Book #13 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Prompt – A book with an upside-down picture on the cover.

Medium – Audiobook (I have loads of Audible credits and want to use them up!)

About the book – Written by Mark Haddon, this book is written from the perspective of Christopher Boone, who is a young man on the ASD Spectrum (although a diagnosis is never stated in the book). Christopher is a extremely intelligent young man, with a love of maths and detective novels and who sees everything – he is phenomenally observant and is able to think about things in ways that other people can’t or don’t. Outside his house one day, he finds that his next-door neighbour’s dog, Wellington, has been killed with a pitchfork. He decides that he is going to solve the mystery of who killed the dog, just like his hero, Sherlock Holmes. His dad really doesn’t want him to, and whilst finding evidence to solve the mystery, Christopher finds out more information about his life than he is expecting to.

My Rating – 6/10. There are plenty of positive things about this book – I really enjoyed the layout of the book, the use of prime numbers for the chapters and the slightly unreliable narrator. It gave a real insight into the mindset of a person with ASD, although it is worth saying that ASD being a spectrum condition, this will not be how everyone thinks and feels – there are differences caused by severity, gender and in the way that the person has grown up and been nurtured. The ‘mystery’ within the book soon plays second fiddle to the storyline based around the character’s home life, so be aware of that if you are looking for a mystery novel!

I think any book which highlights the very different and extraordinary way that someone with Autism thinks is great – but for me, the amount of bad language spoiled my enjoyment and engagement in the book. I’m not a massive prude, but I think the sheer amount of language could have been cut down – although there is a children’s version of the book, so that might have been better for my poor, innocent self. There were also a few more mentions of poo, wee and vomit in the book than I was expecting!

Would I read/listen to it again? Probably not. I didn’t find it massively enjoyable (controversial, I know), but appreciate it as a introduction to people about what might be going on in a neurodiverse brain.