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Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order, and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher's mind.
And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.
"Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy."
IAN McEWAN, AUTHOR OF ATONEMENT AND AMSTERDAM
"I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out."
ARTHUR GOLDEN, AUTHOR OF MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
"The Curious Incident brims with imagination, empathy, and vision -- plus it's a lot of fun to read."
MYLA GOLDBERG, AUTHOR OF BEE SEASON

Customer Review: A touching, ironic, bitterly humorous novel
Christopher Boone is fifteen years, three months, and two days old when he finds his neighbor's dog dead, stabbed with a gardening fork. Who killed poor Wellington? And why? Christopher (against his father's wishes) aims to find out, by playing detective, just like Sherlock Holmes, his hero. But it is not easy for a young man who abhors change, who can't stand seeing four yellow cars drive by in a row, who can't imagine life outside of Swindon--it's not easy for a young man like Christopher to solve a heinous crime. But try he will, setting out on a terrifying journey that will lead to revelations about his family, his neighbors, and a poor poodle named Wellington... Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is such a uniquely touching novel, it's hard to write up a good summary. The novel is written in a style seldom seen today, a style that stays true to the narrator (since Christopher doesn't like metaphors--they are lies, and he cannot lie--he uses none, although he will gladly make use of similies, for they are not lies). "Incident" is moving, funny, ironic, touching...everything a good novel should be. Hell, it's even quite a good mystery novel, when you get right down to it. Haddon has created a wonderful little novel, featuring a truly interesting and realistic narrative voice, and a style that will live on long after you put the book down. I highly reccommend this one to fans of all literature.
Customer Review: A non-clinical but truly USEFUL insight into a mind that works differently
There have been many books written about various clinical conditions that impact the ways in which those effected think. Much of that literature is `clinical' or `professional' in nature - not generally written for lay people, but for those whose work involves dealing with or treating them. Then, there is a marginally related genre of books about mental illness written by people who, themselves, have suffered from them. Mark Vonnegut's (son of author, Kurt) The Eden Express, describing his own experience with schizophrenia comes to mind. There have been many others of this type. They are personal accounts, not intended to entertain or teach, but to share e, describing his own experience with schizophrenia comes to mind. There have been many others of this type. They are personal accounts, not intended to entertain or teach, but to share experience. There are sub-types including well-known books like Sybyl, a somewhat fictionalized `real story' of a woman who suffered from a dissociative disorder ("multiple personalities.") Finally, there is another genre, of which this new book by Mark Haddon is representative. Haddon takes us inside the mind of a boy whose thinking would be characterized as `odd' in some very specific and seemingly peculiar ways. The child is incredibly concrete in his thinking, extraordinarily gifted in some areas - particularly those involving science, math and puzzles of all sorts - but who is socially inept to a degree earning his condition a clinical diagnosis - most frequently, Asperger's Disorder. This disorder is at the lower end of the continuum of developmental problems that are captured under the rubric of "Autistic Spectrum Disorders." But this is not a review of a piece of clinical literature - it is, rather, a review of a novel written by an author who has succeeded in capturing the inner workings, machinations and processes of a child born with this disorder who decides to write a novel! While it is always challenging to tell about a novel without retelling it, here goes my best effort: Christopher John Francis Boone is odd.... That is to say, he has many idiosyncrasies, eccentricities, preferences, special abilities or symptoms - depending on your point of view. He car barely tolerate being touched - even by those he is closest to, loves red, hates yellow and he numbers the chapters of the book exclusively with prime numbers. To call him socially inept is a great understatement. In fact, he does suffer from an known and identified developmental problem that has impacted the way in which he processes information about the world around him and the people in it. He is a kid who tried to figure out who killed the dog of one of his neighbors. The story itself is quite mundane. A dog is killed, a boy with unusual perspective and referents tries to `solve' the case; single parenthood is an issue as are various social realities facing such children as Christopher. While this may sound somehow unusual to say about a novel - the story, itself, is not the most interesting feature of the book. It is, rather, the character, courage and quirkiness of the protagonist and the people and situations with which he interacts. It is said that we are all different. I'm sure that this is true - but Christopher's character reminds us that there are degrees of difference and some of us are further along that continuum than are others. More importantly, those differences to not make us less interesting or relevant as people, though those seen as being somehow `too' different are often categorized too quickly as being too odd to be useful to society. Not true. The special abilities this boy has and demonstrates throughout the book (his "savant" qualities) are parts of make him who he is. The crime is solved, risks are taken and everyone survives (except, of course, the murdered dog.) This is an important book - maybe even a necessary one to be read by those interested in understanding the inner workings of a mind that is truly different. I recommend it to both professional and lay readers alike.


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