The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
Read it in
paper-back, 226 pages (easy read)
I picked this up as
a suggestion from some readers on Goodreads and my mother in particular. She is also part of a book club (not mine),
and has been for some time, and this was one of their past reads. I don't like saying no, especially to my mom
and quite frankly I needed a break from what I was reading at the time (and
still need to finish).
This little gem is
written by Mark Haddon, a resident of England with a lengthy experience of
teaching and writing child's books. 'The Curious Incident' is probably his most
attractive and prized book, earning him both the Whitbread Book of the Year
Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall First Book Award.
'The Curios
Incident' is written from the perspective of a child (Christopher) with
Asperger Syndrome who comes across a neighbor's dog slain with a pitchfork in
the middle of the night. The discovery
of said dog spurns Christopher's quest around discovering who and why his
neighbor's dog was killed. Throughout
his quest he explains his day and events of his life as well as informs the
reader why he is simply a "mathematician with some behavioral
difficulties" and what those difficulties are.
After reading this
book I have a much greater appreciation for those that rear the especially
gifted and difficult youth for whom this book seems dedicated. It's hard when so much of the thought process
eerily makes sense from the point of view and logic of the main character. Everything should have an explanation and a
truth, which explains why Christopher's favorite subject of math.
I would
highly recommend this to anyone, especially of those looking for perspective on
what it's like and the difficulties of raising a child with Asperger
Syndrome.
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