The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

My review: 4 of 5 stars

The Curious Incident… is intelligent, funny and captivating with a fascinating protagonist. Christopher John Francis Boone, aged 15, is an autistic savant. As a reader, I found Boone to be way more intelligent than I am when it comes to math equations. I had to just accept his graphs and equations as fact because they were mostly over my head even when he explained them. The mystery of the dog is secondary to the heartbreaking and revealing story of Boone. It’s the mystery at the center of his family that grips the reader and touches the emotions. I felt Boone’s anxiety, for example, on his train journey. It gave ME anxiety to experience this with him. The parents made serious mistakes with Boone, but I felt empathy for them as well. The story was a little slow at first, but it gained steam as it progressed and ended on a hopeful note. I highly recommend it for a unique read. It’s perfect fodder for book clubs. A short read with much to discuss.

Reading Group Guide
Quotes:

“I also like The Hound of the Baskervilles because I like Sherlock Holmes and I think that if I were a proper detective he is the kind of detective I would be” (p. 73).

“I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty” (p. 103).

“…if something is a puzzle there is always a way of solving it” (p. 116).