After having this book lying around, I finally got around to reading it.

It's a relatively short book, and it kept me going, so it only took a few days.

I have to write this review on two levels: as a piece of fiction compared to all the other fiction I have read, and as the portrayal of someone on the autism spectrum.

This was a good book. Once I got used to Christopher's way of writing and how he views the world, the book went by pretty quickly. His narrative teased out what we needed to know about his back story as it went along. I genuinely wanted to know who killed the dog. The drawings and math problems added to the quirkiness of the story, but didn't overwhelm it (hopefully Neal Stephenson reads this book). So it was a Good Read.

As for Christopher's narrative being an accurate portrayal of an autistic/Aspie: does it really matter if it was accurate? Any neurotypical person who reads this book might finally understand what made the "weird" kid everyone had in their class so weird. I think it was pretty accurate; I am mildly "Asperger-y" and could understand Christopher's frustrations.

Bottom line: this is a good book everyone should read.

I consider myself fairly well read and this book is a similar in a long line of over-hyped contemporary novels. I would'nt through this in the trash can it's that bad!

In addition to all the other unusual aspects of this novel, it's also worth noting that it is in some ways a postmodern, self-referential novel. The 15-year-old boy who is the protagonist and the first-person "author" refers from time to time to the fact that he is writing a novel -- i.e., this novel, and to Siobhan's encouraging words to him regarding his writing project. He demurs that he has no sense of humor so that the book cannot be funny. Of course, the irony is that it is funny in its own self-referential way.

I felt that the book trailed off at the end and became less interesting. Still, this is a memorable novel.

A very interestingly-written exploration into an unlikely protagonist, a seemingly mediocre / dark plot, and unusual writing styles. I had so much fun reading this and was captivated by our dear writer, Christopher, who is somehow whimsical and engaging while being relatively bereft of the emotions we consider "normal." Bravo.

I think anyone on any level can relate to this. Its a nice short read and holds your attention throughout the book. I'm not so sure it lives up to its hype, but likely if you thought you'd found a book no one else had heard of you would have thought it a big win! If you are looking for a book to understand your autistic child, this is not the book you are looking for.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Even in the opening few pages you start to get right inside of the mind of this troubled child. I loved it and recommend it to all.

Mark Haddon's curious book describes in the simplest prose what life is like when seen through the eyes of a 15 year-old autistic boy. The book's protagonist, Christopher, navigates daily life with charts, graphs, logic and truth. Not so strange; until you realize as you read how little "normal" people notice the details in the world around them, and how much "normal" people lie during the course of a day, week, month, or year.

If this book paints an accurate description of life with autism (and there seems to be ample evidence that it does), then I am astounded at the bravery that these individuals exhibit, as square pegs, trying to live their lives in a round-hole world.

Christopher employs true creativity and imagination (although as an autistic person he argues that he has neither) to invent ways of coping with a confusing and often terrifying world.

Exceptionally well done.

C.A.Wulff - author of Born Without a Tail

I actually enjoyed this book. The story is funny, yet sad, realistic, yet fictional. It may seem hard to read because of the digressions, but they are typically short. I read the poor reviews and I think those people are emotionally unstable and uneducated about the Autism Spectrum. Quite frankly the author nailed a 15 year old boy with "behavioural problems". I have read "Look me in the eye" written by a man with Aspergers and it is actually quite similar in nature.

If you have ever watched "Autism the Musical" and viewed the children with Aspergers you'd see Steve Stills' son and how he behaves, very similar to how the boy in the book writes. The boy is obsessed with math and physics, just as Steve Stills' son is obsessed with dinosaurs (as is my son who has high functioning Autism), they can stay on a plot line for a little while but then tend to digress into something familiar or comforting when they are upset. You can totally read this in the book.

I say bravo. and for all of your information Autism is not a disease!

I had heard so much about this book that I was curious - masterpiece, original, different, listed as one of the 1001 books you need to read in your lifetime... Maybe it was an expectation issue more than anything else.

It is a very well written book with a curious premise - what the world looks like through the eyes of an autistic 15-year-old boy. As his neighbour's dog is murdered he tries to solve the mystery and ends up learning quite a lot about his own life.

