Overview
First person tale of Christopher, a fifteen-year-old with Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism, and a talent for maths, who writes a book (this one - sort of - very post modern) about his investigations of the murder of a neighbour's dog. He loves Sherlock Holmes and is amazingly observant of tiny details, but his lack of insight into other people's emotional lives hampers his investigation. Nevertheless, he has to overcome some of his deepest habits and fears, and he also uncovers some unexpected secrets.

It is primarily a YA book, but there is more than enough to it to make it a worthwhile adult read as well.

ASD or not?
Neither autism nor Asperger's is mentioned by name in the book, but the back cover of my 2003 first edition has this quote from neurologist Oliver Sacks that does:
"Mark Haddon shows great insight into the autistic mind." Photo HERE.

Prime Chapters and Structural Quirks
The structure of the book (chapter numbers are all primes; inclusion of maths puzzles and diagrams) and narrative style (attention to detail, excessive logic, avoidance of metaphor) reflect Christopher's mindset and way of viewing life. It is peppered with snippets of maths and explanations of his condition: how it affects him, and what coping strategies he adopts. The effect is plausibly stilted and occasionally breathless, which is reminiscent of people I know who are on the autistic spectrum and tallies with my limited reading about the condition.

Honest but Unreliable Narrator?
Christopher's condition makes him very literal - something he is aware of. He can analyse a joke, but still not "get" it. Truth is paramount, so he hates situations where he can't tell the truth (e.g. for politeness) and indeed the fact that "everything you tell is a white lie" because you can never give a fully comprehensive answer to anything. He also hates metaphors (even "the word metaphor is a metaphor", meaning "carrying something from one place to another"), but he doesn't mind similes because they are not untrue. Christopher's feelings about metaphors are highly pertinent to a very different book, China Mieville's wonderful Embassytown (see my review HERE), which is about how minds shape language and how language shapes minds, and focuses on the relationship between similes, truth and lies.

Many novels are about uncovering what is true, but Christopher's quest takes the idea to a deeper level, and even though we know this narrator is almost pathologically truthful, his condition means his observations sometimes miss the real truth of a situation.

There is plenty of humour, and it usually arises from Christopher's naive misunderstandings of situations and the conflict between his lack of embarrassment and desire to be unnoticed by unfamiliar people.

Logic and Truth
Christopher loves maths because it is safe, straightforward and has a definite answer, unlike life. He's also good at explaining some aspects, ending an explanation of calculating primes with "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away".

His apparent deviations from logic are justified with ingenious logic. For example, having favourite and hated colours reduces choice and thus stress, counteracting the effect of his inability to filter or prioritise: he notices (and remembers) every detail of everything, and can rewind it at will, whereas other people's brains are filled with imaginary stuff. He is a little like his hero Sherlock Holmes, who is quoted saying "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance observes". Similarly, defining a good or bad day on the basis of how many red or yellow cars is no more illogical than an office-bound person's mood being dictated by the weather.

All of this means animals are a better bet than humans: "I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking - it has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk". People are more of a mystery: when having a conversation, people look at him to understand what he's thinking, but Christopher can't do likewise. For him "it's like being in a room with a one-way mirror in a spy film". Love is even more unfathomable: "Loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father [does lots of things for me]... which means that he loves me".

Comparisons
I reread this during a rather stressful journey, including the passages when Christopher is making a stressful journey. It helped me empathise with him - to the extent that it exacerbated my own stress!

It's worth comparing this with:

* Iris Murdoch's The Word Child, whose main character has tacit Asperger's tendencies. See my review HERE.

* Yōko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor, which is also about finding number patterns in everyday life, and involves a protagonist whose brain does not work like other people's. See my review HERE.

If you loved The Good Sister, this book is for you!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a UK story about a 15 year-old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher is a brilliant person who is extremely analytical and starts to investigate the death of his neighbor's dog, a poodle named Wellington. Who killed Wellington and why? Christopher will be pushed well beyond his comfort zone while unabashedly telling the truth and going on an impossible journey. How comfortable are we to change and adventure?

