Goodreads | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Paperback) by Mark Haddon

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Sean rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

08/29/07

bookshelves: readit

Read in January, 2005

recommends it for: anyone who has a soul

This book I read in a day. I was in a Chapters bookstore in Toronto (that's like Barnes and Noble to the Americans in the crowd) and anyway I was just browsing around, trying to kill time. When suddenly I saw this nice display of red books with an upturned dog on the cover. Attracted as always to bright colours and odd shapes, I picked it up. It's only about 250 pages or so. I read the back cover and was intrigued. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it had over One Million chapters. I ...more This book I read in a day. I was in a Chapters bookstore in Toronto (that's like Barnes and Noble to the Americans in the crowd) and anyway I was just browsing around, trying to kill time. When suddenly I saw this nice display of red books with an upturned dog on the cover. Attracted as always to bright colours and odd shapes, I picked it up. It's only about 250 pages or so. I read the back cover and was intrigued. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it had over One Million chapters. I was doubly intrigued.

So I walked over to the far wall of the bookstore to sit and begin to read a few pages. I always do this to ensure that I don't waste what little money I have on a book possessing nothing more than a flashy cover. (I do the same at the cinema - if I don't like the first 20 minutes, I get a refund. Restaurants, too: if I don't like the first ten bites, I walk out on the bill).

This is a book written by a Child Developmental Psychologist - I think that's the right term... - anyway, a doctor who works with mentally or physically challenged youngsters. The novel itself is a first person tale written by a high-functioning, mentally challenged boy in England who wakes up one morning to find his neighbor's dog dead on his lawn. The boy's teacher suggests he should write about the incident, which he eagerly sets out to do. So we have his first "novel", "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". He plays Inspector and tries to solve the mystery as Sherlock Holmes would do...

Of course, if he's going to write a book, that means he can take control. He hates the way other books have chapter numbers that increase sequentially (1,2,3). He prefers prime numbers and will number his chapters in sequential primes - hence, by the end of the book, you're reading chapter 123,314,124 or whatever (I ain't no math guy ;)

Now then, he also writes about other things in his life and through his perspective you get some tear-jerking moments of true, unobstructed humanity: the way his parents broke up because of his state, how he has all these dreams about being someone great and going to a top college, even though you know that his situation will never really allow it.

Anyway. I read this book cover to cover sitting on the floor of that Chapters bookstore. By the end of it I was absolutely bawling my eyes out. Never cried so much in my life. In fact, as I type this and think back on that story, I'm dripping on my keyboard (and I'm at my office!). However - these are tears of joy. The boy does it. He can do anything. It's the most uplifting book I've ever read.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels anything deep down inside. ...less

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Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

09/05/08

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Amanda by: Chicks on Lit book club pick for August 2008

Am I autistic? Am I Christopher Boone? What is it about my OCD (self-diagnosed, boo yah!) that separates me from this fifteen-year-old kid? Fate is kind, but there is nothing more disturbing than learning that you possess so many of those qualities that categorize people as "special needs." I mean, shit. Choosing Item A over Item B because you like the color? Yep. Counting incessantly? Yep. Getting lost in London Underground? Yep. Quirky eating habits? Yep. ...more

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

06/22/08

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: anyone looking for a reason to quit reading cold-turkey

Absolute garbage. Easily the worst book I’ve read in 2008, and certainly a contender for Worst Book I’ve Ever Read. This crap won the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year honors, and while I have absolutely no idea what that entails, I firmly support both the eradication of this farcical award and the crucifixion of anyone on the selection committee that nominated this stinking smegma.

I’d seen this book prominently featured at many shops (mayhap Oprah was currently endorsing it as...more

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Joe rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

05/28/08

The concept is interesting: narrating the novel through the POV of an autistic boy. The chapters are cleverly numbered by prime numbers, which ties in with the novel. It has interesting illustrations and diagrams to look at. However, I would not recommend this because it disappointed me and I couldn't, in good conscience, tell anyone to read a book I was disappointed in.

