Hello everyone! I think it's time for another book review the last one I did was back in September when I reviewed "The Fault In Our Stars". Man that seems like a longggg time ago! You can view that post HERE. The book I'm going to review for you today is: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, so off we go...
15 year old wannabe astronaut Christopher Boone lives in Swindon with his father and pet rat Toby. Christopher has "a memory of a film, a maths genius (knowing all the prime numbers up to 7,507) and is studying for his A-level maths during the book. However, he doesn't understand human emotions and finds it hard to communicate, sometimes "not talking to people for a long time".
“I would make a good astronaut. To be a good astronaut you have to be intelligent. I am intelligent”
This book immediately draws you in, Christopher has already found the corpse of his neighbours dog impaled by a pitchfork in the first chapter. This discovery leads him on a mission to find the culprit of the murder, using inspiration from his favourite writer Sherlock Holmes.
Christopher has severe autism which ultimately affects how he goes about solving the case. Confronting his neighbours and the public in order to ask questions regarding the case is frustrating for Christopher, resulting in him groaning and covering his ears in order to retreat from the situation.
"I put my hands over my ears and closed my eyes and rolled forward till I was hunched up with my forehead pressed onto the grass. The grass was wet and cold. It was nice."
Writing a detective novel from the perspective of an autistic teenager is a very difficult task Mark Haddon has taking on. The ingenious idea of creating Christopher to love Sherlock Holmes has kept the novel flowing as he has the much needed motivation to try and be like his icon and break his strict social boundaries. Because if this, Christopher quickly progresses in solving the case and uncovers many more intense mysteries.
Because Christopher is such a visual thinker, Diagrams are frequently used in this book as this is what he understands. In order for something to make sense to Christopher, there must be science and logic behind it. In order for the book to make sense to the reader, you must un-train your mind of the conventional way we are taught to read.
This book isn't just a child detective novel nor a book about disability, but an insight to readers into how people with autism see the world and undertake tasks. This is why I love The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time a very touching and intelligent novel that I feel everyone should read.
Hope you all enjoyed that!
Have any of you read the book? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below and if you enjoyed my review:)
Cheerio! Milly x
