1001 Book Update - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

I first heard of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon from my husband. He really liked the book and recommended I read it. About a week ago I found a copy our local antique/thrift store in our neighborhood.

I have to say I immensely enjoyed this book. A co-worker today told she enjoyed it as well but that she had to look beyond the hype. I guess this is true. Sometimes it's sad when a book is so hyped up it ruins the experience. Moving on...

The narrator of this story is fifteen-year-old Christopher who happens to have Asperger's which is a form of autism. One of Christopher's teachers thought it would be a good idea if Christopher wrote in a notebook and essentially wrote a "book". So like any good book, Christopher's story starts out with the "murder" of the next door neighbor's dog. As Christopher tries to solve this mystery, truths and lies are uncovered.

What I really liked about this book is that Christopher is essentially a brilliant child. His mind thinks insanely logically and mathematically. Truly, his mind is like a computer. But it sometimes works against him. There is a scene where he is in a new public place and he freaks out. Because his mind and memory stores every tiny detail, it can be overwhelmed in a new location and his body just shuts down. So his story is an amazing account of how he views the world, sees things happen, interprets them, and how it affects the people around him.

Because this is book is a piece of fiction...Christopher is not real...I can see how some people might not like this book. But I don't think the author was trying to imply that EVERY person with Asperger's or autism thinks and acts like Christopher. But it is an interesting concept to look at the world through different eyes. Because while reading Christopher's story, I often thought to myself...well, that makes sense. Perhaps that's not how I think but that makes sense how Christopher came to that conclusion. So I guess that's why I liked it...because it allowed me to see the world differently. And I liked Christopher.

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