I guess my disappointment lies in the fact that not only did my book club tout this as a mystery novel but also many of ...more

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Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

02/03/08

Read in February, 2008

A very charming, insightful, engaging book. From the perspective of a 15-year-old boy who has a kind of high-functioning autism (which may not be autism, actually, but Asberger's?).

Some mature themes. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (footnote: But I wouldn’t have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown.) I start thinki...more A very charming, insightful, engaging book. From the perspective of a 15-year-old boy who has a kind of high-functioning autism (which may not be autism, actually, but Asberger's?).

Some mature themes. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (footnote: But I wouldn’t have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown.) I start thinking about Coco Pops and lemonade and porridge and Dr Pepper and how I wasn’t eating my breakfast in Egypt and there wasn’t a rhinoceros in the room and Father wasn’t wearing a diving suit and so on and even writing this makes me feel shaky and scared, like I do when I’m standing on the top of a very tall building and there are thousands of houses and cars and people below me and my head is so full of all these things that I’m afraid that I’m going to forget to stand up straight and hang on to the rail and I’m going to fall over and be killed. This is another reason why I don’t like proper novels…” pg. 19

“I said that I wasn’t clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn’t clever. That was just being observant. Being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new. Like the universe expanding, or who committed a murder. Or if you see someone’s name and you give each letter a value from 1 to 26 (a = 1, b =2, etc.) and you add the numbers up in your head and you find that it makes a prime number, like Jesus Christ (151), or Scooby-Doo (113), or Sherlock Holmes (163), or Doctor Watson (167).

Mr. Jeavons asked me whether this made me feel safe, having things always in a nice order, and I said it did.
Then he asked if I didn’t like things changing. And I said I wouldn’t mind things changing if I became an astronaut, for example, which is one of the biggest changes you can imagine, apart from becoming a girl or dying.” pg. 25

“Mrs. Alexander didn’t say anything. She walked to the little red box on a pole next to the gate to the park and she put Ivor’s poo into the box, which was a brown thing inside a red thing, which made my head feel funny so I didn’t look. Then she walked back to me.” pg. 57

“On the fifth day, which was a Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.” pg. 103

“And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn’t any space left to think about other things. And when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and they can talk to you and do things that you don’t expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well. And sometimes when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my years and groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be going.” pgs. 143-144
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Jonna rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

06/12/07

bookshelves: mostrecentreads

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: Everyone, but especially those who are on the spectrum or work with individuals on the spectrum

This book is a brilliant idea. I'm not sure how Haddon was actually able to write it with such a strong, believable point of view.

I am currently working with a child diagnosed with PDD-NOS (on the autism spectrum) who is very high functioning (he just got a perfect score on the 4th grade state math test, which I know because I was curious and looked over his test before I submitted it to the state), and this book was like a look into his mind. No two children, with or without autism, are at ...more

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lkt rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

05/29/07

Read in January, 2006

From my Amazon.com review:

"...I wrote a book and that means I can do anything..."

What a sad, strange book. Christopher's stream-of-consciousness narration was unique to say the least (I liked how he jumped around from topic to topic, because organized writing can become quite a bore). While I don't see this as a study on autism, many autistic characteristics are displayed - most notably, the OCD. Can't have one sort of food touching another sort on his plate, ...more From my Amazon.com review:

"...I wrote a book and that means I can do anything..."

What a sad, strange book. Christopher's stream-of-consciousness narration was unique to say the least (I liked how he jumped around from topic to topic, because organized writing can become quite a bore). While I don't see this as a study on autism, many autistic characteristics are displayed - most notably, the OCD. Can't have one sort of food touching another sort on his plate, can't eat anything yellow or brown, the rigid timetables, counting the cars, etc. Yet he is highly functional IF certain conditions are met:

-no one touches him
-no crowds
-no loud noises
-there is order/if things make sense (he always appreciates order when he discovers it in new places, such as the train stops in intervals of 15 minutes)

There are others, of course. But he's basically highly sensitive to his surroundings and cannot cope when strangers, touching, or unfamiliar situations get in the way of an otherwise peaceful existence consisting of his preferred white noise and solving math equations. His mind can't process emotions correctly; instead, he reacts to negative emotions by screaming and moaning. He doesn't think highly of anyone besides himself and scientists.

