the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
by Mark Haddon
I read this book after reading Sarah's post on it (see October 2005). It's kind of funny because my experience reading it seems like exactly the opposite of Sarah. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a number of days. I found it fascinating the way that the character's mind worked. Awesome awesome awesome book!!! LOVED it!
From the Publisher
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. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world.
Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage.
As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.
I read this book after reading Sarah's post on it (see October 2005). It's kind of funny because my experience reading it seems like exactly the opposite of Sarah. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a number of days. I found it fascinating the way that the character's mind worked. Awesome awesome awesome book!!! LOVED it!
From the Publisher
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. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world.
Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage.
As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.
posted by Rachel | 4:50 PM
1 Comments:
Rach, I enjoyed it too, which is odd, me being such a book snob and all. But I loved Haddon's style -- I had the feeling that he must have enjoyed writing it, the challenge of trying to think like an autistic child while still maintaining the integrity of the plot frame he's builing around his central character. I thought he found a very nice balance of ingenious style and plot mechanisms, and though it may not have had a whole lot of depth -- and consequently, isn't the kind of book I generally prefer to read -- I very much enjoyed it for both the easy read it was and the way Haddon built Christopher's thought processes. And of course, chapters by prime number was a nice touch, too.
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