This book was delightfully funny as Christopher tries to solve the murder of Wellington. Christopher uses his skills of analysis to matter-of-factly investigate this horrible crime, and he vividly describes how he goes about the world, the level of detail that he observes. It was a wonderful reminder to take time to look around at the world around us. He also spoke about Stranger Danger and how uncomfortable he is when speaking to other people. For many people, conversations do not flow naturally and being bombarded by chaos and overwhelmed by stimulus is quite challenging.

The characters in this book were well developed - these are my favorite types of characters because they are imperfect but try their best especially for Christopher. This book truly is British, not an American author pretending to be British. How can I tell? Well, in my last job, my entire team was based out of London so not a day would go by that I wasn't on the phone with someone from the UK. Also, I have actually been to London so I would consider myself to be a bit more than average on UK terminology. One of the things that I found simply delightful with this book was the British approach. This is very difficult to put into words, but I shall do my best. The British usually respond less hysterical and with less overaction than Americans. For example, when I was in London, there was a protestor who had glued himself to the street. The police were freeing him and taking him down to the station. A large group of people (myself included) gathered around to watch. The protestor was sitting quite calmly while the police gently put goggles over his eyes and started the process. When they freed him, the protestor calmly accepted his fate and allowed the police to do their job. A man next to me explained in a matter of fact tone that they usually just take you down to the station for half a day and release you. He had a rather good plate of eggs when he was last detained by the police.

In America, the police would be making the onlookers disband, and the protestors aren't really that committed to actually glue themselves to anything. If someone does encounter the police, usually they are thrashing about and making the whole process as difficult as possible.

As an American reading this book, I found it so interesting how the various people interacted with Christopher because I can assure you that Americans would have reacted so very differently, and I found it rather refreshing that the adults weren't hyper-protective and allowed Christopher to fully experience his journey (to some degree). There really should be a slightly Americanized version of this book though because although I do know that The Underground is called The Tube and boot is actually the trunk of a car, there were a few times when I was a bit confused. For example, Christopher was talking about how he didn't like metaphors. One of them was "I've had a pig of a day." This phrase is not used in the The States so Christopher wasn't the only one confused.

Overall, I thought that this was a delightful read. One of my family members (a bit younger than Christopher) has a genius IQ. He is extremely talented in math and can easily build almost anything. Bring something home from IKEA, blink, and he can put it together. But he can't spell to save his life. This book was a refreshing reminder that not every person fits the traditional mold and not to judge a person based on one skillset. It's a short read - pick this one up!

This was one of the 100 Books to Read Before You Die According to the BBC: https://www.listchallenges.com/bbcs-t...

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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It is the best of detective stories, and it is the worst of detective stories, and sorry for sounding like Charles Dickens, but it's true.

Christopher--the protagonist--has Asperger's, and how can you NOT fall in love with him when he's determined to investigate the murder of his next-door neighbor's dog? You can't. Combine that with all the hilarious investigations that would occur from someone severely lacking social skills and attempting to run an investigation (which Haddon expertly captures), and it makes for an unforgettably fun adventure.

But since Haddon narrates through Christopher's eyes, more often than not the Asperger's is distracting or worse yet annoying and preachy. The frequent digressions make a lot of the story seem like forgettable fluff. But when the narration is just right, it's pretty freaking comical, like Ace Ventura, but way better.

Possibly the worst autism “representation” (if you can call it that) I’ve ever seen in a book, and I had to DNF for the sake of my mental health (at the cost of my grade since I had to read this for school). In an interview, our lovely author even said, AND I QUOTE “i did no research for curious incident … imagination always trumps research.” If you are even thinking of writing a novel with a main character who is marginalized in a way you are not, you need to do your fucking homework.

