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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $0.69
You Save: $13.26 (95%)
New (125) Used (681) Collectible (16) from $0.69
Rating:  1461 reviews
Sales Rank: 993
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 1400032717
EAN: 9781400032716
ASIN: 1400032717
Publication Date: May 18, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers. Late one night, Christopher comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork. Wellington's owner finds him cradling her dead dog in his arms, and has him arrested. After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves--against the objection of his father and neighbors--to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result--quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number--is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Haddon's novel is a startling performance. This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is original, clever, and genuinely moving: this one is a must-read. --Jack Illingworth, Amazon.ca
Product Description
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Audio CD Review - Better than the Book December 1, 2008
J. A. Geary (Lakeland, FL USA)
This otherwise excellent novel truly comes alive in the reading. If you're able to get and listen to a copy of Jeff Woodman's remarkable reading of this novel (available from RecordedBooks.com), do so by all means. Woodman brings a deeper and more authentic dimension to the story overall. I mean, it's a British novel with British (mainly English) idioms and expressions: "hearing" the dialog in your head is not the same as hearing it spoken aloud. Jeff Woodman's rendition of the various characters and their different British accents is extremely faithful and "spot on" as they say across the Pond. In particular, his voices of the various police officials and minor characters in the novel (ticket kiosk attendants, store clerks, neighbors, etc.)that Christopher the protagonist encounters are scary good.
As for the merits of the book itself, as the parent of a "special needs" child (who is now 25), I can say that Christopher's parents' respective challenges with having a child with Asperger's Syndrome were faithfully represented without being overdrawn or melodramatic. A profound book on many levels.
This is a very interesting book November 27, 2008
C. Goodman
I absolutely loved this book, it had many twists and was an interesting look to someone else's life.
A different way to tell a story November 26, 2008
habblie (California)
I loved the different approach of hearing the story from the perspective of an autistic character. It certainly added a fresh element to the humdrum of a lot of modern fiction. This book was captivating, and I not only wanted to know what happened next, but how it would be perceived by Christopher. If you want something different that's a relaxed and entertaining read, then pick this up.
Curiouser & Curiouser November 24, 2008
Roxane (California USA)
This book takes the reader into a different world--the world that seems the same as our world, only this child sees the information in another dimension. The character, Christopher Boone, takes the reader into the world of autism. I am currently using this book with an 8th grade reading group, and we are reading it aloud. Reading the book aloud brings the difference in thinking and processing and the humor and pathos to the table. The kids are fascinated by the out-of-the-norm way this character views the world. To them, it is a mystery how this child thinks and functions in our fast-paced society. I highly recommend this mystery for children and adults.
 In Poor Taste November 23, 2008
Weaved in Love
I'm surprised by the glowing reviews this book got. I really thought it was a terrible diservice to "aspie" people. The boy seems to not care about anyone and the adults in this book are all totally screwed up. I don't like the connection that people are bound to make that the parents of children with autism can't handle the complex life they have been given. While well written in a literary sense, this book leaves you sad and feeling as though people are truly pathetic. Not a good read at all and not at all a true vision of what autism really looks like.
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