The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Adult Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  429 reviews
Sales Rank: 170
Media: Paperback
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0099450259
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780099450252
ASIN: 0099450259
Publication Date: April 1, 2004
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From Amazon.co.uk
The title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (or the curious incident of the dog in the night-time as it appears within the book) is an appropriate one for Mark Haddon's ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate something important about its narrator. Christopher is an intelligent youth who lives in the functional hinterland of autism--every day is an investigation for him because of all the aspects of human life that he does not quite get. When the dog next door is killed with a garden fork, Christopher becomes quietly persistent in his desire to find out what has happened and tugs away at the world around him until a lot of secrets unravel messily. Haddon makes an intelligent stab at how it feels to, for example, not know how to read the faces of the people around you, to be perpetually spooked by certain colours and certain levels of noise, to hate being touched to the point of violent reaction. Life is difficult for the difficult and prickly Christopher in ways that he only partly understands; this avoids most of the obvious pitfalls of novels about disability because it demands that we respect--perhaps admire--him rather than pity him. --Roz Kaveney
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| Customer Reviews: Read 424 more reviews...
 Unusual perspective on an unusual murder mystery May 13, 2008
A murder mystery with a difference - from the first page of the first chapter. This first chapter is headed: 2. The next, 3. Then 5, 7 and so on. Let's just say that these numbers aren't of prime importance in solving the mystery, but they do tell us something significant about the narrator.
The teenaged narrator, a sufferer of Asperger Syndrome, is the book's great triumph. The way he introduces himself is formal and precise: 'My name is Christopher John Francis Boone'. He feels comfortable with facts: 'I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.' The boy doesn't easily recognise emotions and needs the help of a friend's face dictionary. He doesn't interact easily with others.
These may or may not be typical characteristics of those with various forms of autism, but in any event the portrayal is skilful. Like the boy's avoidance of elided forms (won't, couldn't, it's) so common in spoken English and whose absence sounds so foreign, clumsy or artificial. The narrator is not without emotion. Unlike the owner of the dead dog, Mrs Shears, who doesn't want its blood messing up her clothes, he picks it up affectionately. He then tells us that he put it down again after '4 minutes' and steps 'back 2 metres'. He also notes 'LEAKING blood from the fork holes' of the dog, as though it were some inanimate piece of plumbing. There are clearly differences between his kind of empathy, and his kind of world-view, and that of others.
But empathy is what the reader will probably experience for this unusual and vulnerable teenager, as we are drawn into his different world and see things through his eyes. It is an unusual, and very convincing, perspective.
different March 27, 2008
Different and very thought provoking. It was heart warming, intriguing, believable and although not in the strict sense a page turner this book is quite readable in one or two sittings with no difficulty at all.
Touching, funny and a true page turner March 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is very rare to find such a believable narrator, who is so far removed from the author. This is the witty, touching and sometimes harrowing story of a little boy called Christopher who decides to find out who has killed his neighbour's dog. Christopher lets us into his world which is shaped by autism and through his eyes we watch the murder mystery unfold. This is unlike any book I have ever read - the narrative voice is so believable you forget that it was written by a grown man. Christopher is such a great story teller that this is a real page-turner and I managed to read the book in two short sittings. A worthy winner of every award that went Haddon's way - a triumph
 Enjoyed the book but failed to knock my socks off March 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had recommendations to read this book coming at me from all directions so I have finally read the book. I did enjoy it. The way it is written you can understand his father's frustration but through Christopher you can quite easily understand the logic of his actions. You are drawn into the book and feel a bit protective of the main character. Although I found the plot a bit predicable it didn't ruin the book for me instead I found myself worried about how Christopher was going to manage.
I enjoyed it but I certainly isn't going to rank as one of my favorites. It is worth a read because it doesn't take very long. I wont be in a hurry to read any more of this authors work for fear that they are all like this one which feels like it is aimed more at the teenaged market.
Un-put-downable March 3, 2008
One of the best and well written books I have read in a very long time... loved it. Everyone should read this book!
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