Christopher is so obviously a collage of every autism stereotype Mark Haddon could jam pack into one “character” and its genuinely depressing that people will read this and think his depiction is in any way realistic. If anyone would like to join me in throwing this poor excuse of a novel into a bonfire, I’m free anytime this week!

EXCERPT: ...as I was crossing the street I had a stroke of inspiration about who might have killed Wellington. I was imagining a Chain of Reason inside my head which was like this
1. Why would you kill a dog?
a) because you hated the dog.
b) because you were mad.
c) because you wanted to make Mrs Shears upset.
2. I didn't know anyone who hated Wellington, so if it was a) it was probably a stranger.
3. I didn't know any mad people, so if it was b), it was probably also a stranger.
4. Most murders are committed by someone known to the victim. In fact, you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas Day. This is a fact. Wellington was therefore most likely to have been killed by someone known to him.
5. If it was c), I only knew one person who didn't like Mrs Shears, and that was Mr Shears who knew Wellington very well indeed.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

MY THOUGHTS: I have been wanting to read this book for some years, ever since it was a Goodreads group read one month, and I couldn't lay my hands on a copy. Last year I found a copy in a bookshop and brought it for my grandson as part of his Christmas parcel. He read it for an English assignment this year, then his mother read it and, finally, I then got to read it.

I found it fascinating to see into the mind of someone with Aspergers Syndrome. I have read other books with characters similarly affected, but for some reason it is Christopher that will remain with me. I have found myself looking at numbers differently, and I now have a fascination with prime numbers. This from a person who flunked high school mathematics quite spectacularly! I still, however, have to admit to not understanding the maths problems Conways Soldiers or the Monty Hall Problem. And I have no idea, still, what the relationship is between 7 and 865. So while this book has left me in the dark mathematically speaking, I enjoyed it. And I learned a lot.

I know it was written some time ago, but I really would like to know how Christopher gets on at University.

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.

Very, very good. Imagine Rain Man deciding to solve a mystery, and that sums up a good part of the story. It was an incredible look into autism, and I really enjoyed it. Plus, it's a fairly quick read - I had no trouble finishing it in about 2 days.

A fair warning, though: the main character, Christopher, really likes Sherlock Holmes and at one point in the story talks about The Hound of the Baskervilles. He reveals every single plot point of the story, so if you haven't read it and don't want the ending ruined for you, read The Hound of the Baskervilles first, then read Mark Haddon's book.

This was a truly amazing story told from the point of view of Christopher, an autist boy. Right from the beginning, you are being thrown into this mystery story - which is not really a mystery story but a story about Christopher's life and struggles. This book comes with surprises and I loved that. I think I should've seen them coming but I didn't.
Christopher kind of reminded me of Don from "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion. So if you've read and liked that book, there's a chance you will like "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" as well :)

Somebody, I can’t recall who, has said that fiction is successful with people in as so far as their ability to show compassion for others – our very ability to step in to others shoes. And, so if the character in question is more like us or is facing problems that we have faced or are facing – it is easier to show compassion, and the artist is more likely to be successful. However, that also means that one is not challenging oneself too much – both as an artist and audience.

Christopher is rendered too different from us by his circumstances – the problems he faced are not ones we had to face, and so it must be that difficult for a writer to step into his shoes. C. is a differently-able fifteen ear old boy; who can’t bear crowds or strangers. Also, he can only understand words in their literal sense- so, he has problems with metaphors including expressions like ‘apple of eye’ or vague xpressions. This sometimes makes him an innocent quibbler – to fury of his parents. His inability to filter the information his mind is receiving makes him anxious in new places.

Also, he has a problem using what is called ‘Theory of mind’ – the assumption (which in usual cases is acquired in children by age of three) that other people have a mind of their own; and which also another thing which help enjoy fiction. So, Christopher is not able to enjoy fiction; except for detective novels which he see as puzzles – and he loves puzzles.

