Review by micaelamariem - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

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micaelamariem 's review for:

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

3.25

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.

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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.

Content Warnings