The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Awards

Staff Pick

An autistic math genius sets out to solve the murder-by-pitchfork of a neighbor's dog. The narrator's autism gives a terrific, interesting depth to his voice. Incredibly well done, Mark Haddon's debut novel is sweet, original, and moving.
Recommended by Dianah, Powell's City of Books

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Average customer rating based on 39 comments:

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ladymacbech, December 23, 2011 (view all comments by ladymacbech)
After the incredible 40+ years I had as a teacher, and having enjoyed ages of preschool through early college -and in that order - catagorizing anyone as "special needs" is an insult. The parents and I would have been the ones with special needs, if I had had to limit my students and myself in working through an enormous volume of experiences leading to knowledge in some form. This book was easily read in a few hours, and a second visit made the main character shout "GO-O-OA-ll." I Loved this book, the main character, his mom and the cover too.
(Note; my early years teaching in public school, rarely included "labeled" students. Mainly because most of the recognized "tags" of the last years were not known. The earliest one I delt with was "cross dominance," and most of the "challenged" students were not included in the schools in any form.)

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Tim Lewis, September 1, 2011 (view all comments by Tim Lewis)
One of the rare things in books is distinct author voice. This book is one of those that the reader gets the feeling that the protagonist really is the person doing the writing. The end of the book truly brought me back to reality and cried out empathy for the kid without wrapping things up in a neat little bow with everyone singing and holding hands. Not what I expected, but pleasantly surprised.

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Gracie, April 2, 2011 (view all comments by Gracie)
This is a pretty amazing book. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but it's a fascinating story about an autistic boy who sees the world differently from most other people. Christopher sees things both as being more complicated and less complicated than everyone else does. Extremely intelligent and logical, he has a great deal of difficulty with people and emotions. So when he begins investigating the murder of a neighborhood dog and comes upon an even greater mystery about what truly happened to his mother, he confronts confusion and fear unlike any he's ever known before and he must learn to rely on himself.

The story is very well crafted. Christopher journals his experience in painstaking detail, with order, organization, literal honesty, and refreshing perspective. Mark Haddon writes beautifully and poignantly of this boy and his struggles in such a simple, straightforward manner that you can't help but feel as you read.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781400032716

Author:

Haddon, Mark

Publisher:

Vintage Books

Author:

Various

Author:

Miller, Ashley Edward

Author:

Stentz, Zack

Subject:

General

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General

Subject:

Savants (savant syndrome)

Subject:

Autism

Subject:

England

Subject:

General Fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Subject:

Situations / Special Needs

Copyright:

2004

Edition Number:

Reprint ed.

Edition Description:

Hardback

Series:

Colin Fischer

Series Volume:

1

Publication Date:

May 2004

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

from 7

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

256

Dimensions:

8.25 x 5.5 in 1 lb

Age Level:

from 12

0 stars - 0 reviews

$3.95 In Stock

"Staff Pick" by Dianah,

An autistic math genius sets out to solve the murder-by-pitchfork of a neighbor's dog. The narrator's autism gives a terrific, interesting depth to his voice. Incredibly well done, Mark Haddon's debut novel is sweet, original, and moving.

by Dianah

"Review" by Publishers Weekly, "Though Christopher insists, 'This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them,' the novel brims with touching, ironic humor. The result is an eye-opening work in a unique and compelling literary voice."

"Review" by The New Yorker, "This original and affecting novel is a triumph of empathy; whether describing Christopher's favorite dream...or his vision of the universe collapsing in a thunder or stars, the author makes his hero's severely limited world a thrilling place to be."

"Review" by Kirkus Reviews, "[A] bittersweet tale....A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash."

"Review" by The Times (London), "For Haddon to have created such a superbly realized autistic world-view is, in itself, remarkable. Brilliantly inventive, full of dazzling set-pieces, unbearbly sad, yet also skilfully dodging any encounters with sentimentality, this isn't simply the most original novel I've read in years...it's also one of the best."

"Review" by Jay McInerney, The New York Times Book Review, "[S]tark, funny and original....[I]t eschews most of the furnishings of high-literary enterprise as well as the conventions of genre, disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect."

"Review" by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, "Moving....Think of The Sound and the Fury crossed with The Catcher in the Rye and one of Oliver Sacks's real-life stories."

"Review" by Newsday, "Superb....Bits of wisdom fairly leap off the page."

"Review" by Booklist, "Narrated by the unusual and endearing Christopher, who alternates between analyzing mathematical equations and astronomy and contemplating the deaths of Wellington and his mother, the novel is both fresh and inventive."

"Review" by David Newnham, T.E.S., "A stroke of genius, as the advantages of having a naive, literal-minded boy in the driving seat are manifold... we do learn what it might feel like to have Asperger's Syndrome."

"Review" by Kirkus Reviews, "A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash."

"Review" by Ian McEwan, author of Atonement and Amsterdam, "Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy."

"Review" by Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha, "I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out."

"Review" by Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season, "The Curious Incident brims with imagination, empathy, and vision — plus it's a lot of fun to read."

"Review" by Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings, "Brilliant....Delightful....Very moving, very plausible — and very funny."

"Review" by The Washington Post Book World, "In this striking first novel, Mark Haddon is both clever and observant, and the effect is vastly affecting."

"Review" by Kate Kellaway, The Observer, "The book gave me that rare, greedy feeling of: this is so good I want to read it all at once but I mustn't or it will be over too soon"

"Review" by Entertainment Weekly, "Haddon's book illuminates the way one mind works so precisely, so humanely, that it reads like both an acutely observed case study and an artful exploration of...the thoughts and feelings we share even with those very different from us. (Grade: A)"

"Review" by Library Journal, "The novel is being marketed to a YA audience, but strong language and adult situations make this a good title for sophisticated readers of all ages. Highly recommended."

"Review" by Slate, "One of the strangest and most convincing characters in recent fiction."

"Synopsis" by Ingram, Narrated by a 15-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.

"Synopsis" by Random House, 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.

"Synopsis" by Penguin,

SOLVING CRIME, ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION AT A TIME

Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.

But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate's birthday celebration, Colin is the only for the investigation. It's up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin's frequent tormenter, didn't bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn't have frosting on his hands, and there was white chocolate frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun...

Colin Fischer is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and his story--as told by the screenwriters of X-Men: First Class and Thor--is perfect for readers who have graduated from Encyclopedia Brown and who are ready to consider the greatest mystery of all: what other people are thinking and feeling.