" The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time " Mark Haddon.

Plot overview

Christopher Boone is a brilliant autistic teenager who discovers one night the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour’s dog. After a misunderstanding with the police that gets him arrested, Christopher decides to solve the mystery of the murderer of the dog, despite his father's banning. Thus, Christopher decides to write a book (the book we’re reading as the novel) to explain his detective stories: he investigates around the neighbourhood and will discover more than the murderer of the dog…

Analysis of major characters

Christopher Boone: He’s fifteen and lives with his father in Swindom in England. Suffering from autism, Christopher’s principle characteristic is his incapability to imagine the thoughts and feelings of other people. This inability to empathize is one of the most prominent types of autism related disorders. This condition has made him extraordinarily gifted in math, science and he has a great memory but he’s very handicapped socially, indeed, he dislikes social interaction. He lives in his own world.

Ed Boone: Christopher’s father is extremely protective of Christopher and cares a lot for him. He gets really frustrated when he’s not able to understand his son’s behaviour. Ed often goes to extremes when demonstrating his emotions: he can explode in anger during stressful situations. He also feels devastated by the way his relationship with his wife (Christopher’s mother) ended two years earlier.

Judy Boone: Early in the book, Christopher writes that her mother died of a heart attack two years before. We only view Christopher’s mother thanks to his memories. He remembers her as loving but impatient. Later in the book, we learn that she had written letters during two years, where she explains she left Christopher and his father because she thought they would be happier without her. We also see in these letters the intense frustration she felt with Christopher and her inability to deal with his behavior. When we finally meet her in person, Judy turns out to be strong-willed and independent. She clearly loves Christopher but also has doubts about her ability to take care of him.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. This is the kind of book I would recommend to anyone. It felt good to read this story, it drew me in, made me laugh and helped me see the world through different eyes.

Christopher Boone makes “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time” a different novel, indeed, he has a unique narrative technique. Haddon gives a voice to autistic children and tells a story that is not only entertaining but also insightful and informative, in a very intelligent and accessible way.

What I loved in this book is the way we “enter” in Christopher’s mind. The fact that the story is written in the first-person perspective permits us to understand his world and makes this story kind of innocent… We don’t know that Christopher has Asperger's syndrome, though this is never specified in the book, but it’s clear that this boy is not like the others. I find him very touching, and it’s pretty impressive how far we get attached to him. Features of his personality are specials: if people touch him, he will hit them, becoming angry with him just makes it worse, he hates the colors yellow and

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