Saturday, October 18, 2014

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Finished "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, a murder mystery written through the perspective of a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher.

Quickie Amazon Summary: Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

            I read this to get a little more insight into autism, as I have very little. And I'm aware having read this doesn't make me an expert now, or that all autism is the same. But I understand a little better the struggles they experience on a daily basis. In this particular case of autism, Christopher has Asperger syndrome, considered a high functioning form of autism. He could still communicate with others and take care of his own personal hygiene, etc. His main trouble took the form of understanding people and interacting with them socially. There were times when the reasons people did certain things didn’t make sense to him, which reading from his point of view made the situation very raw, and his following skepticism understandable.
            This novel became much more than a murder mystery, an unexpected twist that made the story much more serious and real. It depicted the harsh reality that sometimes people who need help, or children in this case, aren’t always surrounded by the most appropriate people. No parent is perfect, and sometimes our emotions take over sensibility. But this novel strives to show that love always wins out in the end. No matter in what form. Very gripping, give it a read!

Rating: 9/10
Quote: “Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”
Purchase here and donate to a charity of your choice using Amazon Smile! I choose the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck!
Next novel: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Lates, 
Tyler

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