The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003)

No, non mi è piaciuto granchè. Trovo che l'idea sia originale, ma naufraga poco alla volta. Diventa ripetitivo, perde interesse ed alla fine mi sono reso conto che a parte stupirmi con un personaggio improbabile non mi ha dato quasi niente. Non ne consiglio la lettura. ( )

Meticulously imagines the frustrations of an autistic's world, where sensory intake is heightened but the capacity to process information diminished. ( )

What an exceptional book, brimming with wisdom. Heartwarming and life-affirming ( )

Guest review by my 14-year old daughter:

There are two curious things about this novel.

The first is that the way the book is written is just as, and arguably more, important than the story itself. This is because it’s told in the first person, from the viewpoint of an autistic boy (named Christopher) which makes the way it’s written very different from a usual book, even one told in the first person, as normal rules of grammar (like run-on sentences) don’t apply. Also, what is usually considered ‘good writing’ totally changes; I noticed that many consecutive sentences start with the same word (e.g. ‘so’; ‘and’).

The second is that the story starts with and, based on the title, seems to revolve around the murder of a neighbor’s dog. (The back cover even mentions Christopher’s ‘quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog’.) But the truth is, although the story does begin with him finding the murdered dog, and his subsequent determination to find its murderer illuminates an important part of his character, it is only one of the subjects the plot focuses on. In fact, the mystery as to who killed the dog is solved halfway through the novel, and although Christopher’s prying certainly contributed to the revelation, eventually the culprit confesses the truth without any coercion. What fills the rest of the novel is the narrator’s real quest—to London, alone, in search of his mother—and the aftermath of that journey.

Returning to the first point, I thought the novel succeeded in providing a window to the mind of a child with autism; the narration was convincing. Some of the things that make the narrator different from normal people include not liking being touched in any way by anyone, and refusing to touch things that are the colors he detests (namely, yellow and brown)—although he seems to at least partially overcome the second problem on his journey to London. But he’s also a mathematical genius (the book includes illustrations of a few math problems that were beyond my comprehension, which makes me wonder if the author also has a talent for math, or, at the least, an avid interest).

The author’s biography mentions that he has ‘worked with autistic individuals’. He must have to write a book that so successfully, in my opinion, reveals the thoughts of its narrator! After reading this, I feel I have gained a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be someone like the narrator of the novel. For that reason, and because it’s quite entertaining, this book is definitely worth reading. ( )

An interesting read from an interesting perspective ( )