The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.


Review: I went into this knowing about the severity of the language. I dismissed this as a mere block and honestly did not care whether it was crude or not for a year 5 student. I remember the first page blowing me away. The writing was so simple and narrated the story bluntly and cohesively. The protagonist Christopher was different. I had previously read books containing Aspergers and Autisim themes but this portrayal of Michael's life in 1st person really put things into perspective.

However the plot lacked energy. We find out that Mr Shears had an affair and murdered Mrs Shears' dog. That's basically the climax of it. Christopher, being a 15 year old boy with Asperger's could not do a whole lot to help it. And still to date I do not know what Siohban's purpose was (maybe a sub-character?)! The characters were severely underveloped and lacked the charisma we find in most characters.

The overall gist of the book intrigued me and it had so much potential but the plot and character development let the book down. Overall, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was an interesting yet flawed read that gave insight into the life of an introspective individual. 

3 out of 5 stars