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Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel,The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.
Late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves--against the objection of his father and neighbors--to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result--quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number--isThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Haddon's novel is a startling performance. This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeis original, clever, and genuinely moving: this one is a must-read.--Jack Illingworth, Amazon.ca
Enter Another World; both Strange and Familiar A professor of mine once said that the purpose of reading fiction was to have a vicarious experience impossible in real life. Rarely, if ever, have I encountered a better and more intriguing proof of that concept. Mr. Haddon's protagonist is autistic to a degree that at once allows him the privilege of being a disinterested observer of our world while at the same time being functional to a degree that raises the question in the reader's mind as to whether life is actually more fulfilling with or without the emotions, attachments and social rules in which the rest of us are immersed. It is a very quick read. The plot moves briskly and the characters are wonderfully developed.
The author neatly interweaves his various themes into a quest novel--a quest no less epic in its unique fashion than any of the great works. The work is profoundly moving. The journey Mr. Haddon portrays is shared by all if not experienced in the same fashion. It is outstanding fiction and is my first recommendation to anyone looking for a good read.
Totally Boring!!!! I am reading this book for high school summer reading. It is the most boring book ever written! There is no humor at all and the main character has no personality and talks about pointless stuff that we dont care about. I recomend that the book should not be read by children because of explict language. Please ignore this book at all costs.I'm not sure.... This book was a puzzling one to me. It was good, but...
It was fun, but then...
This book perplexes me, that is all I can say. It was good, but not THAT good. I can't even tell you what it's about. I say this is a good time-filler, but other then that, it isn't really all that good.