Anyway, I found Christopher's dreams about being one of the only persons left on earth to be fascinating. He loves it because he can do anything - he can walk to the sea and it's raining and he can take ice cream from an abandoned shop and he can put on dry clothes at an abandoned house and, etc...(I wonder how many times "and" is used in that book!). He can do whatever he wants and no one bothers him.

Christopher didn't like to imagine things in his head that weren't happening, and the above reference was of course referring to a dream, but when he would imagine himself as an astronaut, isn't that a lie? He could become an astronaut, but he isn't one yet. He would look down on regular people who imagined things that weren't real, and yet he finds no fault with himself for doing this. Just an inconsistency. I can seem him as an astronaut, however, and I think he would make an extraordinary scientist if all environmental conditions were met. It wouldn't be good to have a breakdown in a lab full of dangerous substances.

I was quite angry to find out the truth about his mother, and his reaction was to be expected, I think, although if it had happened to a "normal" person, the repercussions would be longer lasting. How did this not destroy him? He is very fragile and though it's true that he hated his father and couldn't trust him for the rest of the book, it seems to me that he should hate his mother much more. She could have made more of an effort to see him, I think. Two years passed!! Perhaps she could have showed up at his school one day since his dad wouldn't have her at the house.

Overall, a really intriguing book, and I loved the drawings (I used to make drawings of floor plans of my house, neighbors' houses, relatives' houses, and stores to put in my diaries when I was younger. I also made intricate schedules and cried if my schedule would be disrupted, but those are only mild OCD symptoms, nothing near Christopher's --it just made me understand him a little more. I also hated places with lots of people; I would run out and hide in the car after church, for example) and appreciated his math and science explanations..most of it made a lot of sense and was very educational. I'll have to look up more about "The Case of the Cottingley Fairies" - those real life mysterious happenings are so interesting to me.
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Darcy rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

01/25/08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The great think about Curious Incident isn't that it is a mystery story about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, it's that Mark Haddon does such a great job of reinventing the mystery formula. Let's face it, the Sherlock Holmes stories (which play a pretty prominent role in the novel's construction) are the benchmark by which a lot of detective narratives are mentioned. But they're pretty formulaic, especially in terms of character: Sherlock Holmes is a genius and Watson is a sidekick; Sherl...more The great think about Curious Incident isn't that it is a mystery story about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, it's that Mark Haddon does such a great job of reinventing the mystery formula. Let's face it, the Sherlock Holmes stories (which play a pretty prominent role in the novel's construction) are the benchmark by which a lot of detective narratives are mentioned. But they're pretty formulaic, especially in terms of character: Sherlock Holmes is a genius and Watson is a sidekick; Sherlock Holmes is a thinking machine and Watson takes dictation; Sherlock Holmes knows your darkest secrets from looking at your shoes and Watson can't even remember where he was wounded (his arm? His leg?). Doyle needed that structure--he had to have a straight man for his great detective; one who could palm the ace so that the readers could enjoy the pleasure of being told how the crime was committed (as opposed to the pleasure of figuring it out for themselves). After all, Watson always knows the who, what, where, and when, but he's very careful to keep it hidden from the reader by reporting himself as a (let's be honest) bumbling. Who else but a John (or was it James?) H. Watson would be willing to represent himself as perpetually awestruck?

