I suppose The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was so popular and won so many awards when it was published in 2003 that many readers would already have read this book. I’m not sure why I hadn’t come across this already, perhaps I disregarded it because it was marketed to Young Adult readers, but better late than never, as the saying goes. I certainly enjoyed the book more than twenty years after it was published.
The story was narrated by Christopher, a fifteen-year old who lived with his father in the UK after his mother’s death. It began with Christopher wandering around his neighbourhood at night and finding Wellington, neighbour’s dog, dead in a yard with a garden fork sticking out of it.
The neighbour found Christopher cradling her dead dog and called the police. Christopher was able to answer their questions but when a police officer tried to touch him, he hit the officer and was arrested. Later, Christopher explained that he did not like to be touched.
The story continued as a murder-mystery, with Christopher investigating who had killed Wellington and why, however the more he probed, the stranger the actions of the adults around him seemed to become, with other mysteries arising and being solved, and relationships being tested.
Christopher was extremely analytical and so completely literal that he was unable to relate to his father or any of the other people around him unless they spoke to him without using jokes or metaphors or anything that was not completely truthful and exact. In an early chapter of the book he included drawings of faces on the page then explained what the expressions meant. Christopher recognised the depitctions of happy and sad, but went on to say that he was unable to understand what other, more complicated facial expressions meant.
The chapter numbers also leaped around in a way that made no sense to me until I recognised them as prime numbers, after reading Christopher’s explanation of these. If I’m being completely honest, I wouldn’t have known what a prime number was without the explanation!
The level of detail of the world around him that Christopher observed and described was overwhelming to me as a reader, and even more overwhelming to him. I believe Christopher had Aspergers Syndrome, however this was not confirmed.
I liked Christopher and his story, and think that even though The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is YA, it also has a lot to offer adult readers.
Rose Reads Novels 
Comments on: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon" (17)
Despite what sounds like a good story with many clever aspects, I would struggle with the victim being a dog! (I’m not sure what that says about me preferring a person to an animal!).
Agreed, the plot was hard on the dog!
If it helps, this really was just a plot point as the reader didn’t get to know or like the dog…
I worked with kids with Asperger’s at one point in time, and this sounds like a very accurate portrayal. I remember when it was a massive bestseller, but like you the YA label put me off.
The author definitely knew what he was talking about when it came to Christopher’s ways.
The lesson in this for me was not to be ‘judge-y’ about YA.
I read this when it was first published, and you should know that it wasn’t really meant to be YA but because the protagonist is young, it got that label. I do NOT read YA as a rule, because I find the narratives a bit… er… simplistic, and without the richness that adult books I read usually have.
The narrative of this book certainly wasn’t simplistic, so think you are right about it being mis-labelled. Glad I got to it eventually, either way.
I remember enjoying this one back in the day. It was adapted into a theatre production, too, which was excellent and very inventive in terms of set design.
I cannot imagine this story on a stage, but have looked it up and see that it won Tony and Olivier awards.
This was an important book, because it was one of the first to talk about Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, and probably the first where the protagonist has that condition. It brought this into the public sphere in a way that non-fiction articles and books could not.
That makes perfect sense. I didn’t realise the story was ground breaking for that reason, but it is also a good reminder of why fiction is important.
Despite having passing acquaintance with the title, I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard anything about what this book was about before! It’s going on my list! Thanks for the review.
That’s great! I hope you enjoy the story. I think it well worth reading.
I’m glad you enjoyed this Rose. My son is autistic and when this came out I was so grateful to Mark Haddon for giving us a relatable hero. Apart from the maths genius bit, which always annoys me because only something like 1% of autistic people are better at maths, it is so truthful. I remember in particular the bit on the train where the guard finds Christopher difficult when the lads messing about really are difficult, just because his behaviour is different. Actually he’s the easiest person because everything is so black and white to him. Brilliant book, can’t imagine seeing it on stage though!
Agreed! There were a lot of people who were misunderstood and treated badly as a result of being ‘different.’ Autism runs through my family too so have seen this first-hand.
No maths genuises amongst us, either, although there certainly were (and are) obsessions with various other interests.
The lesson that everything is black and white is a good one, a reminder that the person is very literal helps communication enormously.
I’m intrigued by the stage production and will watch it if I ever get the chance.
It’s been several years since I read this but I remember really liking it. It seems to me that it was one of the first books to have an autistic character like this without ever confirming that the character was most likely on the autism spectrum.
I liked that Christopher was never confirmed as being on the autism spectrum or otherwise. He just got to present as himself, as he was.
I liked that too. I think it enables the reader just to approach him as an individual rather than any sort of diagnosis.