The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Author: Haddon, Mark

Publication: Random House, New York 2003

Reason, Type, & Setting: After looking through Elika's stack of books, this book caught my attention. It is a fictional book and delves into the mind of an autistic boy, although it is never mentioned by the narrator himself, thus the structural irony. Just as Huckleberry Finn, the reader may not know whether what the narrator is saying, is really true. I've noticed that recently I've taken to reading books dealing with the depth of the character and their mind. The story takes place in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Plot: After discovering the dead body of his neighbor's dog, Christopher begins to investigate as to what happened. Though later on in the book it doesn't seem to be the main plot, however, to me there seems to be many mysteries within this book related to this incident with those being his mother, the relationship between Christopher and his father, and the bigger picture of dealing with his familial problems and seeing this throughout his narration.

Character: Christopher is a very interesting character. He is in his mid-teens and attends a special needs school. Despite the reputation he may have at that school or from other neighbors, he is very skilled in math and even gets into A level mathematics which is probably equivalent to AP calculus. He cannot comprehend human emotion and is uncomfortable towards being touched or being affectionate in any way. Christopher wants a reason behind everything, which is probably why he is excellent in math since it is based on calculations, logic, and reasoning. It seems like it is the only sure thing for him whereas with comprehending human emotion there could be numerous reasons behind one facial expression which is hard for him to understand. This book, aside from being narrated by him, is actually a book that he wrote which is why the chapters are enumerated by prime numbers and contains drawings.

Evaluation: This book was very interesting to read and it was a page turner. Looking through the point of view of a boy with autism was very intriguing and it is the type of book that I've noticed myself to be reading lately of. I like to read more into a character and see how they develop within a story. I would definitely recommend this book to others and I may read other books written by the author as well.

Author/Trivia/Context: Mark Haddon is a novelist as well as a poet. Aside from writing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, he has written A Spot of Bother and his Agent Z series.

Honors Due Date: June 2nd