[Review] The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Title of the Book : The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Author : Mark Haddon
Publisher : Vintage

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.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is my July selection for monthly keyword reading challenge (phew! That’s a long title for a book). This book is a tale about a boy with social disability who wanted to solve a dog murder case. The story is told by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15 years old boy with high ability in solving math problems. One night, he found his neighbor’s dog was killed (the dog’s name is Wellington). He then wanted to find the murderer and wrote a book about it. So this book is actually his journal or his first ‘mystery book’. 

I thought this book is a crime-mystery-children book. But when I learn about Christopher’s condition, I know that there will be so much more than that. He just wanted to solve a mystery about who murdered Wellington but then he revealed an awful truth about his family.

Christopher has an appealing way of thinking. It was simple, and I don’t think I could see things the way he sees them. Like when he said that people’s words are usually confusing and don’t make sense. He gives an example that when there’s a sign saying ‘Keep off the grass.’ He thinks that the sentence is ambiguous. It doesn’t tell us which grass we’re not allowed to walk on because there’s a lot of grass. Another notable thing he pointed out is when he said that a white lie is not a lie at all. He thinks that everything we say is a white lie. When someone asks us what we wanted to do today, we would answer some important things. We wouldn’t say all the things we actually wanted to do. That’s why he thinks that people say white lie all the time. 

I enjoy reading this book. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time only has a hundred and more pages. I was attracted by the Wellington mystery at first, but when I learn about his family, I wanted to know more about his family. I’m curious about how he handles that situation. There’s a time when I got annoyed by Christopher. In the end, I just like him and think that he’s adorable in his unique way. I’m glad I chose this book for my July selection.