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Loading... The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  nkuhn | Nov 8, 2009 |  Awesome awesome book. A must read. (  ) ini_ya | Nov 4, 2009 | I'm not sure how to feel about this one. In brief, it's about 15-year-old Christopher Boone's attempts to discover who killed his neighbor's dog, and he learns some surprising things about his mother along the way. Though it's never mentioned explicitly, one assumes he has a form of autism. And while I've heard this book is supposed to be a real eye-opener and help people be more understanding of autistic people, I honestly developed far more sympathy for Christopher's parents. I don't know if I could handle taking care of someone like that. My hat's off to all the parents, teachers, and other caretakers who work with special needs kids every day. You are truly amazing people. (  ) melydia | Oct 28, 2009 | A definite page-turner - I flew across the Atlantic and was so drawn into this book that I had to finish it before I went to bed, despite being jetlagged. It is the narrator's point of view that makes it so very compelling - the author handles writing the voice of an autistic boy with a great deal of grace and sensitivity. (  ) ascgrrl | Oct 23, 2009 | Translated into Persian, rank 19/1001  kousha | Oct 19, 2009 | 
 Mark Haddon specialises in innovative storylines in his work as an author, screenwriter and illustrator allied to his remarkable ability to demonstrate what it is to be autistic without sentimentality or exaggeration allied to a creative use of puzzles, facts and photographs in the text mark him out as a real talent drawing on a range of abilities. As Christopher investigates Wellington's death, he makes some remarkably brave decisions and when he eventually faces his fears and moves beyond his immediate neighborhood, the magnitude of his challenge and the joy in his achievement are overwhelming. Haddon creates a fascinating main character and allows the reader to share in his world, experiencing his ups and downs and his trials and successes. In providing a vivid world in which the reader participates vicariously, Haddon fulfills the most important requirements of fiction, entertaining at the same time that he broadens the reader's perspective and allows him to gain knowledge. This fascinating book should attract legions of enthusiastic readers. It's something of a miracle that Haddon (a children's book author-illustrator) never slips into condescension, given that the novel is premised on the reader's cognitive advantage—it derives much of its meaning from the gap between what Christopher perceives and what we understand based on the details he dispassionately communicates. The imaginative leap of writing a novel -- the genre that began as an exercise in sentiment -- without overt emotion is a daring one, and Haddon pulls it off beautifully. Christopher's story is full of paradoxes: naive yet knowing, detached but poignant, often wryly funny despite his absolute humorlessness. Haddon's book illuminates the way one mind works so precisely, so humanely, that it reads like both an acutely observed case study and an artful exploration of a different ''mystery'': the thoughts and feelings we share even with those very different from us.
Amazon.com (ISBN 0385509456, Hardcover)Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.Late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves--against the objection of his father and neighbors--to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result--quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number--is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Haddon's novel is a startling performance. This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is original, clever, and genuinely moving: this one is a must-read. --Jack Illingworth, Amazon.ca (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Booklist 04/01/03
Kirkus Review starred 04/15/03
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