I thought it was an excellent portrayal of British small city mentality and enjoyed that aspect of it. For me it was also a learning experience, a chance to go through the looking glass and view the world in a new way.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon is a remarkable book. Even though at many times it can be extremely random, it shows a great amount of character of the main character Christopher Boone. Christopher has autism. Even though he has autism and is an un-reliable character, i think it makes the book a little more interesting. In the book Christopher is trying to solve a murder. He himself is writing this book about a murder. I think that as a reader this makes the book a lot different than others. First of all I think it is very creative how Mark Haddon writes the book as if he were Christopher and he is trying to solve the mystery. I also think that it makes the book seem like kind of a mystery because you almost feel like you have to help Christopher since you sometimes know more than he does. But also in this book is the genre realistic fiction. So the book has to genres in one. So overall i think that this book was very good and well written. But i think it could have been a little bit longer.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was an exciting and fun to read novel. Mark Haddon makes the story of a fifteen year old Christopher Boone with Asperger's (a form of autism) enjoyable to audiences young and old. Christopher must use deductive reasoning and the laws of logic to solve the killing of his neighbor's dog, of which he as been falsely accused. Because Christopher has little emotion, this book can be sad and also funny at times. Haddon had a difficult job in writing this story where he had to portray a boy who has almost no range of emotion, as the main character. Haddon's insight into the autistic mind provides for a great read also while educating readers about a mental disability. The plot of this book I found to be not only interesting but physically engaging as well. Some of the mathematic equations we see in the book make the reader want to get out a pen and paper and work them out for themselves. The story keeps the reader involved the whole way and leaves with an ending that was not seen coming.

Although a work of fiction, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a surprisingly insightful journey into the world of one Autistic boy. A great read for those new to the world of Autism, or looking for a non-technical window into how the disorder could affect one individual. Written with compassion and clarity, it is a quick read, can easily be completed in a day or two, and is suitable for teen readers. I found it to be moving, memorable and somewhat mind-expanding. Any good book will give you the opportunity to mentally 'try on someone else's shoes', this book will put you inside the mind that many will find unfamiliar, perplexing, perhaps even alien, but not without it's charms. For those looking for a comprehensive look at Autism, this book will not be a good choice, as Autism spans a vast rainbow of symptoms and behaviors, and this book is written from singular experience.

Why spend a few good evenings re-discovering life through the eyes of an autistic boy? The answer to that lies in this intriguing novel. While most fifteen-year-olds spend their time playing basketball or crunching popcorn at the movies, Christopher Boone - our protagonist - prefers cracking difficult maths puzzles and investigating the death of his neighbour's poodle. The latter event eventually leads him on an adventure that forms the bulk of the plot - a discovery of the untold back-story to his parents' troubled marriage.

The main selling point of the book, however, lies not so much in the story per se as having the story rendered through Christopher's eyes. And what he brings is a wholly refreshing perspective on life - from the details he picks out with his unbelievably photographic memory to his manic obsession with order. How many people actually can - or will bother to - remember the number (and colour and size and disposition) of cows they've just seen on a random field? This raises serious questions about the things we `normal people' choose to see and not to see. The language too is perfect - methodical, matter-of-fact and well-suited to the subject matter and how our protagonist relates to it.

A truly refreshing and thought-provoking read.

What an awesome idea. This book is unlike any other I have read. Telling a story from the persepctive of an autistic boy's point of view is brilliant. You will follow this boy's plight step by step as he struggles to come to terms with an "event" about which he knows very little. Great book.

I often worry that these books with a lot of buzz won't live up to the hype by the time I get around to reading them. In this case, I shouldn't have worried. From his prime-numbered chapters to his reasons why he doesn't like the colors yellow and brown, Haddon's autistic narrator is full of his own charm, even if he couldn't tell you what charm was. You can't help but feel for this boy who wants to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, thinks his mother is dead, and lacks the filter we take for granted to see and hear only that which is important to us. From time to time you may get bogged down in Christopher's factual digressions and descriptions, but it's not long before you're caught back up in his story.

I know this book has garnered a large and varied response, ranging from disdain for its unconventional structure and use of vulgar words to an admiration for how it views real life from a detached point of view. However, I found that I rather liked this book, and found it a genuinely touching book.

I won't dwell into how Haddon constructs the story, but Haddon's story is thought-provoking and touching at the same time. Haddon's plot questions the disdain we have towards people who are not of our thinking, and his drawing of the characters is so real that you feel as if you could reach out to touch them. I am struck by the way that Haddon draws the character of Christopher, because in some ways he shares many of our frustrations but yet he is still a loveable character. His untangling of the vicissitudes of everyday people is what propels the story forward. I know the plot may not be the best in how it moves abruptly to the investigation of the murder of a dog to the conflict between his parents. However, once you find that the parental disagreement is the heart of the novel and the dog incident is the key to it, the plot begins to make sense.

I know some people have raised concerns about the vulgarities peppered throughout the book. As such I see that it isn't suitable for children. I'm aware that such words, especially the F-word, are offensive but even so the expletives aren't the essence of the book and don't detract from Christopher's dealings with his predicaments.

In short, I heartily recommend this book to all, as one of the most interesting, and accessible, novels of recent years.

"This book was so terrific that, when I read a passage of it to my teenage son, he said, "I want to read that when you get finished." Well, I finished quickly (it's short) and gave it to him. He read it!

Why is that so amazing? Well, my son reads about one book every 2 years. He loved it.

I have a friend who has an autistic son. While reading this, I could imagine that, yes, my friend's son seems to quite possibly think this way.

