Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Author: Mark Haddon
Reading Recommendation: this is a good pick for anyone–teens, adults, teachers, book clubs…
My Reflection: This book wasn’t entirely what I’d expected from reviews and the back-of-the-book summary, but I liked it. I was expecting a fairly traditional murder mystery, though about a dog instead of a person, with an autistic teen investigating the murder. I thought it would be interesting to see how the author portrayed what he understood and gleaned and how it might differ from what we perceived as he spoke with people.
The book was much more about Christopher, a boy with Asperger’s, interacting with his everyday world. And that is a good thing. It is very much a character-driven book, opening our minds to the experience of some autistic children. When I was teaching I had a few students with Asperger’s, and I think this book helped me to understand them and what might have been going through their minds a little bit more. This book would be a good read for anyone who has contact with autistic children because it helps you to see the person instead of just facts and statistics and strategies for helping them. Curious Incident helped me to understand how some of Christopher’s actions that looked illogical were actually quite sensible to Christopher and even helped him cope with overwhelming situations.
Stylistically, this book was unique, but wonderfully captured the narrator’s voice. The book was full of diagrams and explanations and observations that enhanced our understanding of Christopher. His realistic voice is what stands out most to me.
I also thought a lot about his parents and how difficult it was for them to manage a child like Christopher, and I pitied them, especially his father who clearly tried. One book club member pointed out how unfair it was that the mother gets to be the hero while the father, the one who sacrifices for him every day and tries hard to make him happy is the one who will have to work so hard to gain Christopher’s trust again.
I know this book found some critical acclaim, and I have to agree with it. Not just for the subject, but the way Haddon approaches it with a distinct style, compassion, humor, and humanity.
