You’d be surprised to know that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is barely about a dog at all. This 2003 Whitbread book of the year is filled with twists you wouldn’t expect. The story is narrated by Christopher Boone, a teenage boy with autism, who has a passion for maths and science and lives off of routine and structure. His good days and bad days depend on the number of red or yellow cars he counts on the way to school and he particularly hates being touched. Christopher’s 'murder mystery' investigation turns out to be the foundation to solving the real secrecy in this thrilling fictional novel.
Right from the beginning Mark Haddon had me hooked on Christopher. I was curious as to how I would enjoy the story from the perspective of a boy with autism. As the story continued, more and more mysteries emerge, until a certain point where Christopher begins to wonder if everything he's been told is
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Parts of his writing is borderline insignificant, yet necessary to channel Christopher’s thought process. The story is spaced with chapters of math puzzles and science problems that Christopher explains in detail and solves in attempt to calm himself down when certain situations become too stressful. His style of writing, using long run-on sentences is a key aspect to demonstrate Christopher’s character and disability.
It was easy for me to develop empathy towards Christopher whenever he ran into trouble. His strange habits such as his obsessive list-making nature and his accurate memory of details when he enters a room, made it easy for him to panic whenever something was out of order. Although, his observations can be quite funny at times, he has a very authentic view of what other people worry about, like trying to remember if they left the cooker on at home instead of important things like catching their train on time. At certain points in the novel, it seemed as if Christopher was already a grown