It's amazing how Mark Haddon was able to tell this story from the viewpoint of someone that is autistic. Autistic people cannot truly communicate how they think and feel to us. but Mr. Haddon seems to have hit it on the head.

You don't really read this book for the story, which is interesting, but not terrific, you read it for the WRITING."

I wish I had more appreciation for the writing in this novel but other than the unique idea of an autistic first person narrator, it's pretty dull going. I tired very early of the scientific preaching and eventually was disappointed by the unimaginative plot. The ending is a non-event. It resolves nothing but by that time, I no longer cared what happened to any of the characters. 3 stars for a unique approach.

This was one odd book. I must say the author must be one strange individual. Although it seemed like most of the time you were in the mind of a mentally challenged youth, sometimes the hard cold truths were difficult to take. It was very entertaining, if at times uncomfortable to read. I guess that's what makes it, in the end, so thought-provoking.

Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, an autistic boy with a talent for math and logic, resolves to unravel the mystery behind the murder of a neighbor's dog. This leads to a series of events that will turn his life upside-down and solve a few mysteries that he didn't even know existed.

Mark Haddon has succeeded admirably at a most difficult narrative challenge--telling a story completely from the perspective of a child with Asberger's Syndrome. As a public school teacher, I've had some contact with such a child and recognized many of the behaviors described in this book. However, Haddon goes deeper with a plausible presentation of the thought processes behind them. Christopher's inability to interpret commonplace daily interactions and emotions is effectively dramatized by the reader's ability to infer with perfect clarity what the people around Christopher are thinking and feeling from his detailed descriptions, despite his own inability to decipher their behavior. This leads to one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the book; his father's love and the sacrifices made on Christopher's behalf are painfully apparent to the reader, even though Christopher himself is not equipped to recognize them. A lengthy trip to London toward the end of the novel results in a significant dead spot when the pace should be picking up, but otherwise this is a note-perfect performance.

Author Mark Haddon has created a realistic fictional autistic teen with an amazing way of describing the life and people that surround him. But what I love most about the book is how much the main character, 15-year-old Christopher, reminds me of my son Nigel (aside from the fact that Christopher is incredibly good at math, and Nigel is at the opposite end of that spectrum). I love experiencing Christopher's usually detached observation, his mannerisms that are so close to home for me. I could identify with the intense love coupled with the equally intense frustration that his father feels raising him alone. When I read Christopher's thought processes (portrayed so well by Haddon), I recognize what my son has been able to convey to me about his own.

I love reading about Christopher's determination to do things himself, and his love of animals is touching and also familiar, as are his attempts to understand the complexities of emotions and his need to always give the exact minute when telling time. He tries hard to manage his sensory issues and asks people for help when he needs it. He is persistent about the things that are important to him, like taking a high-level math test, and being a detective.

I won't say anything about the plot of the book because it is so captivating; the only way to appreciate it is to read it and experience it yourself. And besides, it is a mystery. I wouldn't want to spoil it. Christopher points out at the beginning, "This is a murder mystery novel," and in trying to solve it, he discovers another one that changes everything. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is tender, moving, and beautifully written. It's also a quick read, which is good in a way, because you'll want to read it again and again.

I read this because a Scottish lady recommended "A Spot of Bother" on a flight from Scotland. It is great. A very unique perspectiv that has helped me to have more empathetic insight and "feel" for the world of autism/aspergers. I offered to my daughter,a 4th grade teacher, because she has had students with similar conditions has her own unique teaching experiences to compare with this.

I bought this book after reading all of the massive amounts of praise that has been lavished upon it. I have to say, these praises are not deserved and I am completely baffled how this novel achieved such a status. I found myself struggling to keep reading because I knew this book was going nowhere.

First it starts with a halfway entertaining plot about the dog being killed. "Ok. Fine," I'm thinking. "Surely this will lead to something else." And it does, but it was a very frustrating read because of all the tangents the boy takes to tell about all of these completely pointless things. I understand the kid is autistic, and maybe that's how they really think. I don't know. But I do know that if that is how they think, it doesn't make for a very good book. I found myself just kind of scanning through whole chapters because I knew they had nothing to do with the plot at all and really didn't teach anyone anything unless you didn't complete middle school.

"But wait!" Some may say. "This book provides insight into how autistic kids think." Ok fine, maybe it does. But like I said, that doesn't make it a good book. I think people just like this book because it's considered "eccentric" and "different" and they like it for the same reason people like "Juno" and movies like that...they're just not as good as people make them out to be.

The Boston Globe called this book, "gloriously eccentric..." which is an inaccurate way to represent this story by Mark Haddon. If anything, Haddon enters the world of autism and demystifies it, making it less eccentric. We see the world through the eyes of fifteen year-old Christopher Boone, who abhors the color yellow, but calms himself by solving complicated math problems in his head. The reader learns to re-calibrate his or her own emotional responses a la Christopher, for whom things hurt according to their logical content or lack thereof.

