"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" is a curiously good book
Recently, I was looking at a bookshelf trying to find a book to read and one stood out to me. I don’t know if it was the brightness of the book, the odd title, or the cover, but I decided I would read it and I am glad I did. The book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, is for an acquired taste; I did not like the middle third as much as the first and last thirds.
The setting is Swindon, England in 1998. The book begins with the autistic main character, Christopher Boone, finding his neighbor’s dog killed by a garden tool. The book continues with Christopher’s investigation to find the murderer, but he finds out a lot more than that.
The book reads as if it was actually written by the autistic main character -- who does not like composite numbers, therefore, the chapters are numbered using only prime numbers. The chapter numbers may seem intimidating since it reaches 233, but that is due to the odd numbering.
The first half was good. It was where Boone did the investigation. At about the halfway point, the book took a weird turn. He was no longer investigating the death of the dog but instead focused on his life and the death of his mother. I did not like it at first because it did not seem to fit with the previous chapters of the book, but after a few chapters, it got better as things connected.
The book has won three awards: Costa Book of the Year, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, Whitebread Book of the Year, Commonwealth Writers Prize, and Waverton Good Read Award. This is his most known book.
Overall, I do recommend people read this book. The author is able to keep the book simple yet bring the book alive through his descriptions. The reader is able to feel as if they are traveling with Boone as he goes on a wild adventure.
