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

[calico_reaction]

Comments

[gothayesd51708]

Yeah I thought that this book was just ok. Nothing special or memorable about it.

[jeffhowell]

Enjoyed reading your review. I read this book a couple years ago, as it was recommended to me with a little of the hype that surrounded it. I read a little, and as first person goes, it was interesting to get inside the mind of someone different like that. But ultimately I decided I didn't like it. And I'm gonna say something stupid here. But I honestly wonder how difficult it is to write this kind of special needs POV. It doesn't seem hard to me. So I completely understand if this is a case of the author here is so talented he made it look easy. Just throughout the whole book, a little went a long way. By the end I was tired of the POV and finding it gimmicky or lame or maybe I was just tired of it. I think the plot was alright, interesting. I can't remember much since it's been years, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth and constant wondering of how much was good writing and how much was hype. I do like the idea of writing about someone handicapped or someone who obviously has a reason they are being written about. But this

[calico_reaction]

I totally understand what you're saying, so don't worry, no offense here. I do know the author has worked with autistic children before, so that probably informed his writing enough for it to look "easy" as it did. I still prefer Elizabeth Moon's work. She too has the experience, as I believe her own son is autistic. In Moon's case, I found the book to be more interesting.

And I think the hype probably came from readers who've never seen this POV before and found it very different and alien. For those of us who read SF/F/H regularly, it's really hard for us to fall under that "alien" spell because we're so used to it, even though our experience is fictional and this is much closer to realism.

Does that make sense?

[jeffhowell]

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. Now that you mention it, it does kind of remind me of the old 'Alien Visitor POV'. Nice to know the author does have a legit background. I might check out that other book you mention, sounds like there was more going on there to get emotionally attached to, which would definitely be hard to achieve given the distance with the narrator. Thanks for such a prompt and nice response.

[pgtremblay]

Interesting. I liked Curious, though I do have to admit, I didn't read SPEED OF DARK until after I'd read Curious, and I go agree that SPEED (but for the ending) is a better book.

[calico_reaction]

The ending was definitely bittersweet. I almost think that no matter how Moon had ended it, there would be certain people who had issues.

[tcastleb]

I liked it. But, that's when I was researching my autistic character, so I looked at it more for how it was written and what it took to make that character realistic than story and plot stuff. And, technically, I think Christopher has Aspberger's, which is a different point on the autism spectrum than the guy in SoD. I like the puzzles and seeing how people think. You could also think of him as an unreliable narrator, because things are filtered through a very limited perspective, but it's pretty cool how the author managed to get us to infer all the problems Mom and Dad have when Christopher doesn't have a clue. I agree that the ending was...I dunno. Felt a little unfinished to me, maybe. The one that would have made it HEA and tied up neatly would have him go back to Dad, but living with Mom left things a bit uneasy.

And I listened to the audio book of it, and the audio is really fantastic. Probably one of my favorite readings ever. But I lent my print copy to someone and never got it back. :>(

[calico_reaction]

THE SPEED OF DARK is a much better book--it's very soft SF, and the ending has readers polarized, but I think it's in a good way. :)