This book has many strengths, and Christopher's father is perhaps one of the best examples of a sympathetic but highly flawed character. While Christopher is undoubtedly the book's protagonist, the non-autistic reader will more likely empathize with Christopher's father, who is capable of both great love and great destruction.

Aside from Christopher's discussions with his therapist Siobhan, the book wisely veers away from preachy explanations about autism. Even the therapy sessions are more about interpersonal connection than outlining the intricacies of autism, and it is this that helps the reader to connect to Christopher in something other than sympathy. We engage with Christopher's world, not the world of autism...and this is right as autism spectrum disorders defy generalizations or easy categories.

The end result, if anything, is that the eccentricity of general humanity is exposed. We become conscious of our everyday lack of logic. The novel is just as much about the human condition as the autistic condition.

This was an absolutely wonderful journey with an inspired and inspiring hero. This is simply a must read.

Full of Surprises! This book is set in the UK and the "F-word" is used a lot. This was a very intelligent, unexpected read that really makes you use your head! Here are some of my favorite passages that I'd like to share from the Curious Incident which will give you a taste of what the book is like without giving away the storyline (page numbers may be different from your edition, but at least they'll serve as a general guide to find the parts I'm referring to):

Pg.13 "...Grandma Burton was in a home because she had senile dementia and thought that I was someone on television." I like this because of my last name :-)

Pg.32 When Christopher asked the reverend where heaven was he was told : "It's not in our universe. It's another kind of place altogether". Christopher reasoned that what the reverend said could not be true unless heaven was on the other side of a black hole. "...If heaven was on the other side of a black hole, dead people would have to be fired into space on rockets to get there, and they aren't or people would notice."

Pg.199 "People believe in God because the world is very complicated and they think it is very unlikely that anything as complicated as a flying squirrel or the human eye or a brain could happen by chance. But if they thought logically, they would see that they can only ask this question because it has already happened and they exist. And there are billions of planets where there is no life, but there is no one on those planets with brains to notice."

Pg.201 "Then she made me some Red Zinger herbal tea with sugar in it, but I didn't like it." (Red Zinger is made by Celestial Seasonings in my hometown of Boulder Colorado)

I don't pay attention to book reviews, and I don't really care about what's on the best seller lists. This book was in the cheap bin at B&N, so I parted with a few hard-earned bucks and took it home. I never heard of it, and I never heard of the author. Yeah, yeah, I'm not in the know. Whatever.

The first half of this book was so different, I couldn't put it down. I have no first-hand experience with people who have autism, so I can't vouch for its authenticity on that point. That said, seeing the world through an autistic boy's eyes was remarkable. The author did a great job of making me see the world in new and uncomfortable ways. With each chapter, I become more aware of a world beyond my American suburbia, and I don't simply mean physical settings. I've travelled a lot in my life, but I've rarely stopped to truly and earnestly consider life from a totally different point of view. This book helped, and made, me do that.

Good premise notwithstanding, what turned me off was the frequent digs at religion. After a little research, I learned the author is atheist to the core. That's fine, and he can write whatever he chooses. And he should. I was disappointed, however, to see his views expressed in such a cop-out manner. The author uses this young autistic boy as a puppet to express his views on God, religion, and how absurd it all is. That's the theme of the book, and that turned me off. I've got no problem with anyone's point of view, just don't con your readers into thinking they are getting a good story about something different. Write an op-ed piece or something.

Religion issues aside, the story, as some reviewers noted, wore thin about the halfway point. The whole last section felt bloated and tired. I was glad to be finished as the novelty of the book faded and left me feeling irritated and a little bored.

As the father of an autistic child, I completely got into this book, and finished in a couple of hours. I can relate to the protagonist completely since it is written from his point of view. The author is very skilled in showing how disparate the inside and outside world are from the perspective of an autistic mind. The book is funny, and sad at the same time. It can be ironic, and illustrative at the same time. I think everyone will enjoy this amazing literary piece.

This book is not original. It is not particularily moving. It is not innovative, and it is most certainly not thought-provoking. The New York Time's glowing review compares it to "The Sound and the Fury," but where Faulkner's masterpiece uses mental disability to comment on the Southern lifestyle and the human condition, Haddon's novel merely declares the typical message that "being autistic is tough, but in the end things can turn out okay." When I finished this book, I didn't have to sit and think about it; it had little more heft than a typical Mitch Albom story. In addition to its thematic mundanity, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" overuses its quirky devices, contradicts its narrative style, ruins the plot of "The Hound of the Baskerviles," and inaccurately explains the Monty Hall Problem. Literature is all but dead, and praise of books like this is dragging it even further away from redemption.

I have never read anything that even remotely resembles this novel, it is so unique and cleverly written from the first person perspective of a boy with some type of autism. Christopher Boone goes to a special school, doesn't understand basic figures of speech or facial expressions, but is gifted with a genius skill at math. When his neighbor's poodle is found murdered by pitchfork one morning, Chris is almost blamed for the crime and decides to find out who the real dog killer is.

