Book 33: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' (a quotation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) is one of those rare, utterly transformative books that causes you to forget your surroundings, commitments and problems.This is absolutely credit to Haddon's fantastic and utterly believable portrayal of Christopher Boone, the first person narrator and protagonist of this journal-come-murder mystery novel. The novel begins when Christopher finds Mrs Shears, his neighbour's, dog dead, with a pitchfork sticking out of him. He then decides to start investigating. like his favourite character Sherlock Holmes, and uses the book to record his investigations exactly as they happen. Yet what starts off as an investigation into the murder of a dog ends up revealing significantly more than Christopher bargained for. 

Christopher's particular quirks: not liking yellow or brown, but liking red, lacking empathy and being unable to decipher facial expressions or figurative language like metaphors, not liking change and sticking to routines, signify that Christopher is probably on the autistic spectrum and has Asperger Syndrome. However, neither of these words are mentioned at any point in the book, avoiding the labels often given to people living with special needs and changing the focus of the novel to an exploration of a different way of seeing the world, rather than a book focused on the syndrome itself. 

The genre of the novel is somewhat ambiguous, as he is asked to write it by his assistant at school, and after the murder of Mrs Shears' dog, he decides it will be a murder mystery novel. However, Christopher cannot lie, and is therefore unable to create fiction, meaning that his 'novel' actually becomes a journal in which he records what happens to him. Haddon includes various diagrams and maps in order to illustrate exactly what Christopher means and is looking at, creating a completely immersive literary world. 

Naturally, having a narrator on the autistic spectrum provides certain challenges: a particular vocabulary and set of interests, a complete lack of figurative language (except given as examples that he does not understand) and a very literal, at times overly detailed portrayal of events. However, all of these details serve to add to the novel's ingenuity, as they result in a novel that develops empathy for Christopher, and other people with similar difficulties, in an unparalleled manner, as the reader truly sees the world through Christopher's eyes. 

I read this easily in one sitting and the stresses of my mounting deadlines did not once cross my mind; if that is not the sign of a fantastic novel, I do not know what is. In all honesty I cannot praise Haddon's novel enough - in my eyes it is a masterpiece. If you have not read it yet, you must.