The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Vintage Contemporaries)
Mark Haddon
Date: 18 May, 2004 — $9.60 — Book
Rating:
Okay, I’m not sure what gets five stars from me, so I’m reserving it for now.
Curious Incident probably should get five, so instead it gets a qualified four. It will go to five stars sometime soon, I’m sure, but I need to read and review a few more things before I do.
This is the third book I’ve read lately from the point of view of someone with a DSM4 condition. (the first two were Basic Eight and THe Pleasure of my Company.) Christopher, the protagonist, is autistic. Brilliant in Maths and connecting with animals, he can not understand jokes or human emotions.
This is his book about detecting a mystery. A neighborhood dog is murdered and he wants to detect who killed it. The book easily takes us into his mind, his way of doing things, his point of view. It is also a great story, but better for the strong voice the writer has found. All three of these books have humanized people who are “differently abled” better than any documentary or article. Again, you understand why he doubles twos, practices the quadratic equation, and counts prime numbers. My favorite scenes are when he tackles getting from Paddington Station onto the Tube in London. As someone with a completely literal mind, the nicknames and shorthand of public transportation is a huge hurdle.
It is a great read and I was sorry it ended so quickly. Go read it, there are a ton of reasons this is on the best seller list.
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