I flew through this book in less than 24 hours because it was just that good of a read.

This book is a great little summer read with an interesting plot line. But what I liked most is that it really provided an insightful look into the world of an autistic child from their perspective.

This book is a great little summer read with an interesting plot line. But what I liked most is that it really provided an insightful look into the world of an autistic child from their perspective.

Most of the reviews here judge Haddon's book on the basis of what it "says" or shows about autism (or asperger's syndrome), as if it were educational fiction. That doesn't seem the most pertinent criterion to judge fiction to me.

"The Curious Incident" is a magnificent book for several reasons.

1. It is a masterful story. The couple of "grand revelations" about Christopher's life are shocking and at the same time entirely believable - and they make the story move. I agree with one of the other reviewers that the ending is somewhat arbitrary, but again it's totally believable. The characters became more and more dense for me while I was reading, so as a story it's not an intellectual exercise.

2. This novel is so packed with suspense that it reads like a genuine thriller. I'm not going to reveal anything that happens, and you shouldn't be misled by the word "thriller" (no serial killers or zombies in this one). But just the description of a simple train ride through Christopher's (autistic) eyes is one of the most suspenseful passages I've read in a long while. I read this book in one sitting and at every page I wanted to know what would happen on the next one.

3. It's terribly funny. Christopher has a way of looking at things that is perfectly logical in one way and unsettling in another. His dead pan remarks often made me laugh out loud. His way of introducing elements that are irrelevant for us but entirely to the point from his own perspective ("this is another description because Siobhan [his teacher] said I should do descriptions [in the book he's writing]."), up to and including mathematical problems (formulas included), adds to the fun and the surprises.

4. It's moving. Here's this 15 year old kid, trying to understand the world, to be a good kid, to come to grips with some pretty awful things that happen to him, and doing all this with a strength, a morality and a logic he seems to find entirely within himself. As a reader you constantly shift between feelings of admiration and of compassion, and if you don't have wet eyes when, almost at the end, Christopher narrates his favorite dream, you'll probably never cry when reading a book. Still, it's not a sentimental book at all: see points 1 to 3.

And lest I forget: for the first time ever, after so many newspaper articles and explanations, I do feel I've understood a little bit about autism too.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time and it is one I would have everyone read, if I could. It isn't so much that I "learned" about autism or Aspergers from it but the author's remarkable ability to capture the voice of this troubled but brilliant young man let me into his life as nothing else could. I became his advocate and cheered at his successes. I couldn't help but think how much more thoroughly he carried a thought through than I do and that was part of his problem. He was way ahead of the rest of us and I can now understand how painful his life could be. Yet the book was never heavy or sentimental. In fact, it was quite light-hearted in a way. To be able to write like that is truly a gift.

This book transports you into the mindset of a very different young teenage boy and chronicles his reaction to a whole set of slightly exaggerated, droll, and not entirely unbelievable circumstances--among them the murder of a dog, his mother's illicit affair, the breakup of his parent's marriage, the very much challenged father, the fight over custody--all in a distinctly English working class setting.

Some reviewers have insisted that the author, in the guise of the boy as narrator/protagonist, would appear to minimize or otherwise distort the burden of Asperger's syndrome (as the book jacket describes his condition) or, perhaps more accurately, autism. That may well be the case. Perhaps, for example, it would be exceedingly rare for someone in this boy's condition to be so mathematically gifted or inclined. But this is fiction, afterall, and not a medical journal. The book is wonderfully written, original, and very moving in its exploration of the nature of family and human relationships. I heartily recommend the book and most especially its reader in the audio version.

Short story and actually rather simple. But it isn't the plot that keeps you reading this in one go. It is the perspective. Haddon presents us the observations and thinking of an autistic 15 year old. Love it!

This book is a book that all teachers should read! Really lets you look into the mind of an autistic child. I could see some of my previous students and now understand better why they were the way they were.

Who killed the neighbor's dog? Although the answer comes even faster than the fairly short book's end, this dialogue of a 15 year old autistic savant quickly reveals itself not to be much of a mystery at all, but an astute portrait of daily living within the autism spectrum. While I can vouch for the high degree of verisimilitude Haddon employs in translating common elements of the diagnosis into Christopher's character, having myself worked with autistic/Asperser's students, I feel this book's greatest success lies in it's ability to stimulate empathy through contrast between his highly functioning cognitive mind, and the distant, disconnected world of human behavior it portrays.

Although such accuracy of character within the spectrum makes for a unique and often charming narrative, the story itself seems to suffer as Christopher is never able to fully consider and render some of the larger issues at hand- his parents divorce, the significance and outcome of his parents mistakes, a deeper understanding of his own diagnosis, etc. I feel the story's perspective is perhaps the novel's focus, rather than actual storyline, and found this at times to detract from the quality of reading, especially toward the novel's somewhat arbitrary conclusion. While I would recommend this book given it's value within very few pages, I feel it only goes so far within the genre of mystery.

