The Curioius Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

 

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Author: Mark Haddon
Genre: Coming of Age, Action, Mystery
Rating: 8
Teach-ability: 7
Teachable Aspects: narrator, point of view


Meet Christopher John Francis Boone. Christopher has found his neighbor's dog killed on its front lawn. This is the premise of the book.



This would be quite the boring premise for a book, but the narrator is a boy who lands on the autism spectrum, which alters the way one has to read the book, which is to keep in mind that the narrator is not your average narrator.



I recently taught my students about unreliable narrators, and all the while I was reading this book I questioned whether or not I would classify this narrator as unreliable. In the end, I really don't think I would. If anything, this narrator is the opposite of unreliable. The world is completely black and white for Christopher Boone, which means that there is no wiggle room for Christopher to push his agenda as a narrator or to have a bias.



In the end, I really did enjoy reading this book. It was pleasant and I like what I learned about Christopher as a character while I was reading. I know that there is some controversy over whether or not this book is stereotypical, and whether it is an accurate depiction of what autism looks like. To this I would say the following: this is a book that is intended for entertainment. I know this because it is fictional. If it were a book about autism, I would expect different things than I would expect from a book created for entertainment purposes. I think that if you can read this book and not pick it apart, it will be an enjoyable read. I think that if you can read this book and get past the fact that the main character is autistic, it will be an enjoyable read. Do not read this book to find out more about autism or any reason other than entertainment. It is certainly not a mystery book, nor is it a medical study.



In all, a nice quaint book about a boy who is trying to find his way. Christopher's character is exploding with uniqueness and originality. This book was a fast and fascinating read.