The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Mark Haddon

2003

This is one of my favourite books. My mom suggested I read it a few years ago (I have no idea how long ago this was) and I think I read it in about two days. I've since read the book about a million more times*. This heart-wrenching and compelling novel is about a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher who feels compelled to find out who killed his neighbour's dog since he is the one who is thought to have done it. The fact he is autistic slows down his investigation a little bit, but he finds out so much information and he manages to solve the crime while learning a lot about himself and his family. Christopher is highly intelligent but sometimes this gets him into a little bit of trouble, especially when it's combined with his inability to process emotions like the rest of us.

The story is told from his point of view, so it's a rather limited narration. But the story is still wonderful. You really get to know the mind of an autistic narrator who has some very specific things he likes and doesn't like. Such as his pet rat, or his dislike of certain coloured foods, or how he likes to see a certain number of yellow cars in a row but too many red cars is bad. It's small details that make you fall in love with Christopher. You get to feel like you really know him and when something good happens, you're excited and when sometime bad happens you just feel bad for him.

One of my favourite parts of this novel isn't anything to do with the plot or the characters. It's something I didn't notice right away, but I caught on eventually. The chapters are all numbered with prime numbers. Christopher can recite every prime number up to 7,057. This is just one of the small details in the book that really makes it come alive.

This book is available for purchase from Amazon here: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I highly suggest you read this novel. 4.7 stars out of 5. 

Have you read the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? Did you like it? Do you know of any other books that are kind of similar?

*This is only a slight exaggeration. I've probably read this book about 15-20 times. It is just as wonderful each of those times.