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

...and we have just lined the spare room with 16 bookshelves that are now filled with everything from Encyclopaedias to DIY books, and from Enid Blyton to Tom Sharpe. She recommends books to me but being an impatient man, I get bored if nothing happens in the first chapter, and give up. Just to stop her whining, I decided to give her most recent read a try, and was surprised by what I found…


Written by Mark Haddon, The Curious ...
...mystery novel with a twist. The ‘detective’ and narrator of the book is fifteen year old Christopher Boone, who lives in Swindon. Christopher has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is similar to Autism, and this book follows significant events in his life, which lead to him making some vital discoveries in his, and his family and friends’ lives. This role has obviously been painstakingly researched to a great extent by Mark Haddon, (including gaining copyrights ... more

As I’m not one for reading, I wouldn’t initially have thought of doing a book review as my first proper op. I have never been a big reader, but my other half certainly makes up for me, and we have just lined the spare room with 16 bookshelves that are now filled with everything from Encyclopaedias to DIY books, and from Enid Blyton to Tom Sharpe. She recommends books to me but being an impatient man, I get bored if nothing happens in the first chapter, and give up. Just to stop her whining, I decided to give her most recent read a try, and was surprised by what I found…

Written by Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time is a murder mystery novel with a twist. The ‘detective’ and narrator of the book is fifteen year old Christopher Boone, who lives in Swindon. Christopher has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is similar to Autism, and this book follows significant events in his life, which lead to him making some vital discoveries in his, and his family and friends’ lives. This role has obviously been painstakingly researched to a great extent by Mark Haddon, (including gaining copyrights from several places), probably over many years, and he has portrayed it realistically and accurately to give us a fascinating insight into a troubled young boys mind.

As the title suggests, it follows the murder of a dog - a large, black, curly-haired poodle called Wellington, which belongs to Christopher’s neighbour and friend, Mrs Shears. Christopher, who is an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes, takes it upon himself to find out who killed Wellington. To call this book a 'murder mystery book' is a little misleading. After the first few chapters, the murder of the dog takes a back seat in the proceedings, as the storyline is overshadowed by what we see of Christopher’s life, and later on in the book, the murderer admits killing the dog before Christopher works it out, which is probably because the book has become more focused on Christopher himself.

He is a very intelligent boy, who knows a lot about maths - so much in fact, he is due to take his maths A-Level. He also wants to take more exams, then go to university. Unfortunately, he knows little of human beings, especially how to read their reactions and emotions. This can sometimes cause confusion in Christopher’s world, as he is not able to understand someone being sarcastic for example, and he needs things explaining to him clearly. Also, his sense of humour is very limited, as his brain will translate things in their literal way, rather than in the form they were intended. We have to remember that Christopher does not think in the same way as we do, and his innocence shows. For example, he refers to sex as ‘doing sex’ without the flutter of an eyelid. Also, swearing totally bypasses Christopher as his father swears at home and he sees it as normal - we would get wound up if someone began swearing at us! If Christopher gets stressed or upset in the book, he calms himself down and regains his composure by squareing the number 2 in his head over and over again.

At the start of the story, we see an excited Christopher begin to look into the death of his neighbours dog Wellington.
With the aid of his helper Siobhan, Christopher decides he will write about his investigations in a book, which is what we are reading today. He describes how he feels when someone reacts to him in a certain way, for instance, he doesn't like being grabbed or touched in any way. This is shown more so when a police officer grabs him when he is stood over Wellington's body, as he punches the police officer.
Filled with snippets of humour, the book hits a nerve yet entertains the reader. Most people would never dream of hitting a police officer, but when he phrases things in his naive and simplistic manner, you can't help but chuckle to yourself:

"The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn't like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him".

Also, when he comes out of the Police station, instead of hugging, Christopher and his father spread their hands (Christopher his left hand, and his father his right hand) by fanning their fingers out, and they touch hands, so Christopher doesn't have to be touched.

Christopher displays a lot of logic, which is typical of people with Asperger's. Sometimes, what we think is illogical to us, is logical to Christopher. For example, if he sees 3 red cars in a row, it is a 'Quite Good Day'. If he sees 4, it is a 'Good Day', 5 it is a 'Super Good Day', and if he sees 4 yellow cars in a row, it is a 'Black Day', which is the day when he doesn't speak to anyone, doesn't eat his lunch, sits on his own, and 'Takes No Risks'.
He also hates yellow and brown, and loves anything red. He will not touch brown or yellow consumables, such as bananas or tea, and will only eat food if they are not touching on his plate. He also carries a little tub of red food colouring in his 'Special food case' in case he needs to colour food red so he can eat it.

A nice touch in this book is that as Christopher prefers prime numbers, the chapters have been labelled as prime numbers rather than the normal cardinal numbers, meaning the chapters go from 2-233. Another nice touch is that there are lots of diagrams and formulae so we can understand what he is explaining better. He shows us how to work out prime numbers, the patterns on seats, maps, graphs, constellations, photos, animals, and puzzles to name but a few.

