2 Second Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Summary

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.
    This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Note: this is actually a review I wrote wayyy back in 2014 when I read this book, but I wanted to share it because I do remember this being quite a remarkable read for me at the time. Also it’s Christmas and I’m tired but still want to fulfill my goal this month of posting a review a day, so here it is, courtest of past me. Thanks, past me! 👋

The narrative voice of the main character is fantastic! It really captures the mind of someone with autism, and the plot itself was clever and unexpected.

I saw this book in my advisors office on her big shelf of young adult novels. I’ve seen it before, and been intrigued by the name even though I had no idea what it was about. I seem to have been on a kick of reading books that I have no idea what they are about lately. Anyway, I started this one, and I really love it. It’s written from the perspective of a boy with autism, and it’s definitively an interesting read. The language is straightforward in an incredibly refreshing way, and the character is cleverly developed to for the story.

I have to say, this book got me. I did not see the twists coming. The first one wasn’t too surprising; you could kind of infer it from earlier hints and suggestions that the narrator couldn’t figure out because of his difficulty with understanding others’ emotions. But the second one? The resolution of who killed the dog? WHOA! Didn’t see that coming!! So well done. The whole journey to London was intriguing as well, and the ending was perfectly done: it didn’t answer every question, and I had to wonder what would become of the characters. Very good!