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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

WOW! That was one of the most intense books I've read in a while!! I love a good mystery, so I was hooked from the beginning of the main character, Christopher, finding his neighbor's dog dead. What made me lose my mind was the acceleration of what happens after Christopher finds the truth. I'm also glad I guessed the murderer correctly, but omg I did not guess everything else that was surrounding the murder--the DRAMA!! I literally went :0 the entire time after getting to the climax--it's all insane and despite it all, there's still a happy ending!

I also appreciate and don't appreciate Christopher's narrative. He's autistic and you can clearly read that with his very straightforward narrative, which makes it a pretty easy read. I'm glad some of what he said reminded me of myself or my autistic friends, for example, he wrote out a schedule of his day for what he will do every 30 minutes or so and that's exactly what I did as a kid--schedules are still greatly important to me and they reassure me, just as they do for Christopher. However, there is A LOT of logical and math equations throughout the book and it ALL went over my head because I'm just dumb like that lol.

This is also a very British book as a heads up too lmao. Christopher actually goes off about how he loves Sherlock Holmes, which I think is so funny because how Christopher says he "disconnects his mind from reality" so he doesn't get overwhelmed is so BBC Sherlock. This was written before that crazy show though. Also, someone before me wrote in pencil changes to Christopher's facts about the Hounds of Baskervilles which I love that someone out there is a mega fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work and went "uhm actually" - we're all a little autistic/ADHD fr <3

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challenging emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Every book makes one feel something. If it's just a mood or a real, strong emotion. This book made me feel exhausted.

At first I was very investigated in finding out who killed the dog, though I realised sooner, than the story intended to reveal it, who it was. This wasn't really bad, after all the story wasn't just about a boy trying to be a detective, but much more. Maybe it's 'cause I only expected based on the synopsis that this novel will only be about solving a murder case, but everything that happened after solving the murder was just really exhausting for me to read. 

For instance I couldn't understand why it was shown so important for the story to include facts and puzzles as well as mathematical equations for longer than just half a page. About 30% of the book were just totally irrelevant information, which of course was important to understand the main character and his condition better, but at some point it just went overboard, at least in my opinion. What bothered me the most was when other books like the Sherlock Holmes book series were spoilered. Just 'cause it's popular doesn't mean everyone (already) knows everything about it.

As I mentioned above, the plot got really exhausting to read after the murder case was solved. For me at least it was exhausting as a lot of drama happened which I did not expect for this novel. I thought it would be inspiring, yes, but not dramatic. Unfortunately, the tantrums of the main character just made it worse as I also started to feel fed up from them. Especially, as I still ponder if it's even possible to have high-functioning autism and still have such a difficult time to be part of society. I'm by no means autistic myself, so I can't speak for the accuracy of how this condition was shown in this novel, but it still makes me a bit confused how someone with such high intelligence still isn't able to interact with other people probably. At least for me, these are so opposite that it makes no sense to me.
(I understand that not every autistic person is the same as it has a wide spectrum and I don't want to say that just 'cause the protagonist behaves that way that he can't be autistic or anything).

At first I liked Christopher as he was unique in his own way by being autistic (you don't see that often in media), so I was immediately drawn in to him. His way of thinking and behaving made him sympathetic and easy likeable. I know that I mentioned that his tantrums and impulsive actions made me exhausted, but I know that he is still a kid, a teenager, so I think it was done on purpose to make the protagonist more realistic. 

I enjoyed the most about this book that it featured neurodivergency and how most of them, if not even all of them, struggle with life and how they find their own path. The story is truly inspiring even if it felt messy at times as well as exhausting due to the immense drama after about 60% in. Christopher grew emotionally and was able to achieve his goals, which made the story and the message it wanted to convey more impactful. I would have wished for the book to not throw in irrelevant information too often and for too many pages as well as an ending where Christopher's father didn't get Sandy, as it made the story seem more ironic than inspiring.

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emotional funny reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

