Book Review

Title :: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time
Author :: Mark Haddon
Genre :: Mystery
Rating :: 4.0 / 5.0

Story is narrated in a very simple and straight forward fashion without any unnecessary and irrelevant drama and description. Perhaps this, to the point narration is the USP of the book.

Protagonist, Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old kid, is the narrator of the book as well.  Story unfolds with Christopher finding a dog dead in the neighbourhood and him being mistaken as a suspect. Inspired with the strategical murder solving nerve of Sherlock Homes, Christopher begins his investigational stint.  Traversing the path of a detective, Christopher eventually happens to confront different places, people and situations with an unexpected encounter with his own family secret (To know it, one has to read the book). And exactly how a 15 year old autistic kid handles his own journey is what the book is all about.

For anyone to pick this book or to include in one’s wishlist or shelf includes;

• The beautiful and subtle description of an autistic kid (Christopher) throughout the book without emphasising or capitalising about his disorder.

• Mark with great responsibility has penned down this character, in such a way, that not even for a single moment readers develop sympathy towards the character (or its disability) but instead are entitled with an opportunity to experience the life and thinking process via Christopher’s vision and version.

• Narration of the story by Christopher himself is the best decision author had made.

• Throughout the book Mark has conveyed the varied adaptive ways followed by Christopher to adjust in a “Normal” society. For example recalling squares and cubes of 2 as a process to calm himself down under chaotic situations or figuring out beforehand a timetable to straighten up the everyday chores or use of logical flowcharts for solving problems indicates his ingenuity and an upper edge over the disorder.

• Alongwith the mainstream detective story, Mark has woven a very convincing Teacher- Student and Parent-child relationship that a reader cannot fail to notice.  

In a nutshell, the book definitely is worth and perfect to start and finish with in this Lockdown period.