old boy who suffers from autism – the blurb specifies it to be Asperger’s Syndrome. Like most autistic people, Christopher has no understanding of social behavior; hates being touched (even by his parents); and has other eccentricities. But, he is pretty good when it comes to subjects like Maths. He has even got some strong views on the subject of religion and dismisses “stupid things” like superstitions. He lives with his father in a small town in the UK.

Anyway, Christopher, who is a fan of Sherlock Holmes decides to turn detective. He would have to come out of his comfort zone in order to carry out his investigations, and even tries to find loop holes in his father’s strict orders to stop his sleuthing.

Christopher’s investigation would eventually reveal some astonishing secrets about his family and to borrow the clichéd expression - his whole world would turn upside down and Christopher would do the unexpected.

Another thing which I liked about the book –
•tthe references to a couple of mathematical problems especially The Monty Hall Problem
•tthe problem around the properties of right angled triangle
t- these reminded of me of my school days when I did love certain branches of Maths like algebra and geometry

I also liked that The Hound of Baskervilles is Christopher’s favourite book (it is my favourite novel in the Sherlockian world too) but A WORD OF CAUTION!!! the author has revealed the entire story in the book. I accept that he did a good job of summarizing the novel that in about 2-3 pages, but this is strict no-no for me.

The author has done a pretty good job in describing Christopher and his reactions to the world around. The complex rules of societal interactions and the complicated human psyche are enough to overwhelm the autistic mind. Life is not easy for such people. In my humble opinion, life is even more difficult for the people, especially the parents, who have to take care of such people.

Oliver Sacks, the author of my favourite – The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, opines about this novel - “A delightful and brilliant book. Mark Haddon shows great insight into the autistic mind... I found it all very moving, very plausible and very funny”

I found the book to be moving and poignant, but not funny! I felt especially bad for Christopher’s parents and what they had to go through.

Then why the 3 stars!! The beginning and the end were excellent, but towards the end, I felt the story lost its attraction.

I would still recommend the novel to readers who would like to read about Christopher’s journey. But, if you plan to read The Hound of Baskervilles, then I would suggest you read the Holmesian mystery before starting with this book.

Here's what I liked about this book:
1. I found Christopher, with all his many quirks, to be sweet and rather endearing.
2. I thought it was a creative idea to write a book from the point of view of a boy with Asperger syndrome. This is difficult to pull off, but the author does it well.
3. I enjoyed Christopher's musings about life and the way in which he sees it.
4. I love making lists.

Here's what I didn't like about this book:
1. It wasn't really a mystery and I found some of it to be a bit predictable (I guessed who killed Wellington long before it was revealed).
2. The first half is better than the second half.
3. As much as I love making lists (see above), the list thing got the slightest bit annoying after awhile.

Overall, a poignant story about a young, brave autistic boy trying to make sense of and find his place in this very complicated world. Worth the read.