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

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780099450252
ISBN: 0099450259
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: April 01, 2004
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: March 31, 2004
Studio: Vintage
Sales Rank: 401

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Editorial Review:

From Amazon.co.uk:
The title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (or the curious incident of the dog in the night-time as it appears within the book) is an appropriate one for Mark Haddon's ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate something important about its narrator.

Christopher is an intelligent youth who lives in the functional hinterland of autism--every day is an investigation for him because of all the aspects of human life that he does not quite get. When the dog next door is killed with a garden fork, Christopher becomes quietly persistent in his desire to find out what has happened and tugs away at the world around him until a lot of secrets unravel messily.

Haddon makes an intelligent stab at how it feels to, for example, not know how to read the faces of the people around you, to be perpetually spooked by certain colours and certain levels of noise, to hate being touched to the point of violent reaction. Life is difficult for the difficult and prickly Christopher in ways that he only partly understands; this avoids most of the obvious pitfalls of novels about disability because it demands that we respect--perhaps admire--him rather than pity him. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Language!!
I bought this book for my 11 year old daughter after reading the reviews and noting that the book had won a Whitbread award. Although the storyline included the ever popular animal/pet content, I was intrigued by the narration being from a child who has Asperger's Syndrome. Having had contact in a School, where I have volunteered as a parent helper, with a child who has this condition I thought it might add a interesting slant to the story.
The problem i have with this book is the foul language coming from a character...the Policeman!
If I had known that my 11 year old would have to read such words in her leisure/bedtime reading I would have had second thought about buying it!
Fair enough if you don't mind the swearing content, ... Read More:

Rating:

- Fantastic Read!

Mark Haddon's `The Curious Incident' is narrated by Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old boy with Asperger's syndrome. The story is begins when Christopher finds Mrs Shears dog dead on her lawn, this experience becomes the plot to his detective story in which he aims to find the killer. However he is encouraged not to continue writing his story, when questioning his neighbours uncovers more information than it should.

Language is simple yet his ideas are complex, humour is created by how those around Christopher deal with such forthrightness. It is imperative that all information about his day to day activities are expressed which educates the reader about Asperger's syndrome as well as helping us to understand what both Christopher ... Read More:

Rating:

- Intriguing and intresting! Definitely worth a peek!

This book was unlike any other book that I have ever read! Usually this type of story is not one of my favourite reads as I do not find it light, entertaining and easy, however, I find myself reluctantly warming to this book the more I reflect upon it. It took some time before I got use to its very logical and structured style, but was rewarded with a heart warming plot and inspiring (if yet predictable) ending.

This story illustrates the way in which a young teenager suffering with asperger's syndrome (a form of autism), conducts his life and how he deals with every day emotional situations which he does not understand. It begins with the murder of a dog which quickly spirals into an investigation which helps coax the main character, Christopher ... Read More:

Rating:

- review 1
This book is a simple yet intellectual novel, written by a child whose life is accompanied by autism. Mark Haddon creates the story through the distorted mind of Christopher Boone, and how an autistic child deals with situations differently to that of a normal human being. The novel opens with his neighbour's dog being killed by a garden fork. Boone anxiously adopts a `Sherlock Holmes' persona and secretly tries to unravel the murder mystery, which in turn, concludes to be a lot closer to home than he originally thought. Although this specific incident leads to an investigation, it is clear that Haddon depicts the frustration and desire of Boone as in his everyday life he investigates into human aspects of life to try and make sense of them from a normal human being's ... Read More:

Rating:

- Must Read
This book has changed my perception of those with a challenging mental condition - and has given me a dramatic insight into how we are perceived by them.

Mark Haddon's writing was very convincing as the storyteller, Christopher, who has Asperger's syndrome, which I had to continually remind myself of that he was not a sufferer himself. Haddon took on the characteristics, thinking and behaviour of the narrator exceptionally, bringing revelation, pathos and humour to every page.

The structure of the life Asperger's suffers need is extremely well illustrated within the plot; Christopher craves order and reliability in his life but the story line serves up a number of sub plots that challenge both Christopher and the reader. Life is taken very ... Read More:

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