Product Description

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #347 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-18
• Released on: 2004-05-18
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com Review
Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.

Late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves--against the objection of his father and neighbors--to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result--quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number--is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Haddon's novel is a startling performance. This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is original, clever, and genuinely moving: this one is a must-read. --Jack Illingworth, Amazon.ca

From Publishers Weekly
Christopher Boone, the autistic 15-year-old narrator of this revelatory novel, relaxes by groaning and doing math problems in his head, eats red-but not yellow or brown-foods and screams when he is touched. Strange as he may seem, other people are far more of a conundrum to him, for he lacks the intuitive "theory of mind" by which most of us sense what's going on in other people's heads. When his neighbor's poodle is killed and Christopher is falsely accused of the crime, he decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes (one of his favorite characters) and track down the killer. As the mystery leads him to the secrets of his parents' broken marriage and then into an odyssey to find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities of a social world that remains a closed book to him. In the hands of first-time novelist Haddon, Christopher is a fascinating case study and, above all, a sympathetic boy: not closed off, as the stereotype would have it, but too open-overwhelmed by sensations, bereft of the filters through which normal people screen their surroundings. Christopher can only make sense of the chaos of stimuli by imposing arbitrary patterns ("4 yellow cars in a row made it a Black Day, which is a day when I don't speak to anyone and sit on my own reading books and don't eat my lunch and Take No Risks"). His literal-minded observations make for a kind of poetic sensibility and a poignant evocation of character. Though Christopher insists, "This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them," the novel brims with touching, ironic humor. The result is an eye-opening work in a unique and compelling literary voice.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-When a teen discovers his neighbor's dog savagely stabbed to death, he decides to use the deductive reasoning of his favorite detective to solve the crime. Employing Holmesian logic is not an easy task for even the cleverest amateur sleuth and, in Christopher's case, it is particularly daunting. He suffers from a disability that causes, among other things, compulsive behavior; the inability to read others' emotions; and intolerance for noise, human touch, and unexpected events. He has learned to cope amazingly well with the help of a brilliant teacher who encourages him to write a book. This is his book-a murder mystery that is so much more. Christopher's voice is clear and logical, his descriptions spare and to the point. Not a word is wasted by this young sleuth who considers metaphors to be lies and does math problems for relaxation. What emerges is not only the solution to the mystery, but also insight into his world. Unable to feel emotions himself, his story evokes emotions in readers-heartache and frustration for his well-meaning but clueless parents and deep empathy for the wonderfully honest, funny, and lovable protagonist. Readers will never view the behavior of an autistic person again without more compassion and understanding. The appendix of math problems will intrigue math lovers, and even those who don't like the subject will be infected by Christopher's enthusiasm for prime numbers and his logical, mathematical method of decision making.
Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Curious Execution Within A Wonderful Story
With a unique style and fresh voice Mark Haddon has created a wonderfully memorable first novel. "The Curious Incident of The Dog In the Night-time" is told through the eyes of Christopher, a 15-year old autistic boy, and chronicles his search for the killer of his neighbor's dog. However, what starts as a mystery that Christopher compares to his favorite book "The Hound of The Baskervilles", turns into much more as he overcomes his fears and limitations to try and put order in a chaotic world.

By writing a story in the first person when that person is autistic and can't understand emotions or other peoples intentions would at first seem limiting, but Mark Haddon expertly creates such a fascinating voice in Christopher that you fall in love with him within the first few pages. Using a quirky style that includes maps, charts, smiley/frowning faces, text book descriptions of statistic theory and chapters that are prime numbers, Haddon keeps the reader drawn into Christopher's way of thinking and reminds us without being sentimental or condescending the difficulties Christopher has navigating through a normal day. "Prime numbers are what you have left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them".

Christopher needs order and clarity in his daily routines and without them has trouble functioning, which poses a problem when trying to solve a mystery. However, to Christopher no event is random, and if he can just get the facts then he can put the pieces together and create logic. It is during this pursuit of clarity that Christopher must confront his disorder and his own fears to get at the truth. He can't lie (because that creates infinite alternate possibilities), he does not understand metaphors (because one thing can not be another) although he does like similes, and he doesn't look into other people's faces (because he gets confused between expressions that can mean different things). It are all these issues due to his autism that makes his journey so heartwarming and painful at the same time.

The murder mystery is just a catalyst for a larger adventure that Christopher must undertake and his story is an entertaining, witty and insightful one.

Ok in parts
I'm not much for rambling style of writing, so i started reading this book with a degree of skepticism. Despite my low expectations, the book was a let down. It was different and interesting in parts, but not great.

The story is about Christopher Boone, a 15-year old autistic boy, resolved to find the murderer of his neighbor's dog...or so i thought until the first chapter. That is where the author digresses. He rambles on about red cars and yellow cars and a ton of math and charts and diagrams that serve no purpose other than to get under my skin. After a few more entirely unnecessary chapters during which the dog's murder mystery is sidelined, Chirstopher discovers the truth about his mother. The book ends on yet another random note.

Christopher comes across as a smart kid and if the book is an accurate portrayal of how children with severe sensory disorders think, i will not shed copious tears over the $11.16 i spent on it. If not, i want my money back...hmmph.

Curious preaching from an otherwise interesting read
I enjoyed reading this novel. I found it engaging right from the start. It was interesting to see things from a different perspective. I got some insight, I think, into a very different way of looking at life. Christopher would, indeed, be a handful.
My problem with this book and why I would not give it a rave review is the atheism kind of tacked-on here and there. It feels false to the character. It feels like the authour saw an opportunity to preach his view of religion and was not faithful to the character in so doing. I found that disappointing and distracting. It is not integral to the story, though, so it's easy to overlook.