Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

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

37 reviews

gellyreads's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

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

3.0

This is okay. I like what it's trying to do, but I feel like the way Christopher talks doesn't seem accurate for a 15 year old? He seems too young? I know he's neurodivergent, but there's plenty of people how are who don't seem so young? IDK. It just didn't sit right with me. That and the dad being... too much.

Why did he kill the fucking dog? I have no idea. That seems more unhinged than just lying about the wife you are trying to divorce being dead to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Grief

laurenleigh's review

funny informative reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

This tells the story of a neurodivergent boy solving a neighborhood mystery that quickly devolves into a pretty messy family drama. One one hand, I think this could increase empathy and understanding for autistic people and folks on the spectrum. There were so many times where Christopher felt scared, uncomfortable, and anxious, while adults in his life kept trying to push him past his limits. It was so frustrating, especially when you can see things through his first-person perspective. On the other hand, I couldn’t find any reporting that this author is neurodivergent, and I feel conflicted about that. I’m generally neurotypical, so my review should totally be taken with lots of salt grains!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse and Physical abuse

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

another_dahlia's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Ableism, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit

lillelow's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Read this when I was younger and for some reason something about it stuck in my head, so I decided to read it again as an adult. Apparently I’d forgotten most of the plot because I didn’t remember the major plot twist, but other than that, the book didn’t stand out to me as much this time around.

If you have no experience with autism and would like an insight into what that might look like (which I think everyone should) this will probably be a very eye-opening book and I’d absolutely recommend it. But if you’re already familiar with autism, I guess it doesn’t make that much of an impact - hence why I don’t find it as mind-blowing to read now as when I was younger and probably didn’t know as much. The story in itself is actually quite tragic and other than the plot twist, it’s all rather predictable - so the score ends up somewhere in the middle for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Vomit, Ableism, Confinement, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Cursing, Violence, and Toxic relationship

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

paperquilt's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gaslighting, Ableism, Excrement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity

emialmonacid's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Una historia muy bien contada sobre un niño neurodivergente y su familia disfuncional. Este libro nos cuenta la historia de Christopher, un niño de 12 años que odia el amarillo, el marrón, las multitudes, el contacto físico y lo desconocido, y que a su vez ama las matemáticas, el rojo, ver “El planeta azul” y a su rata Toby.

Cuando en una de sus caminatas nocturnas encuentra al perro de su vecina, la señora Shears, atravesado por un horcón, Christopher inicia un viaje detectivesco para averiguar quién mató a Wellington, sin embargo, se encontrará con muchas más cosas que tan solo el asesino del perro de su vecina.

En pocas palabras, me voló la cabeza este libro. Realmente me cautivó la manera en la que el autor pudo hacernos entrar en la mente de Christopher de una forma tan bien lograda, y a la vez tan cruda, tan real.

Puedes entender porqué los personajes hacen lo que hacen, hay coherencia, hay una historia bien contada, y hay un personaje principal que te absorbe.

Eso si, creo que para mi no alcanzó a cautivarme por completo, a ratos me costaba muchísimo avanzar en la historia y se me hacía una lectura muy pesada, más que nada porque como lector en un principio no entiendes hacia dónde estamos yendo, sin embargo una vez que entiendes, no lo sueltas hasta saber qué pasará con Christopher.

Realmente lo recomiendo, creo que todos deberían leer esto, para que abramos el mundo y seamos conscientes de que, como Christopher, hay 100.000 niños más que sufren y 100.000 adultos que no los comprenden del todo.

Brillante.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity

kateellis00's review

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, and Police brutality

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