The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon, 2003, Doubleday. It is a murder mystery novel which takes place in and around the town of Swindon, Wiltshire, England, in 1998. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a magnificent story about a 15 year old boy, Christopher John Francis Boone, who is afflicted by Asperger’s Syndrome. He loves Mathematics and Physics, goes to a school for 'special' children similar to him and has a pet rat, Toby. As with most autistic people, Christopher finds great difficulty understanding human relationships, expressions, behaviors and gestures. His teacher even had to draw him smileys to explain the various emotions that people feel when their faces are a certain way. The story…show more content…
His teacher at school, Siobhan, encourages him to keep a journal of his findings and gives him tips on how to keep it interesting. The narration style is just one aspect that catches your attention. What touched me most was Christopher himself. He sees the world from a very logical perspective, where everything is there for a reason and all things have their place and a change in that order unnerves him, makes him uncomfortable and scared. Much like how we would feel when we are put in situations beyond our control or when changes occur. The way he overcomes his inhibitions just to solve the murder, is remarkable. Even more heart-rending in the portrayal of Christopher is his inability to sweeten life's realities, due to his condition. He cannot think of ‘what if’ situations, he cannot shut out the undesirables and dwell upon the feel-goods – the tricks that a normal person’s mind plays to keep one out of misery. It is liberating and constricting simultaneously. That is a pretty powerful emotion to have when reading a
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