The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

by Mark Haddon

288 pages

English language

Published Jan. 30, 2014 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:: 978-1-78295-346-3

(30 reviews)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

52 editions

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

This really should have been a DNF for me...

2 stars

This is not a mystery book like I was lead to believe. The murderer of the dog confesses it about halfway through the book. I really enjoyed seeing everything through Christoper's eyes and how the world relates to him. However, after the reveal, it turns into a family drama. It completely lost me at that point. Due to the way it is written, I was not able to connect to the situations or issues and it just fell flat at that point.

I gave it 2 stars because I did genuinely enjoy the first half of the book.

Josh Daymude reviewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

A Thoughtful and Instantly Lovable Perspective

4 stars

This is a story about the weirdness of the world as understood by Christopher John Francis Boone, a boy with autism who lives with his father in a small town in the UK. Christopher and his idiosyncrasies are instantly lovable. Through the eyes of a boy who thinks of everyone as different from himself, we’re reminded just how many common threads bind us all together.

Long version: jdaymude.github.io/review/book-the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-nighttime/

Brett Hodnett reviewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Fabulous Book

5 stars

Great story. Really gets inside the head of this fictional autistic child. I can't believe how much I related to how he thinks.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A simply delightful book. It gave me a new appreciation of how some autistic people perceive the world around them.

Matthew Royal reviewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Written from the 1st person perspective of a boy with an Asperger's-like mind, though it feels less affecting than "Flowers for Algernon," because no matter how bad things get, there's a wall between the emotions of the boy and the reader. There's a wall between the emotions of the boy and the world, and his mind compulsively grasps for explanations of what's happening around him and why people say odd things to him.

The reader has to make their own sense of his world as related by his solipsistic view of it, and so develops a kindly condescension for him. I think the value of this book, aside from being a well-structured and enjoyable story, is that it helps the reader gain some compassion for the irrationality of others who process information differently and live in their own world.