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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: $0.02
You Save: $13.93 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1445 reviews
Sales Rank: 515
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
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...
 Curiously Interesting October 13, 2008
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was an exciting and fun to read novel. Mark Haddon makes the story of a fifteen year old Christopher Boone with Asperger's (a form of autism) enjoyable to audiences young and old. Christopher must use deductive reasoning and the laws of logic to solve the killing of his neighbor's dog, of which he as been falsely accused. Because Christopher has little emotion, this book can be sad and also funny at times. Haddon had a difficult job in writing this story where he had to portray a boy who has almost no range of emotion, as the main character. Haddon's insight into the autistic mind provides for a great read also while educating readers about a mental disability. The plot of this book I found to be not only interesting but physically engaging as well. Some of the mathematic equations we see in the book make the reader want to get out a pen and paper and work them out for themselves. The story keeps the reader involved the whole way and leaves with an ending that was not seen coming.
 Insightful Read October 9, 2008
Although a work of fiction, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a surprisingly insightful journey into the world of one Autistic boy. A great read for those new to the world of Autism, or looking for a non-technical window into how the disorder could affect one individual. Written with compassion and clarity, it is a quick read, can easily be completed in a day or two, and is suitable for teen readers. I found it to be moving, memorable and somewhat mind-expanding. Any good book will give you the opportunity to mentally 'try on someone else's shoes', this book will put you inside the mind that many will find unfamiliar, perplexing, perhaps even alien, but not without it's charms. For those looking for a comprehensive look at Autism, this book will not be a good choice, as Autism spans a vast rainbow of symptoms and behaviors, and this book is written from singular experience.
Life through different lenses October 4, 2008
Why spend a few good evenings re-discovering life through the eyes of an autistic boy? The answer to that lies in this intriguing novel. While most fifteen-year-olds spend their time playing basketball or crunching popcorn at the movies, Christopher Boone - our protagonist - prefers cracking difficult maths puzzles and investigating the death of his neighbour's poodle. The latter event eventually leads him on an adventure that forms the bulk of the plot - a discovery of the untold back-story to his parents' troubled marriage.
The main selling point of the book, however, lies not so much in the story per se as having the story rendered through Christopher's eyes. And what he brings is a wholly refreshing perspective on life - from the details he picks out with his unbelievably photographic memory to his manic obsession with order. How many people actually can - or will bother to - remember the number (and colour and size and disposition) of cows they've just seen on a random field? This raises serious questions about the things we `normal people' choose to see and not to see. The language too is perfect - methodical, matter-of-fact and well-suited to the subject matter and how our protagonist relates to it.
A truly refreshing and thought-provoking read.
Groundbreaking Book October 2, 2008
What an awesome idea. This book is unlike any other I have read. Telling a story from the persepctive of an autistic boy's point of view is brilliant. You will follow this boy's plight step by step as he struggles to come to terms with an "event" about which he knows very little. Great book.
Charming, in its own way September 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I often worry that these books with a lot of buzz won't live up to the hype by the time I get around to reading them. In this case, I shouldn't have worried. From his prime-numbered chapters to his reasons why he doesn't like the colors yellow and brown, Haddon's autistic narrator is full of his own charm, even if he couldn't tell you what charm was. You can't help but feel for this boy who wants to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, thinks his mother is dead, and lacks the filter we take for granted to see and hear only that which is important to us. From time to time you may get bogged down in Christopher's factual digressions and descriptions, but it's not long before you're caught back up in his story.
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