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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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Rating: 4.43/5 from 339 reviews The Perfect Book to Understand the Mind of an Autistic ChildA Math Teacher's Dream & an Awesome BookThe fictional author of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" was an autistic 15-year-old boy (named Christopher Boone) intent on solving the murder of a neighborhood dog. Since the boy approached life purely with logic and order, he was unable to face any situation with emotions or feelings. This unique viewpoint made for an absolutely original novel (rich with enchanting, honest, and intellectual prose) unlike any other I have ever encountered. Ironically, the complex plot that unraveled during Christopher's detecting might have been more invigorating than some of the best thrillers/mysteries I've read. Until I stumbled upon this book, I had my own manufactured comprehension of autism. My son Joshua attended Nursery School with an autistic child last year, and I observed some of that boy's behavioral traits. Although I also studied autism in my college psychology classes, and I did work briefly with an autistic child at a gifted camp, I really had few opportunities to interact with individuals afflicted with this unusual and often debilitating ailment. Mark Haddon's real-life experience with autistic children allowed him to craft this masterpiece by providing the perspective of a young autistic teenager, not by another author's observations of the exterior physical behaviors, but through the interior workings that composed the thought patterns of the boy's afflicted mind. In many ways, autism provided the perfect mind for detective work because emotions were never a factor during the investigation. However, in other ways, autism created roadblocks that could never be understood by people unaccustomed to this mind-blowing anomaly. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * How does the autistic mind work (paraphrased/enhanced/interpreted from Haddon's book)? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Non-Autistic Joe: It is Monday morning and Joe awakens to find it raining and cold outside. As Joe prepares breakfast, he feels a sense of angst because the weather has already predetermined his day's destiny. Backing out of the driveway, Joe initiates the windshield-wipers, turns on the car defrost and breathes out a moan of contention because he knows he is going to have a bad day. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Autistic Christopher: On the bus ride to school, Christopher starts counting consecutive automobiles. If he sees 4 yellow cars in a row, he knows he is going to have a black day. However, if he encounters 4 red cars in a row, he knows he will experience a good day yet if he sees 3 red cards in a row, he will have quite a good day. Five red cars in a row will provide Christopher with a super good day. Also, Christopher will never eat food that is yellow or brown. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Explanation: The non-autistic mind uses emotions and feelings to predict (along with order and logic). The autistic mind can only use order and logic to make decisions. Non-autistic people regard Christopher's way of predicting good and bad days as illogical even if it does follow some strange order. On the other hand, how does basing good and bad days on the weather end up being more logical than the decision to base good and bad days on the color of consecutive cars? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Non-Autistic Joe: Joe's bedroom reflects his personality yet he constantly changes furniture and wall hangings to reflect his current interests. When Joe goes on vacation, he finds it refreshing to encounter new situations, new places and new people. On a recent vacation to South Carolina, Joe sat out on the porch of a civil-war era Bed and Breakfast and reflected on the God given wonders of the world. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Autistic Christopher: Christopher's bedroom has never changed since he was an infant. If his Mom cleans the room and moves a poster one millimeter, Christopher is forced to crouch down on the floor and moan for the loss of order to his world. Christopher hates Paris because it contains too much stimuli in the form of new buildings, new people, posters, signs, etc. This overwhelming influx of stimuli drives him almost mad with pain and angst. Christopher?'s only recourse is to crouch into a fetal position and to moan or scream. Nothing about this new place can be credited to God because the autistic mind won't comprehend things that can't be seen. All entities must be tangible. The idea of God is problematical for the autistic mind. Autistic Phenomenon (Christopher likes maths): * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Perhaps my favorite component of Mark Haddon's book dealt with the numerous references to mathematical algorithms, formulas, logic and computations. I just might have to put this book on a required reading list for my high school math students. Autistic minds do tend to have certain strengths and anomalies despite perceived deficits. Many autistic individuals possess math brilliance, musical prowess or scientific expertise. Christopher was gifted in "maths" and the book played homage to this unique talent. As a math geek, I was thrilled by the book's inclusion of the Pythagorean Theorem, The Monty Hall Problem, Statistical Analysis, Mapping Algorithms, Game Theory, Relativity, Tessellations, Proofs and Mental Math Algorithms. I have never encountered so many math applications in a pleasure book before in my life. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Summary: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Most of you know that I write reviews for the sheer cathartic release it provides me. However, I must go out on a limb (by the way, you can't use metaphors with autistic individuals), and implore you to find this book and read it with gusto over the summer. You will find it rewarding, entertaining and educational. If any of you know anybody dealing with autistic relatives or friends, please tell them of this book. It offers enough insight to make it a must read for anybody dealing directly with autism. Additionally, Christopher's detective work uncovered more than the culprit of a dog homicide; it unleashed raw emotion mainly because the young author was unable to express any of his own. I was moved to tears of laughter and heartbreak while I remained glued to every single word on every single page of this 226-page masterpiece. This is my favorite book of all time. Bravo Mark Haddon! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * My Overwhelming Grade: A+++ Christopher's worldI do not know a thing about autism--so maybe this has something to do with why I was drawn into Christopher's tale. I found this character to be very interesting as he explained to me, the reader, how his mind works and why it works the way it does. I credit the author, Mark Haddon, for sticking to the challange of conveying such a story. There's much skill in the craftmanship and I find it to be a very intelligent read. I don't understand how another person here said they read--which caught my eye because I did as well--'Simon Lazarus' and found that to be more "worthy" and that 'A Curious incident..'is "drivel" or gimmicky. I see nothing of the sort here. Both of these works are distinct in their own right, and both are smart and quite readable. So for this reader: 'Simon Lazarus' and Christopher's story here are both entertaining and fascinating reads in their own distinct way. That's what literature is all about. Appreciate them both. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Prior to reading this book, I had limited knowledge on how autistic people thought and coped day-to-day in this world, but I truly think that this book helped me to compensate for that lack of knowledge with amazingly acute details of what supposedly goes on inside the head of a child with autism. I believe what sets this book apart from others, besides the amount of knowledge and understanding about autism that is obtained from reading this book, is how the information in it is presented. I strongly believe that this book would give someone an insight and help them learn about how autistic people behave and think, without struggling through the medical jargon in a medical or doctoral report about autism. I feel this way because this book is written through an autistic child's perspective; reading this book is just like looking through the kid's eyes and feeling and experiencing everything that he is. I think that that is much more valuable than a medical report stating the "progress" or "well-being" of someone with autism, and what made this book even better was that it was so enjoyable and fun to read that I had a hard time tearing myself from it!
Overall, I totally enjoyed learning how people with autism get through each day and the differences and similarities they have with people who are not autistic. There was nothing I did not enjoy about this book; I thought it was fascinating all around. I would recommend this book to anyone because I think it would be extremely beneficial if more people were aware of how autism affects the people who have it and those people around them.