 
Now that I discovered I like audiobooks when I drive (which I do a lot for work) a whole world has opened up for me. I have a chance of getting closer to finishing those 5000 books I want to read. Thanks to Hoopla, my latest read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, published by vintage books. 
April is Autism Awareness Month and I know this book featured an autistic main character and was on my want to read list since it was on the summer reading list in 9th grade. Other than those two facts, I didn't know much about it. But now I have some thoughts and in order to share those, this review will have spoilers. 
Unfortunately, the author's website isn't updated so I don't have much to say about him. 
To summarize, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is about 15-year-old Christopher who discovers the neighbor's dog lying dead and wants to solve the mystery of who killed it. This mystery spurns a lot of drama in his family and reveals a lot of things about Christopher's parents they tried to hide. And, in learning these secrets, we also learn that Christopher has autism, quite high on the spectrum, and this had become something of tension within the family as well. 
First, a note on the representation. Going into this book, I did now know anything about how controversial it was, and as someone who is not autistic (though I am neurodivergent), I didn't fully grasp how poor the portrayal was until reading other reviews. I am aware that autism is a broad spectrum. There are people with it who have highly specialized needs and need to live with a caretaker. Others have it and function in today's society well, though sometimes that is because of masking which can be energy-draining. In this book, Christopher seemed to be the former case, but as I read reviews, I saw that it was dangerous to portray autistic people as being unable to pick up on any social cues as Christopher was. Perhaps more distressing was reading that the author did zero research on the subject. This was an age before sensitivity readers but to do absolutely no research is alarming. Now, again, I am not autistic, so i am not the best person to say whether this is good or bad representation. I'm merely parroting what others have said and am willing to listen to other views. 
Moving on to the story itself.
Version 1.0.0 
I both loved and hated how deeply flawed the characters were. For one, this made it more realistic, as we are all imperfect human beings who make mistakes and can let anger and frustration get the better of us. But--I also kind of hated Christopher's parents because they were on the verge of becoming abusive and certainly did things that crossed lines. In fact, can we agree that his dad was the worst?? (Here's where the spoilers come in). He lied about Christopher's mom for years. He murdered a dog because a woman wouldn't date him (that was my take on the subject, anyway). I do believe this man belonged in jail, honestly. (It was a plot twist though; I really didn't think he was the one who killed the dog. I saw the lying about the mom but not the murder). 
I like the way the setting was described. It really got into the head of a boy who pays attention to detail. And, as someone who lived in England for a few years, I can appreciate a lot of the references, which is why I'm glad I didn't read this in 9th grade. 
Again, the writing style was unique. It really captured the main character, and while it took some getting used to, I admire the characterization of it. It floored me for a minute, but I liked the chapters being in prime numbers. 
Plot-wise, the book was definitely different. I'll be honest; I thought the "curious incident of the dog" was a metaphor. I had no idea a dog actually was killed. I almost couldn't handle it and that was the first chapter. Otherwise, the plot was exciting, but again a lot of emotional trauma with the characters that I wasn't prepared for. 
Overall, it took me a while to get used to, but I ended up enjoying it, even if I hated some of the characters and some parts made me sick to my stomach (especially any mention of bathrooms, I have a weird phobia about that). But I also want to take into count the lack of accountability of author research--so I'm going to have to knock it down a full star for that. Which means I'm giving this book three stars. A good read, but unsure if I'd recommend. 

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emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional inspiring sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I had a real hate-love-hate-love experience with this book. I went into it jaded, my local community theatre was considering the play and I wanted to get familiar with the story, even if I couldn't read the play. I was already very familiar with the subject matter of the story and I wasn't keen.

The book started on the wrong foot for me. I greatly dislike the gratuitous use of language in any form of media and being hit with swearing within the first line of the book set me off. I feel like there were parts that worked with the language, but I felt like most of it was for shock. Again, I am not a person who seeks out this kind of language, so it took me a long time to get over it when it appeared in the text. (Shortly after starting the book I was able to get a copy of the play and suddenly I didn't think the language in the book was so bad - probably because there was more space to breath in the book whereas the play charges forward and cuts the fluff.)

I grew to like Christopher and want him to succeed. My heart ached for him whenever someone was unkind (either intentionally or not) and when he became too frustrated to continue. I wanted him to succeed and I wanted more people to step up and help him. I also felt so badly for Christopher. He had two truly terrible parents. And I understand that sometimes you reach a breaking point, but to abandon your family? Wow. But on the flip side, his dad is also awful, he just didn't abandon the boy. Killing a dog because you are mad and then being irate that your son (who has autism) is scared of you and doesn't want anything to do with you is a level of hubris that I couldn't stand. Topping it off with lying about his mother's death, Christopher is 100% justified in being afraid and wanting to keep away from the man!

Not all of the characters were awful, though. Mrs. Alexander tried and Siobhan was obviously in Christopher's corner. But they felt like too little to counter the garbage people in his life.


As the story grew to a close, I was glad I had read the book. The story is a product of its time and I would like to believe that <i>most</i> people have moved beyond these prejudices and lack of understanding about autism. But the sad reality is that many people have not and they tend to be the most vocal in the bunch. And this is why this book and this story needs to live on, we aren't ready to set the lessons it gives aside.

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