The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

May 02, 2019 Kristen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, audio-book, 2019, read-harder-2019

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Christopher Boone likes to go walking at night sometimes. On one of his nightly excursions, he encounters Wellington, one of the neighbor’s dogs. Wellington is dead, killed by a garden fork. This is puzzling to Christopher, who likes to understand why things happen and likes it when rules are followed; Wellington should not be killed with a garden fork. He decides to discover who killed Wellington and begins “detecting” like Sherlock Holmes, asking his neighbors rather uncomf My Blog |
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Christopher Boone likes to go walking at night sometimes. On one of his nightly excursions, he encounters Wellington, one of the neighbor’s dogs. Wellington is dead, killed by a garden fork. This is puzzling to Christopher, who likes to understand why things happen and likes it when rules are followed; Wellington should not be killed with a garden fork. He decides to discover who killed Wellington and begins “detecting” like Sherlock Holmes, asking his neighbors rather uncomfortable questions. In the process, Christopher uncovers many more truths than he ever expected to, and now he has to learn how to live with the consequences of those truths.

This was a sweet coming of age story, told from the perspective of a boy who is on the autism spectrum. Christopher is highly intelligent and is gifted in math - he is going to take his A-Level maths exams later in the book so he can attend university. But he doesn’t know how to buy a train ticket without help. He doesn’t understand humor. He can’t tell a lie and doesn’t understand why you must always tell the truth but can’t tell an old person they’re old or a smelly person that they stink. I loved that he says metaphors are lies, but similes aren’t, and that he hated yellow and brown but red was the best. I really loved his thoughts on logic and reasoning and religion. Getting the story from his perspective is a wonderful change of pace from the typical narrator. I listened to this on audio book, so I didn’t see any of the diagrams that I think were in it. But I did enjoy figuring out before it was explained in the story that the chapter numbers were prime numbers. If you know how good I am not at math, you will know how impressive that is. I was rather proud of myself.

Seeing Christopher’s growth over the course of the book was wonderful. He learns that he IS able to do far more than he ever thought he could or would be able to do. He figures out a soul-shattering secret that has been kept from him and it sends him into a spiral of confusion, anger, and pain. Fleeing to London, on his own for the first time, Christopher learns that he is capable of much more than her ever knew.

I also thought the way his parents were portrayed was probably pretty realistic. I don’t have an autistic child, so I can’t imagine how hard it must be. I AM the mother of a very smart and difficult child, though, and know very well how frustrating and exhausting it can be. I wouldn’t change it for anything, but I can maybe understand how some parents would snap after a while. It doesn’t make it right, but it is a human reaction, and I think Christopher’s parents were shown in a very human and sympathetic light.

Highly recommend!
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Feb 21, 2009 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub-read

I read this wonderful book all in one sitting this evening. I’ve been hearing about it for years of course, and I’ve always meant to get around to reading it. Since my book group picked it, I finally did. I don’t know if I have any better words than all the previous reviewers to describe why this book is so tender, funny, and thought-provoking at the same time. Haddon does an amazing job of allowing the reader to truly experience the unique mind of an autistic child. I was especially fascinated ...more

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Oct 26, 2009 Jaspreet rated it really liked it

This book is currently on my night stand. I have been reading a few pages before I go to bed and depending on the day, I sometimes read a few pages before getting out of bed in the morning. So far, I really love the main characters voice and I find the story very engaging!
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I finished the book this morning and I loved it! The only reason I am giving it four stars is because of the math formulas which I found confusing :) I will w This book is currently on my night stand. I have been reading a few pages before I go to bed and depending on the day, I sometimes read a few pages before getting out of bed in the morning. So far, I really love the main characters voice and I find the story very engaging!
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I finished the book this morning and I loved it! The only reason I am giving it four stars is because of the math formulas which I found confusing :) I will write a more formal review at some point. In a nutshell, if you want a moving, non-cheesy, compelling story, this is a book you will enjoy.
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I had this book on my night stand for a few months and read a few pages before I went to bed. Sometimes, I would even read a few pages before getting out of bed in the morning. The short chapters made this book easily digestible in small chunks. In spite of the short chapter and paragraph length, I had to re-read sections to make sure I understood. I loved Christopher's voice and perspective. Being able to have insight into an autistic teenager was a gift. One of the major themes of the book was being brave. Even though I finished reading the book over a month ago, I am still struck by the idea of overcoming fear in an effort to try to be happy or safe. Christopher had a lot of things with which he was coping; what started out as a simple quest to figure out how killed his neighbor's dog turned into something much grander.

Because of the book's location in my house, I wrote about reading the book for three Sunday Salons. In the first post, I discussed Christopher's power of observation. As I have been trying to get accustomed to a new place, I am trying to be more observant and hoping to transform that into some type of super power that will somehow make it easier to adjust to new surroundings. In my second post, I discussed my admiration and respect for Christopher's efforts to talk with strangers. I felt inspired to try to be more outgoing and speak to strangers. Meeting new people in a city where folks avoid eye contact is tough. I feel like I have to summon all my courage to smile and say good morning to people. In the book Christopher's bravery is what helps him solve mysteries and accomplish some of his goals. In my last post, I described a little bit about a relationship between transformed by the solving of a mystery. In his quest to discover the truth, Christopher learns some unsavory things about people who are important to him.

Even though it took me a long time to finish Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon, I loved it!! My favorite part was the last sentence and without giving away too much, it reiterates how he was brave and why that means people will be proud of him. The only thing I had trouble with was the math formulas which were a bit distracting. I would certainly recommend this book to a friend or anyone that wants to get a deeper understanding of autistic teenage boys. ...more

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