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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Audio CD)
by Mark Haddon
| Category:
Dog murder, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 268.00
MSL price:
¥ 248.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A fast paced, funny, and poignant novel, that will make readers wonder at all the things they miss when they can't see everything. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 15 items |
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A reader (MSL quote), Canberra, Australia
<2007-01-24 00:00>
I spent my last 10 Australian Dollars on this book, just before flying out of Australia. I know its worth spending your last cent and dollar on this book because Ive been hearing about this book long before I finally got the chance to have it.
It is an easy read, as it is a book for young adults. Fast readers can consume this book in a matter of just a couple of hours, but I wanted to prolong it because I didn't want the story to be finished so soon. (Rightly commented by The Observer, 'Gave me that rare, greedy feeling of: this is so good I want to read it all at once but I mustn't or it will be over too soon'.)
15 year old Christopher Boone lives in Swindon with his father. But he is no ordinary 15 year old. He is extremely intelligent, with a liking for prime numbers, and solving difficult mathematical equations. He also only recognizes 2 emotions: Happy and Sad. He cannot fathom how there can be emotions in between. He cannot tell any lies, and he does not understand metaphors. He does not like people or places that are unfamiliar to him. He wants everything planned and organized. He does not like to be touched, and does not like his food touching each other.
He does not consider himself 'not normal' though, and thinks that everyone is a 'Special Needs' person. One night, his life takes a turn as he discovers his neighbor's dog murdered with a fork. Christopher decides to embark on an investigation to find out who murdered Wellington the dog.
As he sets forth on his search for the dog murderer, Christopher discovers a whole lot more than just who killed the dog. His adventure takes him as far as reaching London on his own, and in the end, he gets a renewed courage and confidence as he discovers that there are a lot more things that he is capable of.
Christopher manages to face both his inability to be 'normal' and the pressures of a broken family. When 'normal' people breakdown at the onset of a broken home, this book shows that Christopher, a `not so normal' person considered by society, faces his dilemmas with a beautiful determined and non-fatalistic attitude.
I initially thought that this book would be a sort of "Forrest Gump Junior" story, but its far more than just a simple person/great success story. This book is really deserving of being a Whitbread Book of the Year. Young people and adults alike can learn a lot from this book--both about being a 'special needs person' and believing in yourself.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-24 00:00>
I'm busy - overscheduled. So when I sit down to read a book, I want escape and entertainment. Enlightenment is acceptable but often accidental. Curious Incident well exceeded my hopes and expectations. It IS harsh, but when it catapulted me into the world of a sixteen year old boy with autism - a new light went on. I have no personal experience or association with anyone struggling with this misalignment of intellect to senses, and yet I connected. I understood and saw the extreme logic of his reactions, even found pieces of myself in Christopher. Curious Incident took me forever more out of judgement of or pity toward anyone living with autism. It transported me to another world, another consciousness of being that is not a mythical fantasy world, not a faraway exotic land or culture - but a boy walking down my street. I strongly recommend this book - most especially to those who enjoy mind travel.
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A reader (MSL quote), Fort Washington, PA
<2007-01-24 00:00>
I read with amusement the reviews of the people who didn't get this book....and of course they wouldn't, since this book is written from the point of view of a teenaged boy who's head is wired differently from the average person's. As a person with Asperger's and as a parent of the child on a spectrum, I can say with absolute certainty that Mark Haddon gets it, and he has written a true word portrait of a young man who has a story to tell. What makes it so true is Christopher's voice; I laughed out loud many times throughout in recognition, almost as many times as I cringed.
It was an enjoyable read. It was a painful read. But it's a read that will be with me a long time. Thanks, Mark Haddon.
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J. Cameron-Smith (MSL quote), ACT, Australia
<2007-01-24 00:00>
Mark Haddon's hero Christopher is a triumph! Locked in a world that few of us catch more than a glimpse of but many of us are aware of, he ventures out to make sense of a mystery.
Along the way, Christopher confronts some of his demons and shows extraordinary courage in renegotiating the orderly control that is so important to him. Christophers learns much as he makes his journey but not, I suspect, as much as we readers do.
Whether this is an accurate portrayal of autism I cannot judge. What I can relate to, though, is the isolation in a foreign world which is very much a part of life for many of us.
Highly recommended to all who need to be aware of different realities.
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Jean E. Pouliot (MSL quote), Newburyport, MA United States
<2007-01-24 00:00>
"Curious Incident" starts out as a story of a murdered dog, but quickly develops into much more. Christopher Boone, the book's narrator, tells us of his discovery of the mysterious death of Wellington, the neighbor's poodle. But it quickly become apparent that there is something "off" about Christopher. He screams when people touch him; he is weirdly attentive to details that most people ignore; he is extremely literal-minded; and he is oddly polite in a mechanical way that is unusual for a teenager. Clearly, he is either autistic or has Asperger's Syndrome, and this puts a bizarre twist on what would be an ordinary mystery.
In spite of his father's opposition, Christopher decides to track down Wellington's murderer. For a young man in his condition, this proves to be a daunting task. Christopher's dogged persistence draws him into painful family secrets and takes him far beyond the confines of his comfortable and predictable life. That last comment, about his "comfortable and predictable life" is not a slap at his family's bourgeois values. For Christopher, predictability and routine are lifelines to sanity and functioning. Without his time table and the rules invented by his teachers, he is lost. That he is willing to step outside these bounds is an indicator of his courage and determination.
It doesn't take long to begin seeing the world through Christopher's eyes, and this is a wonderful by-product of this book. Autistic children seem alien, with their routines and lack of affect. But seen from the inside, there is a definite logic to their actions. By the end of the book, I cringed when Christopher was mishandled by people who should have known better than to ignore his taboos -- the color yellow, strangers and using unfamiliar toilets. By the end of the book, I was starting to wonder whether I was more like Christopher than the others - those poor individuals who see only a nice field of cows when Christopher sees 19, including the 5 facing uphill, not to mention another two dozen details.
"Curious Incident" does not make Christopher a saint. He can lie -- by purposefully avoiding the literal sense of the commands of others. And he is difficult and exasperating, especially to his working class parents who love him, but cannot understand his world. The centrifugal effect that autism can have on a family is on display throughout this story.
I have been recommending "Curious Incident" to everyone I have spoken to. The book was an informative and a thoroughly enjoyable experience from beginning to end. Narrator Jeff Woodman was wonderful, expertly giving Christopher just enough emotion to avoid monotone, but not so much as to make him unbelievable.
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1 2 Total 2 pages 15 items |
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