Mark Haddon - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The - 8

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Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The


Christopher Haddon, the 15-year-old protagonist and narrator of this story, is autistic. This offers a unique "filter," as it were, for the reader to view the story. I think the best description of his perception is described in the book summary are "literal." He tries to view an illogical world logically, and cannot understand the subtleties we use as clues daily to help us navigate through our dealings with others.

After a neighbor's dog is killed, he decides to solve the crime. He likes dogs, he reasons, and he will be like Sherlock Holmes, whom he (mostly) admires. His journey to discover the truth leads him into an even greater mystery in his own life.

Through his dealings with others, we, as readers, begin to see the clues come together in a way Christopher cannot yet perceive. We also see the truth behind his interactions with neighbors and his family. We feel sorrow or happiness for him, that he cannot feel for himself.

The book was a quick read, but left an impression. It was also an interesting view into a disorder I did not know much about. The inner workings were of Christopher's mind were "curious" to peek into--for example, he can convert almost anything into a mathematical formula. There is one scene in which he converts the population of frogs living in his school's pond into a math formula, explaining why the populations grows and dwindles. This also has the purpose of providing order to his life. On the book flap, the author bio stated Haddon had worked with autisic youth when he was younger. He took a difficult and unique protagonist perspective and made it work.


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