These very problems make him excellent with numbers and logic – far better than most of us; he finds the world of numbers much more secure and likes spending time with them. He likes numerical and visual patterns; and he has a great love for prime numbers because they defy all patterns. He relaxes by solving complex mathematical problems and puzzles. Also, he has an incredible memory. He is a big fan of Sherlock Holmes - who had willingly worked hard to be as logical as Christopher naturally is. The very things that make him different make him more conscious of the way mind work than most people are.

All these differences are incapable of beating his courage. He has a goal, that of being an astronaut. We don’t know if he will achieve that goal but he definitely has a genius and a courage that makes so high an aim possible, and a positive attitude that makes him look at problems as puzzles and challenges to be fought. This story is example of the little victories, that he won against his social-anxieties, which can act as stepping stones towards his goal.

Silêncio Preenchido

“ I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.”

Assim é o autismo: um silêncio preenchido

Melhor que isso... só os livros

“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.”



Christopher Boone, a 15-year old math genius with Asperger's Syndrome, discovers that a neighbor's dog has been murdered. Uncovering the murderer and writing a book about it is the primary impetus of Christopher in Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. Throughout the investigation, Haddon offers fascinating insight into how Christopher structures his world and relationships.

I'd read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night before, but read it again for one of my book clubs. I liked it the first time as well as the second time, but like murder mystery books the narrator says he is writing, a second reading is a different experience. 3.75 stars

“I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.”

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، «کریستوفر» راویِ داستان، نوجوانی پانزده ساله با رفتاری عجیب است که البته میتوان او را پسری باهوش درنظر گرفت.. در صورتیکه خودش براین باور است که باهوش نیست و فقط مشاهده گر خوبی است.. کریستوفر برای هرچیزِ کوچکی در ذهنش سؤال ایجاد میشود و به راحتی از هر مسئله و هر جمله ای نمیگذرد و البته دچارِ وسواسِ فکری و رفتاری است. با این وجود، کریستوفر نسبت به بسیاری از بزرگسالانی که در اطرافِ خود میبینیم، شعور و فهمِ بیشتری دارد و با این سنِ کم میداند که خدا و بهشت و جهنم و دنیایِ دیگر و تمامیِ مسائلِ دیدنی، یک دروغِ بزرگ است که در حلقِ مردم فرو کرده اند
‎داستان از جایی آغاز میشود که کریستوفر، سگِ خانمِ «شیرز» یعنی «ولینگتون» را در حالی پیدا میکند که این سگ به طرزِ بدی کشته شده و چنگکی در بدنش فرو رفته است.. صاحبِ سگ فکر میکند که کریستوفر اینکار را انجام داده و او دستگیر میشود.. ولی بعد از بازجویی او را آزاد میکنند.. حال کریستوفر قصد دارد قاتلِ سگ را پیدا کند
‎کریستوفر با پدرش زندگی میکند و پدرش به او گفته مادرش بر اثرِ بیماری قلبی مُرده است.. ولی داستان به جایی میرسد که کریستوفر متوجه میشود که مادرش زنده است و پدرش نه تنها در موردِ مادر، بلکه در موردِ کشته شدنِ سگِ خانمِ شیرز هم دروغ گفته است.. بنابراین تصمیم میگیرد تا از خانه فرار کرده و به دیدنِ مادرش برود
‎عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را خوانده و از سرانجامِ آگاه شوید
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‎جملاتی از این کتاب
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‎به نظرِ من بهشت وجود ندارد.. من فکر میکنم مردم به بهشت اعتقاد دارند، چون از فکرِ مُردن خوششان نمی آید و میخواهند به زندگی ادامه بدهند
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‎آدمها همیشه فکر میکنند، در موردِ آنچه نمیتوانند ببینند، چیزِ خیلی خاصی وجود دارد.. مثل نیمهٔ تاریکِ ماه یا آن طرفِ سیاه چاله
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‎امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این کتاب، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
‎«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»