Five-star review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Nighttime by Mark Haddon
This book provides brilliant insight into how the mind of its
first person narrator works. Christopher John Francis Boone is a
fifteen-year-old autistic boy who needs a concrete understanding of what goes
on around him. He can’t deal with abstracts or intangibles. The teacher at his
special school asked him to write a book about the death of a neighbor’s dog,
Wellington, since Christopher discovered the skewered body of the standard
poodle late one night. He uses the book to detail his investigation of the
murder the way his favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes might. When things get
tough, rather than think about them, he does math puzzles in his head. He
especially likes prime numbers and knows them up to 7057.
Years
before, Christopher’s father told him that his mother went into hospital and
died from a heart attack. Since then, it was just Christopher and his father. And
his pet rat. But as secrets are revealed, including who killed Wellington,
Christopher must be brave enough to face some of his hardest tasks, including a
solo trip on a crowded train and facing reality. His ability to cope with life increases
throughout the story. A can’t-put-down book that left me feeling proud of him.
