Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

23 reviews

nneka23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I found myself smiling or chuckling pretty often as I listened to this book. The narrator did a great job and the writing really helped me get a first-person perspective on what it must be like to be on the Autism Spectrum (called Asperger’s Syndrome back then). I think Mark Haddon wrote this with a very compassionate lens and there are so many people who should read this story. Really well done overall, with a sweet ending. Definitely recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Minor: Death

scoads's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A book with more than a few problems and an interesting yet problematic take on autistic stereotypes in young boys, but a very compelling and suspenseful story told from an interesting perspective, very close to my heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Ableism, Child abuse, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Murder

cringletimagi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Vomit, and Death

camoo3032's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Excrement, Violence, Blood, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Dementia, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Cursing, Ableism, Cancer, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide

lawbooks600's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This might be a good book...

Update:

Representation: Character with autism, minor Asian character
Score: Six and a half points out of ten.

I wanted to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time but never got around till now. I had to pick it up when it was time--it was the next book in my TBR. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. I headed in, thinking I would read a story about the murder of a dog. However, that is not what I got, and, as a side note, the narrative was okay and nothing too remarkable.

Spoilers ahead. I've warned you.

It starts with the first person I see, Christopher, stumbling upon a deceased dog and wanting to discover who killed it. The unique aspect of this fictional composition is that Christopher has autism. The prime-numbered chapters were an appreciated touch as they made The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time stand out, but the story's entirety isn't solely dedicated to solving the dog murder mystery. Only the first half is dedicated to that. The second half revolves around Christopher going to London after stumbling upon a deeper mystery. Christopher discovers her mother is alive and not deceased as his father said. Toward the last 200 pages, Christopher sets off alone to London, and he eventually finds his mother. The conclusion wasn't satisfying enough for me as it petered out rather than ending with a bang. I couldn't connect or relate to Christopher or any of the other characters in this piece of fiction, even though Christopher has autism. The authenticity isn't guaranteed either as it's unclear whether the author also has autism. 

Well. To summarise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time promised to be an intriguing murder mystery, but it subverted my expectations when I read half of it, and it cannot be trusted as an accurate portrayal of neurodiversity. You'd be better off reading genuine neurodivergent novels like Please Don't Hug Me and A Kind of Spark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

Full trigger warnings: Death of a mother from a heart attack and another person in the past mentioned, child abuse, physical assault and injury, blood depiction

reddeddy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Excrement, Abandonment, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Ableism

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Xenophobia, Murder, Confinement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Dementia, Self harm, and Police brutality

pianoplayer279's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It took a while to get going but once the plot really began, I really enjoyed it. Age 14+

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Animal death

Moderate: Cursing and Death

ashielovestoread's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was such a brilliantly written but sad, like super sad book😭 there were funny moments, yes, but I can't get over the sad reality of this. There are parts where I had to skip the info dumps and it is individual preference ig. Overall I loved this book and it made me real sad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Death, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Murder

Minor: Vomit

chrisljm's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

not a mystery, just mostly about how shitty christopher’s parents are 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Infidelity, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Ableism, Death, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, and Abandonment

daybreakreads's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I would describe it as “cute”. I listened to the audiobook, but I know the physical book has illustrations that might have made it more endearing. I was looking for something similar to The Maid by Nita Prose or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine in the sense that I love socially awkward narrators. In comparison, the narrator here feels much less well-rounded and developed and more of a stereotype of autism rather than a real person. It was still cute and endearing, but it was hard to feel real connection or empathy to a one-sided character. There isn’t a lot of plot; it’s mainly focused on showing how the narrator sees the world and interacts with it so much differently than the rest of us. It’s just hard to enjoy that kind of book when the narrator is hard to love. Ending was a bit cute but that’s it really.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Animal death

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, and Death