Who killed the neighbor's dog? Although the answer comes even faster than the fairly short book's end, this dialogue of a 15 year old autistic savant quickly reveals itself not to be much of a mystery at all, but an astute portrait of daily living within the autism spectrum. While I can vouch for the high degree of verisimilitude Haddon employs in translating common elements of the diagnosis into Christopher's character, having myself worked with autistic/Asperser's students, I feel this book's greatest success lies in it's ability to stimulate empathy through contrast between his highly functioning cognitive mind, and the distant, disconnected world of human behavior it portrays.

Although such accuracy of character within the spectrum makes for a unique and often charming narrative, the story itself seems to suffer as Christopher is never able to fully consider and render some of the larger issues at hand- his parents divorce, the significance and outcome of his parents mistakes, a deeper understanding of his own diagnosis, etc. I feel the story's perspective is perhaps the novel's focus, rather than actual storyline, and found this at times to detract from the quality of reading, especially toward the novel's somewhat arbitrary conclusion. While I would recommend this book given it's value within very few pages, I feel it only goes so far within the genre of mystery.

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time is a much-needed window into the world of autism. While I find this book informative and intriguing, I would not recommend it to someone who is not familiar with autism without additional information. That said, I think it does an excellent job of demonstrating the potential thought processes and emotional interaction (or lack thereof) of an autistic individual.

Many things that bother Christopher would not bother an average teenager, but Christopher shrugs off or fails to notice things that many teenagers would find crippling. Christopher's depiction of events is striking, as he chooses to include details like "approximately 60 holes in her shoes," but leaves out all emotion past happy, sad, good day, black day and feeling sick. He responds physically, vomiting and with pain in his head when something should greatly upset him emotionally. Although author Mark Haddon is not autistic, his writing demonstrates his careful observation of common characteristics of individuals with autism.

The real strength of this book is that is shows Christopher facing challenges and growing as an individual despite his very real struggles that he has to confront as a result of his condition. When Christopher decides to leave his father's house and go to London to locate his mother, he finds creative ways to cope, from hiding in the bathroom on the tube, to putting his hands over his ears "to block out the noise and think" (Haddon, p. 145). Christopher demonstrates he has learned how to be successful working with what he has when he finally finds his mother.

One thing that concerns me about this book if using it as a source about autism is, that it portrays an atypical autistic individual. Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome, and is not severely impaired as many children. Plus, most autistic children are not exceptionally gifted in math. However, this book does raise the intriguing situation of a student who is twice exceptional: possessing gifts and talents as well as a learning disability.

As a new teacher, I anticipate having a student like Christopher in my classroom at some point. While this book is an incomplete source on autism, it provides insight into how an autistic individual may interact and react to the world, and is definitely worth reading.

For further information about autism and twice exceptional students, visit the following links:
http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/autism-class2
http://www.uniquelygifted.org/
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," by author Mark Haddon, is the story of Christopher John Francis Boone, a fifteen-year-old boy who discovers his neighbor's dog dead and sets about to solve the mystery of who killed it, making many other discoveries along the way. In this book, readers are treated to a unique voice, not only in literature, but in life, as Christopher is developmentally disabled. He doesn't like other people and he doesn't like being touched; as a result, when confused or angry, he often screams, groans, or physically attacks others. In giving Christopher a voice, Haddon succeeds in showing us Christopher's humanity but ultimately falls short in fleshing him out as a character.

For many of us, seeing kids like Christopher can be a frightening experience. They can't communicate with us and often engage in behavior that seems unfamiliar, if not frightening. Over the course of the book, Christopher runs into many others who cast him as an outsider, if not an animal. As he goes to school, he is mocked: "[S]ometimes the children from the school down the road see us in the street when we're getting off the bus and they shout, 'Special Needs! Special Needs!'" Usually, Christopher is either at his school or with his family, so he does not engage with the public, but over the course of his journey to London, as he is forced to interact with others to figure out the train system, again Christopher's role as an outcast is clear, as people on the train term him a "train elf" and wonder whether they "should feed him some nuts." After he has an episode, he is left to sit on his bench in the train station alone, with nobody wanting to even be near him.

However, because we are allowed inside Christopher's mind, we can see that he is not an elf or a freak. In describing one of his episodes, Christopher says, "I felt giddy. It was like the room was swinging from side to side, as if it was at the top of a really tall building and the building was swinging backward and forward in a strong wind . . . I rolled onto the bed and curled up in a ball." Hearing about Christopher's outbursts in his own voice, we feel compassion for his experience instead of fear. While obviously he is different from us - he can multiply 251 by 864 in his head, he counts prime numbers when he is upset, and he lacks imagination - he is also similar. Like us, Christopher feels happiness and sadness. He is happy when he can pretend he is the only person in the whole world and sad when he finds the dead dog. Also, Christopher, like the rest of us, has dreams: he is going to pass his A-levels, take more A-levels, go to the university, and become an astronaut. In fact, by the end of the book, after he has passed his A-levels and makes plans to take further A-levels and finishes his book about who has killed his neighbor's dog, he knows he "can do anything."