Even though Holmes and Watson perpetually haunt Curious Incident, their roles have been radically rewritten. There's no need for a crime-fighting duo here (a puzzle master and his biographer, the brain and the brawn, or the machine and the lover). Christopher fulfills both those positions and in doing so, repeatedly hides the "whodunit" not from the reader, but from himself. It is this recurring dramatic irony--the reader watching Christopher struggle in coming to grips with the fact that deductive logic alone is not enough in crime solving--that makes the book effective in so many ways. For starters, Haddon is engaging with precisely those qualities that made Sherlock Holmes a literary celebrity. If Holmes truly is a thinking machine, how effective can he really be? When taken to the extreme, isn't Holmes simply Christopher? Or, alternatively, Christopher is what Holmes would be if he were removed from a fictional world in which people can be read like texts, soil can be identified on sight, and monographs can be produced on 140 varieties of tobacco ash. Christopher's world, in other words, simply doesn't measure up to the categories Holmes produces for people. After all, what is a detective to do when deductive analysis cannot filter out motivations for utterly irrational behavior?...less

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Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

07/19/07

recommends it for: People that like a quick easy read, and are interested in learning more about Autism.

I just finished reading this book for the second time. I loved it the first time, and I loved it the second time. I organize a Co-Ed book club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and it was recommended to read. We just had our meeting to discuss it, and everyone seemed to enjoy it on some level or another, and no one had anything negative to say about it. I was very surprised to read some of the reviews on this site dissing this book, especially the review where someone mentioned it was for "Lit...more

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maricar rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

01/09/08

bookshelves: contemporary, favorites, mystery-thriller

whimsical yet packs a punch...

it may look inconspicuously thin, but the book, i bet, would be something that any lucky reader is sure to want to have for keeps. starts off innocently enough...well, okay, maybe not so innocent since the first scene was the finding of a brutally murdered dog. some may already think that that is all the story is going to be about--the finding of the killer. nothing too deep or exciting. heck...maybe not worth the effort at all (hey, don't pelt me--i own a dog a...more whimsical yet packs a punch...

it may look inconspicuously thin, but the book, i bet, would be something that any lucky reader is sure to want to have for keeps. starts off innocently enough...well, okay, maybe not so innocent since the first scene was the finding of a brutally murdered dog. some may already think that that is all the story is going to be about--the finding of the killer. nothing too deep or exciting. heck...maybe not worth the effort at all (hey, don't pelt me--i own a dog and i drown her with hugs and kisses...).

then readers will realize that the protagonist isn't the usual teenager. christopher's frames of argument, logic, judgements are so interesting to muddle through, you'll find yourself at times amused, oftentimes befuddled, and, sometimes still, sympathetic. the way haddon reveals how christopher thinks, feels, and understands the world around him was masterfully done--not too inflated, nor apologetic. there were chapters and chapters where it seems that everything in christopher's life would be untouched by his determination to find the perpetrator of the crime, and then suddenly what seemed so delicate and innocent came crashing down on his shoulders. the focus of the story then hones in mercilessly on christopher and his topsy-turvy world. one can actually feel his overwhelming fear as he is inevitably forced to "confront" the world outside his comfort zone, yet often one has the strangest desire to embrace him for his even stronger will to make things "safe" and "logical" for him again, if only for the sake of his sanity.

though special people like christopher may hardly ever be truly understood by any one person in all their entirety, haddon makes it excruciatingly evident to us that, what for most people is just a simple day, it's a series of endless emotional barrage for autistic people.

i found myself on the verge of tears when his father yearned to "hug" christopher but was unable to do so. you sort of "hurt" with the father and may even be empathetic to how it must be for him to look after a son with special needs, and yet you also can't help but inexplicably cry for christopher and for what he unknowingly needs but is unconsciously having such an enormous difficulty in reaching for -- indeed, there was a part of me that was relieved that the burden of having to know this will never be christopher's.

i immensely enjoyed this novel. it may begin on light, delicate feet but steadily gains ground, and before you know it, you are assailed with conflicting emotions you never thought to feel. a real treasure....less

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Anthony rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

09/24/07

bookshelves: law-school-procrastination

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: oliver sacks/sherlock holmes fans

One day in June I was joking with my sister, "I should TOTALLY write a story about an autistic detective! He would go around solving mysteries, but then not telling anyone about it because he doesn't relate well to people!" And then I thought for a second, and said "oh wait, I think there's already a book about this."

