On hols in Crete during August. See you all soonishly! Come visit me homepage thingy http://www.cash...
On hols in Crete during August. See you all soonishly! Come visit me homepage thingy http://www.casheroonie.com
Member since:13.03.2003
Reviews:84
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Destined to be one of the most reviewed books online, I did query the merits of posting yet another to add to the pile. The thing is, this particular book represents a rather seminal few weeks for me. It was during this time that I and my 8-year-old, dyslexic son laughed and cried, celebrated and sighed on the rollercoaster ride that is “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”.
Christopher John Francis Boone has Asperger’s Syndrome. He lives with his father in Swindon and is looking forward to taking his maths A-level invigilated by special arrangement courtesy of the Reverend Peters. Despite his learning difficulty, Christopher Boone is ahead of years in the field of mathematics reflecting the calculating syntax/logic of his unconventional brain.
“It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears’ house….The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog.” So the story begins as Christopher begins his murder mystery novel in a bid to find the killer.
Christopher’s methodology is simple: just ask the relevant people whether they killed Wellington the dog and by a process of elimination a la Sherlock Holmes he will eventually isolate the murderer. Of course, this is all built on the notion that Christopher can’t and doesn’t lie and that maybe others won't either.
During the course of his investigation he stumbles across some letters in his father’s room
all addressed to him from his mother. The problem is that his father has told him that his mother died in hospital a number of years ago so when he cross-references the dates, Christopher becomes very confused. He knows that his father hates Mr Shears and that this has something to do with his mother.
It’s at this point I’ll leave the reader to discover Christopher’s father’s deception, what happens in the aftermath and who the eventual killer of Wellington is.
Mark Haddon is an author that I hadn’t come across before. The preface tells you that he has written 15 books for children and won numerous prizes including two BAFTAs. Living in Oxford, this particular book has won the Whitbread Novel of the Year, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the South Bank Show Book Award. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and I understand that the rights have been purchased to turn the story into a movie. An impressive pedigree indeed.
So why is this book so hugely popular? For a start it’s so different. Written from Christopher Boone’s perspective and in the first person, it’s very clear that the author has spent a great deal of time getting to know the workings of an Ausperger’s mind. Let’s get this clear, Auspergers children have learning difficulties because their brains work differently in a similar fashion to dyslexics. It is not a question of either inferiority or even superiority and Hadden manages to get that message across in his book. Haddon’s point is made through the stoical interpretations that Christopher employs such as liking the colour red and hating the colour yellow; 4 red cars in a row making it a good day as opposed to 4 yellow cars in a row making it bad and hating being touched to the point of striking out and, at one point, being arrested because of it.
The linear thinking of the central character is brought out in short, logical sentences to mirror the straight forward honesty of the protagonist often resulting in a repeating conjunction such as the word “and” being used, for example, half a dozen times in the same sentence. There are times when this lack of written expression started to grate but Hadden’s discipline in sticking with it throughout can only be admired.
The chapters themselves are sequenced in prime number order whilst a number of interludes are of a mathematical, astronomical nature break the story up to gain a further insight into the symmetrical nature of Christopher’s thinking. Again, unusually, little diagrams are interspersed amongst the text including Christopher’s understanding of the use of emoticons, mathematical formulae and his interpretation of how to read a map along with others that serve to turn the words into pictures.
Personal highlights for me included the numerous references to poo which almost exclusively elicited a raucous laugh from my boy and the inclusion of Toby the rat who added a pet dimension that again, my lad related to what with him planning a raid on the pet store on our return from holiday in August (and heading straight for the rat counter!)
The book isn’t without its challenges. Reading it aloud to my boy throughout, the coarse language did give me the occasional problem. I found myself having to justify it’s use in the context of the story when both my wife overheard it (bear in mind that most responsible parents are trying to eschew swearing to set an example for their children) and one particularly hairy episode when my mother-in-law was visiting. Ironically, this, for me, is where the book actually wins its audiences’ hearts. Not so much the swearing but the rooting of the plot in such normality that the overriding memory is more of a kitchen sink melodrama than anything else. Despite the uniqueness of the plot line, in the final reckoning, the story is a mini-play centring on domesticity and relationship breakdown with a backdrop of the vagaries of bringing children up in the modern world. After all, settings of Swindon and 451c, Chapter Road, Willsden, London NW2 5NG could hardly be less glamorous as could the actual story and characters surrounding our new brand of hero in Christopher. It’s that every day shade of grey brought to life through the eyes of a child that snags the reader and won’t let go and can be easy to miss with all the emphasis on Christopher’s apparent disability when it’s the characters around him that are experiencing just as much trauma, if not more.
So would I recommend it? Well, yes, absolutely but I did think it was an adult’s book in children’s guise. Maybe I'd been misled by the preface indicating that the author had a history of writing children's books. Either way, unaccompanied then this particular work will be for older children only - say 10+.
Of course, you may decide to leave the Anglo Saxon out if you are keen to steer clear of such language with your younger children, you may take a view that it’s acceptable within context (as did I). Whatever you decide, this is an adventure well worth undertaking and for those of us with children with additional obstacles to the mainstream, well this is a triumph in the sense that more and more people may come to realise that valuing differences makes so much more sense than digging a trench around ignorant perceptions of what stupidity actually isn’t and a lack of appreciation of what bright may actually be.
Thanks for reading
Marandina
Notes:
ISBN: 0-099-45025-9
Book retail price is £6.99 and is available online through Ciao links and at Amazon etc. I bought this for £3.73 at Tesco.
272 pages
Update: July 04 Since posting this I've stumbled across a profile piece in The Sunday Times about Mark Haddon. It explains that there are TWO versions of the book - one for adults, one for children. The adult version is published by Cape whilst the children's is on the market courtesy of David Fickling books. You may want to check before you buy depending on who will read the book!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I must have the children's edition - I don't remember any coarse language! Well written and thoughful, but please note the correct spelling of Aspergers.
Kab182 30.04.2006 05:04
brilliant review mate :)
jesi 03.03.2006 19:40
I listened to this on the Radio and pre-ordered it from WHSmith - however the impetus having been dispersed, I haven't actually read my edition I purchased ~ .................................................................................................... ~ ♥ ~ jes ~ ♥♥
Advantages: Stunningly well-written, genuinely interesting, clever and often amusing, superb lead character, easy to read Disadvantages: Tails off just slighty towards the end
Jul 3rd, 2004
(Jul 19th, 2004)
exceptional by (34%):
very helpful by (65%):
helpful by (1%):
