Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003)
Written by: Mark Haddon
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 226
I've had this book for a while, long enough to forget I even owned it. I wouldn't have considered reading it right now because it was out of sight behind a row of books on a shelf, but I saw someone else mention it in one of the book review communities I occasionally follow, so I decided to dig up my copy and get it under my belt, figuratively speaking.
The premise: Christopher Boone is 15 years, 3 months, and 2 days old, and he's autistic. When he's caught next to the neighbor's murdered dog and is arrested, he makes it his mission to find out who did it and why, even though every one he knows is telling him to mind his own business, including his father. The story that follows is more than a simple murder mystery, one that shows some of the ugly realities of human life and how those realities relate to an autistic teenager, especially one who, while very smart, can't always interpret the clues for what they really mean.
Spoilers ahead.
I liked the straight-forward, matter-of-fact narrative a lot. It worked well for me, and gave me an excellent sense of how the narrator's mind works. He numbers his chapters using prime numbers (which threw me, because 1 isn't used as a prime number, so I had to look up why since I always thought it was. It isn't. Who knew?), he can't stand to be touched, and hates the colors yellow and brown. Though the yellow tripped me up a bit, because at the end, he's given a golden retriever, and wouldn't Christopher see the coat as a variant of yellow? But I digress: I like how Christopher's mind works in certain ways, especially in how he determines good days and bad days, and I like that while Christopher isn't able to read ALL of the clues in front of him, the reader can put stuff together.
Whether or not we're able to put stuff together as fast as we can is another issue entirely. I had a feeling that it was the Father who killed Mrs. Spears's dog, so that was no surprise. The truth about the mother was only semi-surprising simply because I found it VERY ODD that Christopher was never taken to the hospital to visit, nor did he go to the funeral (nor did he give us an explanation of why). This is the part of the story where the ugliness of human nature comes in, even though on many levels, I find it understandable (this is not me sympathizing). The Mother couldn't handle a Special-Needs Child, so she left the family for someone who she thought was as lonely as she. It's interesting how her letters imply that it's Christopher's fault she left, even though the reader recognizes its something within her nature instead, that point is capitalized when Mr. Spears accuses Christopher of being particularly selfish--which was rather unfair given what I read as the nature of his autism. But once that point was made, I thought, look where he got it from: Mom. Mom, who didn't want him but is promising to take care of him once he made it to London, who defends him and stands up for him but can't remember how he properly functions in order to create some level of harmony, and then freaks out when he wants to go home to take his A-level Math test. She even has it canceled, which to me, when it's OBVIOUS things aren't going well and she can't handle her own son, is the epitome of selfishness.
It works out in the end, that she leaves Mr. Spears and goes home with Christopher and he's able to take and ace his tests, but there's something rather easy about the whole ending. The Mother's actions and reactions are just written off as depression and she takes medicine that makes everything all better. Really? Admittedly, from Christopher's POV, maybe that's how it looks, but we don't SEE this transformation, we're told, so my disbelief gets stretched a bit too thin, because the Mother's issues as I saw them WILL STILL EXIST in spite of happy pills.
Then there's the issue with the Father, who I liked despite some of his actions, and while I understood Christopher's complete refusal of him once he learned his father killed the dog (let alone that the father lied about the mother being dead, of all things, talk about another DRAMATIC way to solve problems), I felt frustrated with the same song-and-dance every time Christopher had to interact with his dad. I'm glad the ending gives us a sense of healing, a sense of forward progress, but . . .
I've done little, very minimal, research on autism. I have a casual knowledge of it. I've read books featuring narrators who are autistic before, namely Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark, which I very much enjoyed. That narrator, too, wanted to be an astronaut.
I draw comparisons for a couple of reasons: one, Haddon's book didn't teach me or show me anything new about people from autism. I liked Christopher just fine and had no trouble with his narration or his character, but after Moon's book, I got nothing new. There's an obvious difference in writing styles, no doubt, and obviously, these two narrators, while similar in certain ways, have different cases of autism and function differently in their respective worlds, but I wanted Haddon to give me something I hadn't seen before. Maybe that's not fair, because for many readers, this is their first experience with an autistic narrator, but I'm gonna be selfish and say "MORE." Or at least, "DIFFERENT."
And what's interesting is that both books have been give the criticism of both capturing an autistic personality perfectly and not capturing it well enough at all. One review stated, and rightly so, that levels of autism are very different and just because you have it doesn't mean the person next to you, who also has it, is going to function the same way you do. Then, of course, that's where personality comes into play too. In truth, the narrators of both of these books ARE different, but with Moon, I was emotionally engaged, and with Haddon, I wasn't. All of that is a reflection of the narrator and the type of story I'm given.
My Rating
Give It Away: I liked it well enough, and really, there's nothing I found distracting or frustrating with the book, but it's not something that grabbed me, nor is it a book I'll want around to read again. I think it's symptomatic of the fact I've read books featuring autistic narrators before, so if I was looking for any sort of surprise, this book failed to deliver, and that's not the author's fault. I'm sure this book will wow readers who haven't read what I have (Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark), but who are curious about the mind of an autistic boy. He's not a sympathetic narrator, mind you, but his matter-of-fact way of looking at things keeps the pages turning, even though it keeps you somewhat emotionally distant from the story. The mystery is pretty simple to solve, and even the twist isn't much of a twist if you're paying attention, and since all of this happens toward the middle of the book, you've got a way to go to the end. I figured out the actions easily enough, but in terms of drawing to a close, it takes a while and then happens too fast, if that makes sense. Some stuff takes longer than necessary, while stuff that should be given more time happen too fast. Still, it's a decent book that I'm glad I've read. It just won't be sticking around.
Cover Commentary: Appropriate, that's all I've got to say. The inciting incident is the discovery of a dead dog, a black poodle, so the cut-out of the poodle against a black page is perfect and eye-catching in and of itself.
Next up:
I think I know, but I'm not telling, cause I'm evil like that. :)