As someone who likes neurology case histories and detective fiction, this sounded like the book for me. And it was, kinda. A few months after buying it I sta...more One day in June I was joking with my sister, "I should TOTALLY write a story about an autistic detective! He would go around solving mysteries, but then not telling anyone about it because he doesn't relate well to people!" And then I thought for a second, and said "oh wait, I think there's already a book about this."

As someone who likes neurology case histories and detective fiction, this sounded like the book for me. And it was, kinda. A few months after buying it I started to read it while waiting for a plane and basically didn't put it down for more than 30 seconds during the flight. This book definitely grabs you enough to steam through it in about 3 hours.

While it was somewhat fulfilling to read, I did have my reservations, though. For one thing, Haddon does a pretty good job overall at presenting you his story through the eyes of an autist, which is to say the prose isn't the most graceful. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to strike you with it's stiltedness and make you think about how the thought process of your narrator differs from your own. This is an effective technique, but one wonders if it's the best narrative choice for an entire novel. The story actually comes to a rather abrupt finish in the last twenty pages or so, which almost suggests that Haddon himself got tired of generating a story in this voice and wanted to put the book down himself. But of course, that's just speculation.

The narrator's unusual perspective is also indicated by the little tidbits of psychological facts that Haddon peppers the book with - which I found to be hit or miss. At times, they genuinely excited my curiosity. When the narrator describes failing a false belief test as a child, it made me wonder, do autists really remember in vivid detail a test like this so that they can understand how they failed it once they gain the ability to track intentions? It's just surprising enough for me to believe it, although it's unclear whether this is substantiated. But this episode also provides an example of the clumsiness of these insertions, as it comes off a little awkward for the narrator to tell us about his false belief test to begin with. For a book written in an autists voice, a little awkward can be a good thing, and maybe that's why this book just didn't wow me once I put it down three hours later....less

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Hana rated it:

(review of isbn 0099450259)

09/22/07

Read in January, 2006

recommends it for: Everyone

Yup, it's still about Asperger Syndrome. The title of the novel is quite unique; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”. The author, Mark Haddon, has succesfully created a story about a boy named Christopher in this case, an asperger-boy.

The story goes like this: Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's pet (which is a poodle), speared by a garden fork. Having been blamed for it, he decides to investigate to clear his name. However, he is severely l...more

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Alana rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

07/31/07

bookshelves: fiction, hated

Christopher Boone is autistic. He is wonderful at math, but cannot abide novels because metaphors are lies. He understands science and wants everything according to an orderly plan. He doesn’t understand people’s facial expressions and hates to be touched. Most of all he dislikes new places and strangers because there is too much to take in. But when Christopher finds the neighbor’s dog Wellington murdered, he faces his fears to investigate the death, and records his thoughts and observati...more

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Jen rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

02/10/08

bookshelves: disliked

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: People who annoy me.

Ok, I get the concept. A heartwarming story told from the vantage point of an autistic boy.

Heartwarming, eh. Sure. Cerebral? You bet. For the "Literary Snob"? ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY. (Because most of those people LOVE "The Catcher in the Rye"...one of my most hated books of all time...and this book has been compared to that one. I should have known).

Look. I'm smart, I'm educated. I'm a professional woman who adores literature and loves to read. I bought this book because...more

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Jann rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

04/30/08

Read in April, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

It certainly is an interesting look inside the mind of someone who is autistic. Christopher is so straight forward about things, but he is also a little condescending at times. He knows he is smart about math and science, and when he veers into these topics as he investigates the death of his neighbor's dog, his explanations of various terms, often including diagrams, are thorough. He assumes nothing of intelligence about his reader, which is both arrogant and refreshing. He is also remarkab...more It certainly is an interesting look inside the mind of someone who is autistic. Christopher is so straight forward about things, but he is also a little condescending at times. He knows he is smart about math and science, and when he veers into these topics as he investigates the death of his neighbor's dog, his explanations of various terms, often including diagrams, are thorough. He assumes nothing of intelligence about his reader, which is both arrogant and refreshing. He is also remarkably candid about his shortcomings. He explains that he doesn't understand jokes or metaphors and he prefers for people to be direct.

