Autism insight (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Adult Edition - Mark Haddon)

Member Name: CPTDANIELS

Product:	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Adult Edition - Mark Haddon
Date:	07/03/09 (405 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Facinating story so much to learn from it

Disadvantages: Too much Maths for me

Background:

At my work they encourage us to share books that we have already read with other employees. These are all put in the Staff rest room and this is where I found this one. I knew little about this book or the subject matter so I thought it was time I broaden my horizons.

About the author:

Mark Haddon was born in Northampton in 1962. In his short writing career he has already produced 15 novels. He has mainly written children's books for which he has received many awards including two Bafta's. Mark is a man of many talents as in addition to being an author he is also a successful screenwriter and illustrator.

Synopsis of the book:

Christopher Boone is a fifteen-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome.
This for those who do not know is a form of autism, which often makes a persons social and communication skills limited. He is very clever with facts and figures but dislikes things he doesn't know or recognise. He is brilliant at Maths and is studying to take his A level, something that is unheard of at his Special Needs School.

He is wondering round his road when he discovers his neighbour Mrs Spear's poodle, dead with a garden fork in it. So he decides to play detective and find out who murdered the animal. This could be difficult as he has never been further than the end of the road on his own, so this adventure could take him into unchartered territory.

His father is not keen for him to put his nose into other people's business, but undeterred he carries on his investigation in private. This work will lead him into frightening new situations, which will change his life forever. Can he find the truth, when the world doesn't understand him?

My thoughts on the book:

Where to start? I found this book a fascinating and rewarding read. It was logical and I particularly liked the way the author explained in detail how Christopher felt and why. I do not have much knowledge of Asperger's syndrome but it did broaden my understanding of this and how a person with it feels about things.

I had never heard of this book before I picked it up and read it. I was immediately interested by the strange title of the novel. I also noticed that this book won the Whitbread Book of the Year as it proudly stated on the front cover. So given that I was keen to see what made this such a successful book.

From there, I read the summary of the book on the back cover. This gave the reader a brief outline of what it was all about. I used to work in Mental Health and in my time I had little dealing with Aspergers Syndrome so I was keen to learn some more about it. I thought even if the story was average I would at least hopefully learn more about it.

The story was simple enough on this face of it, but because of Christopher's condition it was very interesting to see how he went about his investigation. What surprised me was I expected the whole book to be taken up with this, but to my surprise there was a much bigger and more exciting story within this one.

I liked the way it was written and the way the author explained from Christopher's perspective all his likes and dislikes, allowing the reader to have a greater understanding of his condition. From that I could see why he reacted the way he did to certain situations and also why someone who doesn't understand the condition could react in a negative way to him.

Indeed the only thing I struggled with was Christopher's intelligence. He was far too clever at Maths for me and to be honest it's a subject that bores me. So when was documenting square route sums or quadratic equations I switched off as I don't understand them.

The book for me was well paced and quite gentle in speed. That was until around a third of the way through, when it really become fascinating and quicker in pace. I found this part onwards riveting and I admired Christopher's for the steps he was taking and the courage he was displaying.

Christopher was undoubtedly the star and lead character in the book and it was lovely to get his perspective on life and how he felt about situations going on around him. In most books I read I dislike the lead character, but in this one I had nothing but respect and admiration for this strong willed young man.

I found I learnt a lot of new things about Asperger's and I could see a person with this conditions logic in way they feel as they do given a situation. As a result I felt a little ashamed of myself for my own ignorance, but at least now I have a greater understanding and subsequently I have read several articles on it on the Internet.

The book's support characters all played a very minor role in the novel. I like the way throughout the book Christopher kept referring to Siobhan his teacher at school. Her advice and common sense clearing had a huge influence on him and always stood him in good stead given any uncomfortable situation. I thought it was good that such a role model had such a positive influence on him.

This for me was a good and fascinating read for me. As a result I not only learnt more about Christopher's condition but it has inspired me to broaden my knowledge on this area. So from that perspective it was very successful in heightening awareness certainly for me as I suspect it would for most readers. It made me consider how I would react given Christopher's situation and how hard it must be.

I thought the author portrayed Christopher in an intelligent way throughout the book. He did so in an understanding and sensitive way without in any way seeming dismissive or unfeeling about the condition.

The only thing I found a little annoying other than the Maths was all the quotes and reviews by other authors and publications. For me it was enough to know it had won the book of the year award, I knew from that this must be a quality novel, I didn't need to hear it another 30 times from people I did not know.

The length of the novel was about right to complete and do justice to the story. For the reader it gave an excellent insight into Christopher's life and how he deals with things. There were regular chapters, which typically for Christopher began in his own unique way. Which I thought was a clever touch and clearly demonstrated to me that the author had really got to grips with his character.

Conclusion:

A fascinating and highly enjoyable read. It is not often I have learnt so much from a book in so few pages while still being entertained. It certainly educated me and was both sympathetic and understanding of Aspergers syndrome. I totally recommend this book as it opened my eyes and gave me a greater knowledge and understanding of a sufferer's perspective on life.


Price: £5.99
Pages: 272
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0-099-45025-9
Year: 2003
About the author: www.markhaddon.com
About Aspergers Syndrome: www.asperger.org

Thank you for reading my review. It is published on Ciao and Dooyoo under the same user name.

@CPTDANIELS March 2009

Summary: Understanding Aspergers