The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon: I’m not sure how to feel about this one. In brief, it’s about 15-year-old Christopher Boone’s attempts to discover who killed his neighbor’s dog, and he learns some surprising things about his mother along the way. Though it’s never mentioned explicitly, one assumes he has a form of autism. And while I’ve heard this book is supposed to be a real eye-opener and help people be more understanding of autistic people, I honestly developed far more sympathy for Christopher’s parents. I don’t know if I could handle taking care of someone like that. My hat’s off to all the parents, teachers, and other caretakers who work with special needs kids every day. You are truly amazing people.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
I really liked this book. I think the way Mark Haddon told it from Christophers point of view was well done. It showed that he was ‘clever’ and just looked at things in different ways and was not in need of sympathy. Whilst it envoked sympathy for the parents it did not portray them as ‘heroic’ but as deeply troubled which I felt was realistic.