The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

One of the most interesting books that I have read in a long time is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It is written from the point of view of a twelve-year-old autistic boy named Christopher. His best friend is his neighbor’s dog, a poodle named Wellington. The novel starts with Christopher finding Wellington dead—stabbed by a pitchfork. Christopher goes on a journey to find out who killed Wellington and in the process learns a lot about his dead mother and gains independence that he never knew he needed.

That is the main plot, and I do not want to give much away because it is an amazing murder mystery. Even more interesting than the plot itself is Christopher’s character. This is the first novel I have ever read where I was inside the mind of an autistic person. To be able to enter territory that is completely unfamiliar to you keeps you reading and thrills you. The writing made me feel like Christopher was a real person, and I became invested in what happened to him. I found myself rooting for Christopher, and isn’t that what readers ultimately want from the nontraditional hero?

Being autistic, Christopher has some interesting and challenging quirks. He does not wear, touch, or eat anything yellow. There is no traumatic past incident with the color yellow, but his brain tells him that yellow is a color that he should stay away from. He has numerous other aversions and rituals that keep his world in order. He decides if his day is going to be good or bad by what cars he sees on his bus ride to school. If he sees four red cars in a row then it is going to be a “good day.” If he sees five red cars in a row then it is going to be a “super good day.” If he sees four yellow cars in a row then it is going to be a “black day.” These things mean nothing to the average person, but to this autistic child, they mean the difference between a day of doing math and talking to his teacher or sitting in the corner of class with his hands over his ears screaming all day.

Things are simple in his mind, but then all of these simple things can add up to a big mass of complicated things. When Christopher is in a train station he reads a store sign. That is fairly simple, but for Christopher it does not stop there. He reads every sign in the station and makes a list, a long list, in his mind. Then he tries to organize them in his mind into patterns. Christopher occupies his mind with these signs for hours, and he is able to block out the stimuli that are scaring him. Christopher has learned how to make his complicated brain work off him so he can survive around other people.

This novel pulled me in and did not let go. I have recommended it to every literary-inclined person I know. Looking through the eyes of Christopher you see an innocent world and a world full of wonder. As a hero, Christopher is vulnerable and naive and everything that makes a nontraditional hero loveable.

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