All this is wound into the story to help understand the needs of Christoher, and you really do feel for him when you see how frustrated he gets as his father warns him to stay out of other peoples' business.
By his fathers edgy behaviour everytime Christopher mentions Mr Shears, we begin to see another story unfold, and realise Christophers mum is quite different to the first impression we get of her. All this is new to Christopher too, and it is a little upsetting to see how he has no reaction when he realises what was going on before his mothers death.

Christopher’s mother died two years before Wellington’s murder, due to a heart attack. Christopher was quite affected by this, and as he doesn’t believe in heaven, he knows he won’t see her on ‘the other side’. He doesn’t believe in heaven, as he is very scientifically minded, and he believes that if heaven did exist, his mother would have to be “fired into space”!

As more of the story unravels, we see Christopher getting deeper and deeper into the mystery behind Wellington's murder, whilst his father tries harder and harder to stop him. Is there an ulterior motive? It would appear so, as we follow a naive Christopher into his fathers room where he finds something rather unexpected and confusing...

As Wellington's murderer steps forward, we see Christopher fall into a downward spiral of emotions, deceit and confusion. He decides to run away, but just how far would a boy like him get? As we follow him on his journey to London, things start to get a lot more frightening, not just for Christopher, but for the reader too. This is because Mark Haddon has done such a good job portraying Christopher, that we seem to forget he is ficticious. It may also have affected us more as my fiance's little brother has special needs.

We know Christopher can't cope with the attitudes of some people, so when he runs away, we get very worried as to how he will react to strangers (who he doesn't like), and how they will react to him. It is also worrying when Christopher tells us he is carrying his Swiss Army Knife, and we know he won't be afraid to use it, and it is quite upsetting when he explains that he won't be able to be put in prison if he uses it because it is self-defence. We all know that the justice system doesn't always work in this way, and Christopher believes that what he reads is what happens exactly, everytime.

Tackling dilemmas and facing complex issues such as whether his mother is dead or alive takes it's toll on Christopher, making this book very realistic, and it really tugs on your heart-strings. Mark Haddon captures your imagination, and then pushes you further into the story without you realising as you are so caught up, you can't put the book down! Using simple yet descriptive dialogue, he presents Asperger's Syndrome in the way he has interpreted it through years of research. Details such as Christopher not being able to tell lies, and him picking up every detail of things he sees, all adds character. For example:

"I noticed these things":

1) There is a village in the distance which has 31 visible houses and a church with a square tower and not a spire.

2) There is an old plastic bag from ASDA in the hedge, and a squashed Coca-Cola can with a snail on, and a long piece of orange string.

3) The north-east corner of the field is the highest, and the south-west corner is the lowest.

Another nice touch in the book is the fact that he writes some very long sentences, which, if you were listening to someone speaking, would be respective of someone rambling on. For example, when Christopher gets nervous he rambles, and when he tries to lie, he gets nervous:

'For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and hot rasberry milkshake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea I start thinking about Coco-Pops and lemonade and porridge and Dr Pepper and how I wasn't eating my breakfast in Egypt and there wasn't a rhinosceros in the room and Father wasn't wearing a diving suit and so on and even writing this makes me feel shaky and scared, like I do when I'm standing on the top of a very tall building and there are thousands of houses and cars and people below me and my head is so full of all these things that I'm afraid that I'm going to forget to stand up straight and hang onto the rail and I'm going to fall over and be killed.'

Also, the swearing, even though not appropriate for young children, should still be included as this is exactly what happens in the real world, even though I feel the book would be appreciated more by older children and adults, as the 'F' word is used, and even the 'C' word is used once.
Because of this, the book is available in two formats, one being the adult version with swearing included, and the other being the childrens version, presumably with the swearing omitted.

It is quite sad that people get so frustrated by him throughout the book, as they don't seem to realise he has a problem. When they get impatient, they could scare Christopher - imagine if he was a real boy - what would you do if a young, seemingly ignorant boy started asking you questions? - would you make the time of day for him? Maybe if you had read this book then yes, but why does it always take something like this book, or a film such as Forrest Gump to open peoples eyes to such things?

I feel that this book plays very close to home with my fiance's younger brother and ourselves. Since reading this book, she has become a lot calmer towards him, and although he still frustrates her slightly, she sympathises more with him, and is a lot less likely to shout, swear or get impatient with him. She got quite upset at the start of the book, as did her mum, who recommended the book to her, as they realised that Robert is very similar to Christopher. They imagined him going through what Christopher does and it did get quite emotional at times. One of the similarities was:

Robert:
They used to tell him to be quiet and he used to start talking again after a minute or so and he would get into trouble again.

Christopher:
'And this is because when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense. For example, people often say "Be quiet", but they don't tell you how long to be quiet for.'

I believe that this is a must read for everybody. It opens your eyes and gives you an insight into the mind of a young boy who gives you his emotions, troubles and frustrations on a platter. It felt like reading someones diary, and in this way, you really see how Christopher would live his life, including the ups and downs of normal family life. I recommend this to anyone and everyone, of all ages and both sexes - it is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read.

This book was Winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and the South Bank Show Book Award. It was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screenwriter who has written fifteen books for children and won numerous prizes, including two BAFTAs. He currently lives in Oxford. (Author information taken from inside book cover).

I bought this book from Tesco's, for the fantastic price of £3.73, but you can find it online too.

Hope you all enjoyed my first op. Mike 

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