The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Book Review
Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the top novels with widespread recognition having 271 printed pages. After being published by Vintage in 2003, the novel has proved to be a recommendation to everyone because of the flawless flow of events and emotion discussed in it. The novel highlights the struggles thus helping them an individual develop an understanding for the people dealing with autism in their daily lives hence being educative.
The novel entails several characters with Christopher Boone emerging as the main character of the novel. Christopher is seen to struggle with social acceptance and understanding. Despite being a mathematical genius, he does not have the ability to interpret a social situation. The goal of Christopher is to become independent and further discover his role in the world which seems impossible due to his condition. It is evident when a dog is murdered in his neighborhood and he involves himself in solving the mystery. As he is in the lookout of the person who killed the dog, he discovers the truth about his family and shifts the plan to look for his mother. All these are meant for Christopher to overcome his social struggles.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a mystery novel that entails the story of Christopher Boone. At 15 years, Christopher is a mathematics genius. The novel begins when he finds the dog dead in the neighborhood’s garden. Ed, Christopher’s father attempts to warm him against getting involved in the dog’s death, but he decides to go ahead to investigate. During the process, he finds out the truth about his mother being alive and doing well in London. Furthermore, the mystery of the dog’s death is solved when Christopher finds out that his father was the one who killed the dog.
The discoveries make Christopher feel that his father is a murderer who won’t be trusted. He, therefore, leaves him and travels to London in search of his mother. Christopher finds it hard to settle in London and decides to come back to Swindon to sit for his A-level maths exams. The novel comes to an end when Christopher passes the exam and realizes that he has the capability to do anything he wants so long as he puts his mind into it.
My favorite part of the novel is when Christopher decides to sit for his A-level exam to prove his abilities. The U-turn from looking for his mother to coming back to Swindon for the exam was truly unexpected. My concentration was enhanced for any surprises that could arise.
In summary, the novel was very interesting to read because of the flow of events. The major lesson learned is how to deal with people suffering from autism and their capability of doing anything they want so long as they have their minds is focused on them. I would recommend it for everyone for it’s both entertaining and educational.