Book Review (II) Jian Da =)

Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

Genre: Fiction, Children
Awards: Whitbread Novel of the Year, Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, South Bank Show Book Award, Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Gist of the story:

Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's poodle, speared by a garden fork. Mrs Shears, Wellington's owner, calls the police. The police try to grab Christopher; they caution him after he hit one of the officers. He decides to investigate to clear his name. However, he is severely limited by his fears and difficulties when interpreting the world around him. Throughout his adventures, Christopher records his experiences in a book, entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. During his investigation, Christopher meets people whom he has never before encountered, even though they live on the same street.

Christopher uncovers a trove of letters to himself from his mother, dated after she allegedly died — which his father had also concealed. Christopher had been told by Ed that she died of a heart attack, Christopher assumes it's an aneurysm, but judging from the letters, Christopher concludes that she is still alive and that his father has lied to him. Ed realises that Christopher has read the letters and cleans him up. He then confesses that he had indeed lied about Judy's death and also that it was him who killed Wellington, stating that it was a mistake due to his anger after a heated argument with Mrs Shears.

Christopher, having lost all trust in his father and fearing that he may also try to kill him since he had already killed Wellington, decides to escape from home and live with his mother. Guided by his mother's address from the letters, he embarks on an adventurous trip to London, where his mother lives with Mr Shears.

His mother, Judy, is happy at his arrival and tries to keep him with her; she cannot believe that Ed would tell Christopher that she was dead. His mother decides to let Christopher stay with her and Mr Shears in their small London apartment. Moreover, very soon after arriving, Christopher wants to return to Swindon in order to take his mathematics A-level. His mother eventually leaves Mr Shears, their relationship having apparently broken down because of the conflict over Christopher.

She then moves into a rented room in Swindon and, after an argument with Ed, agrees to let Ed meet with Christopher daily for a little while. However, at this stage, Christopher remains terrified of his father; he hopes Ed will be imprisoned for killing Wellington. The story ends with Ed getting Christopher a pet dog, because Toby, Christopher's pet rat, had died, and promising that he will rebuild trust with Christopher slowly, "no matter how long it takes," in his daily, brief sessions. Christopher asserts that he will take further A-level exams and attend university. He completes his first mathematics A-level with top grades and — despite previously wanting to be an astronaut — his ultimate goal is to become a scientist. The book closes with Christopher optimistic about his future — since he successfully solved the incident of the murdered dog, went to London on his own, found his mother, and got an A in his A-level Maths exam.

Reflections:

If you got a chance, you must read this amazing story by Mark Haddon. He takes the reader into the world of autism and creates a character of such empathy that many readers will begin to feel for the first time what it is like to live a life in which there are no filters to eliminate or order the millions of pieces of information that come to us through our senses every instant of the day.

Using the simple subject-verb-object sentence pattern in which Christopher tries to order and communicate with his world, Haddon tells his story with warmth and often humor, making us see and understand Christopher's problems at the same time that we experience everyone else's frustrations in dealing with him. All Christopher's conversations and the events he experiences are recalled from his own point of view, and the reader can easily see how difficult his world is, both for him and for those around him. An example could be that he seeks to order his day by the number of cars he sees of the same color (four red cars in a row mean a wonderful day, while four yellow cars mean a bad day, in which case he does not eat lunch and will not speak), we see how desperate he is to find some pattern which will enable him to make sense of his world.

Christopher's difficulties with his emotions are particularly poignant. "Feelings," he says, "are just having a picture on the screen in your head of what is going to happen tomorrow or next year, or what might have happened instead of what did happen, and if it is a happy picture they smile and if it is a sad picture they cry." Removed from his feelings, Christopher can only respond with logic, or with the anger which sometimes overwhelms him as result of fear or frustration. Readers responding to his difficulties as any loving caregiver would, cannot help aching for Christopher and empathizing with his family.

As Christopher investigates Wellington's death, he makes some remarkably brave decisions and when he eventually faces his fears and moves beyond his immediate neighbourhood, the magnitude of his challenge and the joy in his achievement are overwhelming. Haddon creates a fascinating main character and allows the reader to share in his world, experiencing his ups and downs and his trials and successes.