the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Title: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

Pages: 226

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Grade: A- (It would have been an A if the language had been better)

Synopsis: Christopher John Francis Boone is an autistic kid that sees and hears everything very literally. He is detached from his emotions which makes it difficult for him to relate to people and understand their intentions. He is very analytical and mathematical and in my opinion a genius. This is a book that he writes about the neighbors dog that is murdered in the middle of the night with a pitchfork.

My Review: I really, really liked this book. It was difficult to put down and I really felt that I was seeing things from Christopher's autistic perspective. You are able to foresee things before Christopher realizes just what is going on and it is saddening to see how difficult it is for him to grasp reality. Almost everything to him comes down to numbers or a mathematical problem. In fact, most of life can be explained by one mathematical relation or another. This book is funny, sad and enlightening of the plight of the autistic and how they are treated.

Disclaimer: This book was chosen for the inaugural Salt Lake City Reads city-wide book club a couple of years ago. There was a firestorm of anger towards Rocky Anderson because the book was said to be "suitable for all ages" (which is true if you don't mind your child reading the f-word around a dozen times). This book takes place in England which helps to explain the type of profanity that is found in the book. I wouldn't call it vulgar or lewd, but I would call it profane.

From the Book: "(Back cover, quote by Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha) I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out."

"(p. 7) He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the factory where Uncle Terry works. The factory is a bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming and there is a blockage. I sometimes think of my mind as a machine, but not always as a bread-slicing machine. It makes it easier to explain to other people what is going on inside it."