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| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Category: Book
List Price: £10.99
Buy Used: £0.39
You Save: £10.60 (96%)
New (4) from £4.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  440 reviews
Sales Rank: 180048
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0385605870
EAN: 9780385605878
ASIN: 0385605870
Publication Date: May 1, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Little River Books dispatch daily from South Wales. Customer satisfaction is our guarantee.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (or the curious incident of the dog in the night-time as it appears within the book) is an appropriate one for Mark Haddon's ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate something important about its narrator. Christopher is an intelligent youth who lives in the functional hinterland of autism--every day is an investigation for him because of all the aspects of human life that he does not quite get. When the dog next door is killed with a garden fork, Christopher becomes quietly persistent in his desire to find out what has happened and tugs away at the world around him until a lot of secrets unravel messily. Haddon makes an intelligent stab at how it feels to, for example, not know how to read the faces of the people around you, to be perpetually spooked by certain colours and certain levels of noise, to hate being touched to the point of violent reaction. Life is difficult for the difficult and prickly Christopher in ways that he only partly understands; this avoids most of the obvious pitfalls of novels about disability because it demands that we respect--perhaps admire--him rather than pity him. --Roz Kaveney
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| Customer Reviews: Read 435 more reviews...
 A Really Enjoyable & Informative Read October 21, 2008
For me it's not the story that was the best part of the book, it's the way Asperger's Syndrome is explained through it.
The story itself is short but the experiences of Christopher in his quest for the truth about what happened to Wellington the dog really try to make you understand what people with Asperger's go through, and that's thanks to the way the author has written it.
Really good and glad I read it.
 drawn into his life October 21, 2008
What a great book. I borrowed this briefly and was instantly hooked, but had to give the book back straight away. Months later it was given to me and I read it very quickly. Somehow the author draws you right into the characters life and you need to follow through what happens. I was quite worried about how things would turn out, and will say no more or else spoil it for others. It was an incredibly satisfying book too. Experts say it's also a good take on the characters condition so if thats the case it's been an education for me too. For someone who is not the world's greatest reader it surprised me to find a book that was simply about ordinary life and people and simple events, it really was gripping. I have read the start of 'Spot of Bother' and it also has drawn me right in, can't wait to read some more.
A touching novel September 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I know this book has garnered a large and varied response, ranging from disdain for its unconventional structure and use of vulgar words to an admiration for how it views real life from a detached point of view. However, I found that I rather liked this book, and found it a genuinely touching book.
I won't dwell into how Haddon constructs the story, but Haddon's story is thought-provoking and touching at the same time. Haddon's plot questions the disdain we have towards people who are not of our thinking, and his drawing of the characters is so real that you feel as if you could reach out to touch them. I am struck by the way that Haddon draws the character of Christopher, because in some ways he shares many of our frustrations but yet he is still a loveable character. His untangling of the vicissitudes of everyday people is what propels the story forward. I know the plot may not be the best in how it moves abruptly to the investigation of the murder of a dog to the conflict between his parents. However, once you find that the parental disagreement is the heart of the novel and the dog incident is the key to it, the plot begins to make sense.
I know some people have raised concerns about the vulgarities peppered throughout the book. As such I see that it isn't suitable for children. I'm aware that such words, especially the F-word, are offensive but even so the expletives aren't the essence of the book and don't detract from Christopher's dealings with his predicaments.
In short, I heartily recommend this book to all, as one of the most interesting, and accessible, novels of recent years.
 A few weeks in the life of Christopher Boone September 25, 2008
This can be quite a hard book to read, documenting several weeks of the life of Aspergers sufferer Christopher Boone. Caught up in the aftermath of his parent's bitter marriage break-up, Christopher goes against his father's wishes to investigate the violent death of a near neighbour's dog. However, his emulation of his fictional hero, Sherlock Holmes, leads him to discover things about his parents that he certainly had not bargained for and the ramifications for his broken family are huge.
Narrated by Christopher himself, the book starts of in a fairly light-hearted way and some of his habits and thoughts such as his irrational dislike of the colour yellow and France are actually quite funny. However, when his normally very patient father is driven to breaking point by Christopher's actions and strikes him, the whole tone is changed and it becomes a painful, but poignant read.
Whilst it would be difficult to truly get in the head of an AS sufferer, Haddon does a good job (in my opinion, writing as someone with an autistic nephew) and makes this book work to a point. It could be accused of being (Rain Man) cliched with Christopher's infinite powers of observation and almost genius level of maths, but he does not dilute the downside to his condition either. Frequent violent and noisy outbursts are on show, as well as Christopher's penchant for hiding in small, quiet spaces. What started of as charming and eccentric mannerisms soon become irritating and you sympathise greatly with Christopher and more so with his parents. A lot of Christoper's musings on science and maths seem to be "copy and paste" padding though, that add little to the rather Spartan story as a whole.
Overall, I can't highly recommend this book. Someone with a special needs child or who works in that area could gain from this in a "thank God it's not only me" kind of way but personally, I found this a just about ok read.
Charming, different and easy to read September 23, 2008
I love this book. It is different from anything else I've read. Easy to read, engaging and charming. An almost perfect book.
Even if you don't normally like reading books it is worth giving this a go.
"A Spot Of Bother" was a bit of a disappointment after this.
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