The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Review

Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is narrated by a character named Christopher Boone, who the reader discovers is an autistic British teenager.

His autism is displayed in several ways. For instance: human emotions make no impression on him whatsoever. He reacts violently when anyone touches him. He cannot abide the color yellow.

The tale begins late one night when Christopher finds the body of a neighbor's standard poodle; it had been killed by being stabbed with a garden pitchfork. Christopher does react well to animals, so discovering the killing of the poodle makes a deep impression on him; he decides he will identify the person who killed it.

Thus begins a journey for Christopher that also creates a journey for the reader through Christopher's thought processes, which are unlike anything most readers will have experienced. As he interacts with various people during his pursuit of the identity of the killer of the dog he goes through moments that at times are funny, at times shocking, at times very sad. Author Haddon obviously knows what he is writing about; a note at the beginning of the book says he has "worked with autisitic individuals."

This novel is throughout fascinating, compelling, and rewarding.