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pale_moonliteThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Vintage, 2004. 272 pages.
Synopsis:
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, hero and first person narrator of this (not-quite) mystery novel, has a penchant for maths, Sherlock Holmes and dogs. He doesn't like to be touched, eye contact and lies. Fictional stories (he calls them proper novels) he perceives as lies, but he likes murder mysteries because they're puzzles to him, problems to be solved. One night he finds Wellington, a friendly dog in the neighborhood, murdered in his owner's garden. He decides to investigate the case and write a murder mystery novel of his own. It's the beginning of a big adventure which threatens to destroy his small, well-regulated world.
Thoughts:
To write a story from the point of view of an autistic boy is, to begin with, a clever trick. The whole world is a mystery to Christopher and, seen through his eyes, becomes one to the reader. Ordinary things turn into monsters and what we take for granted becomes suddenly a blur. To solve the mystery, we have to read between the lines, but in order to understand Christopher, to get to know him, we also have to immerse ourselves into his world and learn to think the way he does.
The trick works. The Curious Incident ... is a page-turner, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. There are beautiful moments; among my favorites is a passage about metaphors or another about prime numbers. Christopher talking about his aversion to eye-contact is a perfect example of how the ambiguity of the narrative works:
( Read more... )
[x-posted to![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
book_reviews and to my journal]
Vintage, 2004. 272 pages.
Synopsis:
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, hero and first person narrator of this (not-quite) mystery novel, has a penchant for maths, Sherlock Holmes and dogs. He doesn't like to be touched, eye contact and lies. Fictional stories (he calls them proper novels) he perceives as lies, but he likes murder mysteries because they're puzzles to him, problems to be solved. One night he finds Wellington, a friendly dog in the neighborhood, murdered in his owner's garden. He decides to investigate the case and write a murder mystery novel of his own. It's the beginning of a big adventure which threatens to destroy his small, well-regulated world.
Thoughts:
To write a story from the point of view of an autistic boy is, to begin with, a clever trick. The whole world is a mystery to Christopher and, seen through his eyes, becomes one to the reader. Ordinary things turn into monsters and what we take for granted becomes suddenly a blur. To solve the mystery, we have to read between the lines, but in order to understand Christopher, to get to know him, we also have to immerse ourselves into his world and learn to think the way he does.
The trick works. The Curious Incident ... is a page-turner, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. There are beautiful moments; among my favorites is a passage about metaphors or another about prime numbers. Christopher talking about his aversion to eye-contact is a perfect example of how the ambiguity of the narrative works:
( Read more... )
[x-posted to
book_reviews and to my journal]
