The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

Paperback, 226 pages

English language

Published May 17, 2004 by Vintage Contemporaries.

ISBN:: 978-1-4000-3271-6
OCLC Number:: 55142139

(261 reviews)

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.

54 editions

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

A Thoughtful and Instantly Lovable Perspective

4 stars

This is a story about the weirdness of the world as understood by Christopher John Francis Boone, a boy with autism who lives with his father in a small town in the UK. Christopher and his idiosyncrasies are instantly lovable. Through the eyes of a boy who thinks of everyone as different from himself, we’re reminded just how many common threads bind us all together.

Long version: jdaymude.github.io/review/book-the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-nighttime/

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

Fabulous Book

5 stars

Great story. Really gets inside the head of this fictional autistic child. I can't believe how much I related to how he thinks.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Certainly allows you to experience a different viewpoint on the world and how messy it is.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is a most curious and peculiar novel. Quirky. I hesitate to say it is a fun read, because some of the issues explored are difficult. I recommend this as an interesting and unique read, well worth the time.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

“Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”

Weird confession. I like prime numbers. They make sense to me. I'm a tiny bit like Christopher, and I think that's why I love this book so much. On each re-read, I find something new to love.

What's it all about? It's an interesting perspective into the mind of a boy who is autistic, intelligent in many ways, but still immature to the ways of the world.

Journey with Christopher as he solves the mystery of his neighbor's dog. Travel with him as he strikes out on his own to discover what happened to Wellington, and why. Like me, you might be surprised by the ending. Christopher …

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Written from the 1st person perspective of a boy with an Asperger's-like mind, though it feels less affecting than "Flowers for Algernon," because no matter how bad things get, there's a wall between the emotions of the boy and the reader. There's a wall between the emotions of the boy and the world, and his mind compulsively grasps for explanations of what's happening around him and why people say odd things to him.

The reader has to make their own sense of his world as related by his solipsistic view of it, and so develops a kindly condescension for him. I think the value of this book, aside from being a well-structured and enjoyable story, is that it helps the reader gain some compassion for the irrationality of others who process information differently and live in their own world.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Short and sweet, this book lets you take a peek into the mind of an autistic boy as he tries to solve the mysterious murder of his neighbour's dog. The investigation leads him to much deeper discoveries about his family and his own life. It is a fun, simple read, and even though the story in itself is pretty mundane and unremarkable, where this book shines is in the voice of the narrator.
The way the book is written allows you to become, if only briefly, Christopher Boone, the mathematical genius who hates yellow and brown things. This is the first time I really feel such a compassionate and empathetic view of autism. It is a humanizing book, whose virtue is to allow us, the uninitiated common folk into the world of the people with this mental capacity (or discapacity, depending on how you see it).
It is also funny …

clayoat reviewed The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

Review of 'The curious incident of the dog in the night-time' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

As a character piece, this is alright! It seems to believe it has something to say about autism generally though, and taken as such presents a pretty bad stereotype, not unlike a literary Rain Man.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I have a personal soft spot for this book since both seeing the play and using it as my senior thesis subject (ugh!). For all the times that I've combed over this, it's never gotten boring. If anything, I've only found the book more and more interesting as more critical readings have come out.

Its has its flaws, believe me. I can totally understand how people can not like this book. I can't help but overlook them.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

“Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”

Weird confession. I like prime numbers. They make sense to me. I'm a tiny bit like Christopher, and I think that's why I love this book so much.

What's it all about? It's an interesting perspective into the mind of a boy who is autistic, intelligent in many ways, but still immature to the ways of the world.

Journey with Christopher as he solves the mystery of his neighbor's dog. Travel with him as he strikes out on his own to discover what happened to Wellington, and why. Like me, you might be surprised by the ending. Christopher doesn't necessarily get the answers he wants, but instead …

“Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”

Weird confession. I like prime numbers. They make sense to me. I'm a tiny bit like Christopher, and I think that's why I love this book so much.

What's it all about? It's an interesting perspective into the mind of a boy who is autistic, intelligent in many ways, but still immature to the ways of the world.

Journey with Christopher as he solves the mystery of his neighbor's dog. Travel with him as he strikes out on his own to discover what happened to Wellington, and why. Like me, you might be surprised by the ending. Christopher doesn't necessarily get the answers he wants, but instead gets a lesson in life.

I really enjoyed the different narrator voice from Christopher. I didn't find it gimmicky like some readers, instead I found it to be a delightful journey. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Not a mystery, but a coming-of-age novella, narrated by an autistic boy. You get to see the world through his eyes, and watch him leave the safe cocoon of his familiar world, stumbling through all the normal things that we take for granted. A slender book, which was probably good, as the conceit might have gotten stale if it had gone on too long.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Abandoning this book because the kid narrator really makes me want to slap him in the face. Maybe it's because he reminds me a bit of myself when I was younger. And I really do want to slap my younger self in the face for thinking I was so much smarter than everyone but really I was just being an asshole. It was really the chapter about the revelation of who killed the dog and their casual dismissal and uncaringness (which I won't mention due to the spoiler) that made me angry enough to abandon this book. Maybe the last half is good but I don't think I'll come back to it unless I'm really bored or someone convinces me otherwise.

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

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The story will draw you into the tellers world.
Shouldn't all books do that.

Matthew M. Conroy reviewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Read very fast while sick abed. I thought it was fantastic: very moving.

Annette C. Boehm reviewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a very clever book, a murder mystery told from the perspective of a boy with autism-spectrum disorder. When the neighbour's dog is found dead on the lawn, he sets out to find the murderer. This would be fun to read for young adults as well as adults - I read it shortly after it first came out (so I was no young adult by any measure) and I really enjoyed it. The boy narrator is very thorough in his investigation, goes down interesting roads in order to find out what really happened, even faces some of his fears. The chapters are numbered only with prime numbers, which I thought was a nice touch. Having studied psychology for some time, I can say that Mark Haddon does a good job of showing the world through the lens of autism / Aspergers.