Compassion

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Whaddya-think Wednesday:


Yeah yeah. I'm getting a little carried away with the alliterations. :)

Today I bring you ... The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

I just finished reading this a couple nights ago. It's close to 200 pages and I finished it ... in a couple weeks? It feels like I read through it pretty quickly though. I guess everything is relative.

Anyway, back to the book. I was pretty happy with it and would definitely recommend it. It's about a British high-schooler (I believe?*) with autism, told from his perspective and all of the events unfolding in his life after his neighbor's dog is killed and he decides to investigate. So, it's sort of a mystery/study of humanity and the family unit combo.
*I'm not entirely sure of his age because I don't remember them mentioning it. He is in high school, but - maybe because of his autism or the fact that he's British, or both? - he doesn't talk like an American teenager would and I had to keep reminding myself of his youth throughout the book.

For me, it was an excellent glimpse into the mind of a person with autism and just how hard it would be to have to live with those thought patterns. At the same time, it's surprisingly relatable - I found myself wondering if I was autistic, on occasion, simply because I found I could somewhat relate to some of his quirks. For ex, if I, too, see 4 yellow cars in a row, it means it's a Black Day and I need to sit in the corner and groan.

:) Obviously kidding. There were other little things though that have now slipped my mind. He does talk in extremely long run-on sentences at times and I found that after reading it for a while, I would start to connect all of my thoughts with "and." The power of persuasion ...

I read on the inside jacket (which I DON'T recommend doing until AFTER you've read the book, because it gives other things away!! booooo .... bad editors!!*) that it's an interesting look at emotion from a person who has no emotion. I found this to be very true, especially at the end. As a parent, my heart went out to his parents who tried so hard to have a connection with him because they LOVED him as their son, which was something he didn't seem to fully grasp. I also very much admire his father's patience with him. Wow.
*This ruined part of the mystery for me, so seriously don't do it!

OVERALL RATING: ***1/2 The ending was definitely believable and realistic, but maybe too much so because it was, in turn, somewhat anti-climactic. Don't let this dissuade you from reading it though. It was still a good read and I'm glad I took the the time to read it.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...