The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Reviewed by: Isabella Martin
The book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon is well-written and inspiring. It is written in the first-person perspective of a fifteen-year-old autistic boy named Christopher. He is the main character and the protagonist in the book, and is extremely smart.
There are many characters in this book, but the two major characters are Christopher and his dad, Ed. Ed loves Christopher very much, and he shows his love for his son in different ways. One way he shows his love for Christopher is by trying to understand him. Ed is a shy man, and seems to be hiding something from Christopher throughout most of the book.
The storyline is all about Christopher trying to find out who killed Wellington, their neighbor’s (Mrs. Shears’) poodle. When Christopher finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn, he knows he must do something about it--he must find out who did this. When the police arrived at Mrs. Shears’ house, one of them touches Christopher. He responds by hitting the policeman, and this leads to Christopher’s arrest. Ed later comes and gets Christopher out of jail. As soon as Christoper gets home, he starts to investigate Wellington’s murder. During the investigation, he creates a murder mystery novel where he records everything that he does, sees, and hears. As he investigates, Christopher finds things that were never supposed to be found--things that did not even have to do with his investigation.
In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime we see Christopher and his father’s relationship tested, broken apart, and put together again slowly. I think this illustrates the theme of forgiving and forgetting. When Christopher finds out what has been going on with his father, he has to forgive and forget eventually.
This book’s writing style is descriptive and emotional, and it is poetic. I love the math that is included throughout the book, because it shows what Christopher is thinking. It is a story of love and bravery, and is moving, and I recommend it for ages eleven and up. I would read this book again because it’s a great story to read with others or by yourself. It’s flawless, and has you on the edge of your chair the whole way through.
The best part of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is that Christopher knows who he is, and is proud of himself and who he is despite every problem he has. He constantly rises above difficult times, and it is inspiring. Christopher is an extraordinary boy, and the fact that he has Autism does not overpower him. Even though he does things differently, like screaming when he is touched and only eating food that is a certain color, he is comfortable with who he is. These things make him who he is, and that is what I love about this book. I give it a five-star rating, and I think it deserves more awards than it has received. I looked at different reviews on the book, and I was sad to see how many people did not like it because of the way Haddon portrayed Christopher’s Autism. I think a lot of people don’t understand that there are a lot of different forms of Autism--Christopher just has full-blown Autism. I think that is a bad reason to dislike this book.