Christopher is almost incapable of actual emotion, and what emotion he does have manifests itself in physical ways-- he groans, he plugs his ears, or he literally becomes sick. He hates being touched, to the point that he always has a Swiss Army Knife in his pocket at the ready, and at various points he hits a police officer, his father, and a random passerby who is attempting to help him.

That being said, Christopher gets the shaft from well-meaning parents. His father especially knows how to relate to Christopher, and Christopher on the whole seems to really benefit from the interactions with his father and also his teacher the most. His mother takes off when she can't deal with him or his father anymore. The unfortunate part of this is the fact that Christopher's dad is total liar. When his lies are discovered, he can't explain because Christopher doesn't understand. His mind is so linear that, when told his mother was dead, she totally ceased to exist. The other option, discovered through letters hidden in his dad's closet, simply doesn't occur to him. He tries to rationalize it and ends up going into what I understand to be a classic 'autistic' style overload where he retreats so far into his own mind he is barely aware of his father's presence. The one thing his dad has going for him is that he doesn't flip out and get mad that Christopher was going through the closet. That was the only time I found anything his father did remotely relatable.

I found it very difficult to read the parts where he lapses into a description of the garden, an in-depth diagram of Swindon, or his explanation of mathematical deductions. The reprieve near the end, when Christopher adds an appendix explaining how he solved a math problem on a test, was much-appreciated. I have a Calculus textbook I can read when I want, I don't need it in a novel I'm reading as well.

Overall, the plot twist was enough to keep me interested, but I don't think I'll read this book again anytime soon since I know what happens. I liked it, just not enough to read over and over.
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Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 1400032717)

11/25/07

Read in November, 2007

It's a rare book that can sit on the bestseller shelf and still call to me... for most tomes, the bestseller label is a big enough turn off to make me never consider it. That being said, I have no clue what made me go for this one. Maybe it was the upside-down dog. Maybe it was the lengthy title. But what I really don't get, having read it, is how it was ever a best-seller.

That's not to say it's a bad book. It wasn't. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel about it, but it was not b...more It's a rare book that can sit on the bestseller shelf and still call to me... for most tomes, the bestseller label is a big enough turn off to make me never consider it. That being said, I have no clue what made me go for this one. Maybe it was the upside-down dog. Maybe it was the lengthy title. But what I really don't get, having read it, is how it was ever a best-seller.

That's not to say it's a bad book. It wasn't. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel about it, but it was not bad. It was done well, in fact. It just didn't have many elements that people like in best-sellers. Being done well, for example, is usually taboo.

To start, it's a bit of a challenging read for the DaVinci Code crowd. We have to follow the train of thought of an autistic child, which isn't always as rational as he'd like to believe. Action will go on hold for stretches of time. There are diagrams and math problems. There's bold letters and repetitious breaking-down of everything. Even while some of these elements would make it easier for the normal book buyer to relate to, it's still a style that requires a brain to wrap around.

Also, I found the characters wholly unlikable. Bestseller markets like likable characters. While I was offended and pained and trying to justify the fact that every character sucked at the end of, say, Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons," Haddon's book is far smaller, so I feel the unlikable characters simply added a unique flavour. Honest, though, outside of minor, flat characters (who are actually the most likable), none of the main adult characters are good people, and Christopher, autistic or not, is a self-centered brat. I know, I'm supposed to have compassion for how unlike other kids he is, but I really don't. He's a huge brat and hyper-intelligent with book smarts but completely naive about real world smarts, which makes his self-important fact-rattling really, really annoying. It's how his character is supposed to be, though, so I can't fault the author. It does lead to another question, though... this is the sort of book where you need to know something about a problem effecting other humans. Is the bestseller public ready to be educated about autism? Who convinced them that disabilities were the new gauche thing to read about?

At the end of the day, it was worth the read. It was a memorable book, and not bad, if not entirely my cup of tea. Still, I'm left wondering how it became so popular. Perhaps James Patterson has a hidden, literary pen name?...less

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

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