Review: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

 Title: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time 

Author: Mark Haddon

Genre: Fiction

Release Date: 2003

My Review: 

Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome, goes on a quest to investigate a real-life murder, but not a person’s murder. As the star detective, Christopher is investigating the murder of his neighbor’s poodle dog, Wellington, whom he found behind his neighbor’s house with a garden fork sticking out of it. Christopher’s investigation is thoughtful and methodical, and his story is written in chapters that are numbered not sequentially but by the prime numbers. 

This story is unlike anything that I have ever read before. It is narrated by Christopher himself, with such a unique voice, a voice that is completely detached of thoughts and emotions in order to examine them logically, and sometimes, scientifically.  

Christopher's autism plays a particularly active role in his detective work, especially when it comes to his association with others, as well as when dealing with unexpected situations and strange places.

Mark Haddon does an excellent job at effectively explaining the world through Christopher's eyes. This is not only done through the narrative, but also the structure of the book. Which is so damn logical.

One of the things that makes the narrative even more interesting is that Christopher is aware of his behavioral problems, so he is able to explain why he acts in a certain way in certain situations. It is a very moving story. Christopher has to momentarily and only partially overcome some of his pet peeves in order to “reach his goal”, which I will not discuss because I don’t want to spoil it for you. 

Christopher is unable to understand human emotions and figurative speech. He takes everything literally and approaches life with an incredibly concrete and remarkably abstract mindset. Through his narration we are able to see the world and social conventions through the eyes of an outsider, and we are invited to think about them in a new way. I could feel his desperation and frustration throughout the whole story, but I also felt weirdly enlightened. Yes. For example, there was this one bit about heaven that I particularly liked. 

      “I think people believe in heaven because they don’t like the idea of dying, because they want to carry on living and they don’t like the idea that other people will move into their house and put their things into the rubbish.

      ...“What actually happens when you die is that your brain stops working and your body rots, like Rabbit did when he died and we buried him in the earth at the bottom of the garden. And all his molecules were broken down into other molecules and they went into the earth and were eaten by worms and went into the plants and if we go and dig in the same place in 10 years there will be nothing except his skeleton left. And in 1,000 years even his skeleton will be gone. But that is all right because he is part of the flowers and the apple tree and hawthorn bush now.”

I don’t want to get off topic, so I will not write an argument about why I like this... it is pretty self explanatory. I am not particulary religious, and I have always believed that “god” is the Earth itself, nature, everything that surrounds us, and not a supernatural being. So this explanation of death and heaven fits perfectly into my own beliefs and that is why it was one of my favorite things said in the book. 

Through Christopher, Hudson not only gives a voice to autistic children and tells a story that is not only entertaining but insightful and informative, but he also shows us how an autistic child’s brain works. 

The only reason why I am not rating this book with 5 Fleurs de Lis is because there is literally so much math, physics and calculations going on, that I was getting a headache. Unlike Christopher, I really really hate numbers. 


It really is an incredible book and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a slightly different read and likes logical things.

Happy Blogging

Hilda