Learning about Christopher's point of view, readers see that he is a person like the rest of us, but unfortunately Christopher is never fully fleshed out as a character because none of the other characters in the book are allowed to share our perspective and see him as a person. While Christopher may not be able to show his love or attachment to others, we should still see evidence that others love and are attached to Christopher. Instead, we learn from Christopher about his troubles with his mom: "Mother had hit me sometimes because she was a very hot-tempered person." His mother explains to him, "I'm not like your father. Your father is a much more pacient [sic] person." Although his mother does not seem to be able to understand or cope with Christopher, his father is the one who cooks Christopher's meals, cleans his clothes, looks after him when he is sick, and worries about him when he wanders off. Ultimately, though, his father turns out to be the book's biggest disappointment. Even before his character is sacrificed for a plot point, Christopher's father doesn't seem to be the advocate that Christopher needs or deserves. When a friend of his father's, Rhodri, treats Christopher like a trained seal and asks him to multiply 251 times 864, Christopher says, "I don't like it when Rhodri laughs at me. Rhodri laughs at me a lot. Father says it is being friendly." Instead of defending his son, Christopher's father defends the man who mocks him. Moreover, at another point, in the middle of an argument which Christopher does not understand, his father asks him, "How stupid are you?" While it is clear that Christopher's father cares about him and loves him, it is also clear that he doesn't recognize what makes Christopher special - he loves him in spite of his differences, not because of them. Christopher's father, the one who cares for him and loves him more than anyone else, does not recognize his own son's humanity.

This problem - that we, as readers, can see Christopher as a person, but the other characters in the book don't - seems to be the author's way of saying that, even though we should recognize the mentally disabled as people with their own "voice," there is still in fact a barrier that makes communicating with them difficult. Because we are able to get inside Christopher's head, he does not seem so different from us; he is someone who can, to some extent, communicate with us, and someone we can learn from. But what about other mentally disabled people whose voices we don't have access to? In the classic book, "Flowers for Algernon," we come to like the disabled protagonist, Charley Gordon, not because he is similar to us, but because he is different. His differences are what make him special, and when he loses these differences, his character becomes almost unlikeable. In the "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," however, we come to identify with Christopher because we can see that he shares some of our qualities - he is good at math, or he likes dogs, or his parents are having problems - and we choose to ignore his differences. He is not like the other people at his school - "All the other children at my school are stupid" - because he is going to pass his A-levels. In fact, the other "stupid" kids at his school are difficult to identify with - for example, Joseph Fleming, one of Christopher's classmates, who "eats everything," including "one of the little blocks of blue disinfectant which hang inside the toilets," "a 50 pound note from his mother's wallet," "string and rubber bands and tissues and writing paper and paints and plastic forks," and also "bangs his chin and screams a lot." Is this someone we can grow to like like Christopher or is this kid more like an "elf" or freak or someone we wouldn't want to sit near in the train station? In setting himself as different from this boy, Christopher in fact becomes "one of us" - someone who is not stupid and who can feel free to disregard the other people at his school. In truth, though, we probably shouldn't like Christopher for how he is one of us, but for his differences. In the end, a book like "Flowers for Algernon" makes a stronger point: we should not, as "Curious Incident" suggests, find the developmentally disabled tolerable because somewhere, somehow, they are like us, but instead we should recognize them for their differences, because that is what makes them special.

Alas, while fascinating to understand the perspective of a child with special needs, it's just not entertaining. Read this to be edified, and to be grateful to be who you are and capable of all you can do ... but do not read this book for entertainment.

Alas, while fascinating to understand the perspective of a child with special needs, it's just not entertaining. Read this to be edified, and to be grateful to be who you are and capable of all you can do ... but do not read this book for entertainment.

This book was recommended to me by a co worker and supervisor who both loved the book. While I know it's fiction, I really am bothered by a non- autistic person trying to write from the perspective of a child with Autism. This disorder is so unique to each child, I just think there are plenty of Autistic Adults who could write a novel and do a better job. I work daily with a student with autism and I know there are things that are sterotypical but I would just prefer to read something more 'realistic" that is also fiction. I get irritated when people throw their perceptions on special needs kids, when they are capable of telling you themselves....I am sure this is my issue...you may love the book as my supervisor and co-worker, also in the field and working with Autism daily did.
It is a difficult read I am half way through, can't seem to keep going but I am told it will get better as I go. There is a lot of cursing in the book as well as the child has no spiritual beliefs, which is something that also bugs me because every child I have worked with in the past 3 years has had some form of spirituality in their life.

