What I read, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”

Filed in Uncategorized by on March 25, 2008

If you didn’t know, Delaware Liberal is supporting the Autism Walk.  In lieu of that I came across a pretty darn good book”

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon 

It was written through the lens of an autistic 15 year old.  It added a completely new perspective regarding the thought process of an autistic person.  The book was written at about a 4th grade level so even FSP readers should be able to enjoy it. 

The basic premise of the book is Christopher is “detecting who killed Mrs. Shears dog.”  Christopher is raised alone by his father and you learn in the beginning of the book his mom had passed away.  The trials and tribulations Christopher experiences while doing his “detecting” take you on a whirlwind of emotions.  I gained deeper insight into why autistic people groan, moan, don’t like to be touched and do their own thing sometimes. 

And the real man I am, I can even admit that I teared up at the end.   Being a divorced dad that co parented alone for 6 years following my divorce I can somewhat (I stress somewhat) understand what it must have been like for the father to have to raise his own autistic son alone.

3 Pizza’s with no cheese.  Christopher didn’t like anything yellow.  He loves red. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Cover

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  1. disbelief says:

    I read this, and Elizabeth Moon’s “Speed of Dark”. Both made me well-up. For some reason, Moon is considered a sci-fi paperback hack, but her book about autism was phenominal. I’d give both books two major thumbs up, not just because of politically correct subject matter, but because both were awesome.

  2. donviti says:

    thanks for the reference. I’m reading A Thousand Splendid Suns right now, but I will have to check that book out

  3. disbelief says:

    I read the first one (Kite Runner); a bit melodramatic plot-wise at the end, but a decent read. Lemme’ know whether 1.000 Suns is worth a trip to the used book store.

  4. donviti says:

    so far so good I think. I was going to start Kite Runner Monday actually.

    it’s sort of a history lesson of Afghanistan through the lens of women really. I think that a person not knowing about that brand of Islam and how they treat women would be well served to read it…

    I’m 1/2 way through and not having read the first one, I’d say I’m learning alot and enjoying it

  5. Duffy says:

    One book that’s more geared towards adults is “Thinking in pictures” by Temple Grandon. Very interesting and rather helpful.

    Thanks for recommendation, I’ll have to pick it up.

  6. disbelief says:

    A good read for women in Iran was “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. Its an autobiography about a female college professor. This one was true literature (meaning I missed the ray-guns and aliens in the stuff I usually read). A real good realistic picture of being a woman in the culture. But to get a lot our of it, you had to have a English Lit background in late 19th Century novels (the Bronte sisters), Faulkner, and of course Nobakov.

  7. cassandra_m says:

    “Reading Lolita” was a fantastic book. It seems to be not just memoir, but also cultural history (state of women in Iran) and litcrit from the experiences of Iranian women encountering some enlightenment thinking and values. If you haven’t read the books she talks about, you’ll definitely want to; if you have read them, you’ll want to reread them.

  8. donviti says:

    well, it sounds alot like A thousand splendid suns then actually

  9. disbelief says:

    Cassandra, ever read The Handmaiden’s Tale? I don’t think its by Ursula LeQuinn (sp?), but a lot like her style. Great book on a religious/male dominated society. You could substitute the Taliban or the Falwells for the fictional government, and it wouldn’t change anything.

  10. cassandra_m says:

    That book is by Margaret Atwood and was absolutely chilling. Certainly the Christian Nationalists among us would not find much appalling about the world imagined by Atwood.