The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
by Mark Haddon
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Doubleday (New York): July 2003. Hardcover: 226 pages. ISBN-10: 0-385-51210-4 Suggested retail price: $24.95 (US) Tags: autism; dogs; math; murder; Mystery; trains Tactical strength: [8/10] |
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Every once in a while, a book comes along that opens up a completely new point of view to its readers. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon writes a story from the perspective of an autistic boy, which opens up an understanding of what life looks like through the eyes of this disability. But Chris, the protagonist, doesn't seem to feel that he has any disability at all. In fact with his photographic memory and advanced math skills, he looks at non-autistic people as having disabilities. Chris does display many of the symptoms of autism -- he doesn't like people touching him and when under stress he will collapse to the floor and make groaning noises. Chris has -- to him -- logical explanations for his behavior.
One night, fifteen-year-old Chris finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, dead her front lawn with a garden fork sticking out of its side. Chris likes dogs and he likes mystery stories, so he decides that he will do detective work to solve the mystery of who killed the dog. One of Chris's teachers encourages Chris to write down the events, and the book represents the story of Chris's detective work told from his own perspective. Chris must balance his fear of strangers with his desire to interview people about the murder, and mainly he does overcome many of his fears to keep up with his investigation. Chris does solve the mystery of who killed Wellington, but he also uncovers a family skeleton in the closet that he has a hard time dealing with because of his autism.
Haddon uses a repetitive narrative style that evokes the speaking patterns of many person with autism, but the repetition doesn't distract from the story. Through Chris's viewpoint, we get a glimpse at the different mechanisms that might take place within an autistic mind. I think that the best fiction opens up our minds to a viewpoint that we otherwise would find foreign or complicated. In The Curious Incident, Haddon provides a view of autism in a engaging way that we want to read for the mystery and enjoy because we like Chris as a person -- something that we might not have understood if we bumped into him on the street and heard him bark like a dog.