This story, though not actually a mystery, captivated me from the very beginning. Seeing the world through Christopher's eyes is both entertaining and educational. I've never read anything like this before. It's both simple and complex at the same time. I'm suggesting this book for my book club. This is a great book for anyone thirteen and older (my estimate).

I was amazed to find that Haddon doesn't actually have Asperger's. His portrayal is spot on. A fascinating and accurate look into the thought processes and experiences of a person with Asperger's.

Stephanie Moulton Sarkis PhD NCC LMHC
Author and Psychotherapist, specializing in ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Told through the eyes of an autistic boy named Christopher, "The Curious Incident..." feels different than other fiction because of the fresh perspective. The events are mundane, but the narrator's interactions with others make for laugh-out-loud situations.

Christopher can often be maddening, and you empathize for the frustration in those around him. He is totally devoid of emotion or imagination. He's coldly logical and methodical, and has a tendency to sit for hours thinking through math problems. And he's focused like a laser-beam, to the point of being obsessive. He remembers anything. So, Christopher is basically a robot.

None of the characters are flat. His sweet father... with a violent-side. His loving mother, with her lack of morals and inability to deal with conflict.

The portrayal is blunt and doesn't pull punches. This book could have easily had a preachy theme about "autistics are great people once you get to know them..." but luckily it never devolves into that - Christopher's behavior is shown in all it's unpleasant glory. I liked it and would definitely recommend it. 3.5 stars

I recently read this book because the lower level English classes in my school (I'm in the smarter class) read this as an assignment and I was interested, as I have a friend with the condition (or whatever else you'd like to call it) otherwise known as autism, and he's normal compared to this kid! Still, this book was a very interesting read.

Christopher Boone, a 15 year old Brit, is pretty much a cripple - he has a severe adversion to 2 colours, is superstitious over seeing cars on the way to school to determine his luck, and throws all these random maths and science figures between the actual story. Imagine all the crap his dad has to put up with - it's all within the covers of this book.

Christopher has a mixed style of speaking - he calls people by their "formal names" (Mother and Father - hasn't he ever heard of Mum and Dad?) but often rambles in his sentences about meaningless things (though I liked his explanation on the door problem from game shows).

I'm not going to mention anything else, as pretty much all the other 1,576 (or thereabouts) reviewers have already explained it. So to sum up: Definitely not one of the best books I've read (I don't read much), but I'd recommend it for an out-of-the-ordinary read.

On a slightly-unrelated note, I wonder what Christopher would think of the South Park character Timmy? (He'd probably laugh at him because he's even more crippled than he is!)

I doubt my review will be worth anything, what with there being 1,400-plus reviews already. But I thought I should tell of my opinion seeing as I am mildly autistic myself, & have interacted with other autistic beings from all across the spectrum.

I'm sure you already know what this book is focused on: a 15-year-old boy named Christopher, plagued by a case of autism more severe than my own, & he plays the literal-minded narrator. Indeed the author pulls very hard to make Christopher sound like an authentic autistic person, & I can't say he failed. This story is more about him than the murdered dog, his family's turmoil, anything.
& yet I had a very hard time liking Christopher. His character never shines a single moment of empathy for others. Very bluntly he tells his audience of the people surrounding him, but his voice holds such devoid distance as if these people are hollow shells not quite alive. At one point in the story, a torn person pleas for Christopher to hold their hand... just this once, & Christopher refuses apathically.
I strongly dislike being touched, however I will suck it up & allow myself to be touched or even reach out to hug someone if I feel they truly need it.
As much as I know that these are the lines that separate the mild from the severe cases, it still remains hard for me to feel for Christopher knowing that he cannot feel for others beyond himself. (On another note, some people with autism are known to feel physical pain with skin to skin contact. Christopher never mentions such a thing, so it seems clear that he `feels' like me when it comes to touching.)

Despite this stoic nature, the story unfolds in such a way that others' emotions bleed through the pages via bits of dialog & in their simple actions. The situation is a tender one & very raw at its root.
At the same time I found the other characters unlikable as well. While it becomes lucid later, Christ's father seems to cage his son, banning his curiosity. In a turning point of the mystery behind Wellington the poodle's murder, something harsh is revealed about the father that places him in a very ugly light.

- - spoiler - -
As for Christopher's estranged mother, let me spell for you a summary of her explanation letters: `I'm so sorry I had to leave you Christopher, but you must understand that you are an unbearable child. I hated my life & it was all your fault.' Not to mention the fact that she flatly abandoned him in the first place.

But all this ugliness makes for a very raw & potent read. Each of these characters in their flaws feels very real.
& the simplistic, blunt writing style itself feels very fresh & novel.

I just wish people would stop saying `this book is an insight into the autistic mind.'
This book is an insight into ONE autistic mind. We are each very different people. Just from this review you should be able to understand that.

I enjoyed this book, and I appreciate that it was written from the perspective of an autistic child. If you are expecting a mystery, however, this is not one.