Blog this item

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

(Today Show Book Club #13)

By Mark Haddon

(1603)

| Hardcover | 9780385512107

Like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

자폐증을 앓고 있는 15세 소년 Christopher John Francis Boone은 수학에는 천재지만 세상으로 나오지 못하고 자신만의 세계에 틀어박혀 있다. 어느날 밤 이웃집에서 키우는 강아지 Wellington이 죽은 채 발견되고, 이 사건을 추적하게 되면서 Christopher는 자연스럽게 세상과 소통하는 방법을 익히게 되고 한층 성장한다. 한편의 재미있는 미스테리 추리소설이자 자폐 소년의 따뜻한 성장 이야기이기도 한 작품.

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. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher's mind.
And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon's choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally."
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read. [예스24 제공]

Critics

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' by Mark Haddon

The narrator of this remarkable novel is Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy who has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, that means he is unable to understand human emotions. He is, however, highly intelligent and can rattle off all kinds of fact ... (read full critics)

readingmatters published on Mon, 27 Sep 2010

Funny old world

I am told that a teenager with Asperger's syndrome might very well have a sense of humour, even if it might seem odd to most of us. But clinical accuracy takes second place to narrative intent in Mark Haddon's novel, whose autistic narrator, Christop ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

See all critics

108 Reviews

18 people find this helpful

Is it really about autism? I doubt very much... to me, it's about how to deal with life. The notion of life is the main theme in the story. In frustration, we usually tend to find the easier way out, which usually is the worse way (at least not so morally correct). Yet, we are weak and feeble as we ... (continue)

Is it really about autism? I doubt very much... to me, it's about how to deal with life. The notion of life is the main theme in the story. In frustration, we usually tend to find the easier way out, which usually is the worse way (at least not so morally correct). Yet, we are weak and feeble as we are human. All too human? ka. It's actually quite heartbrokening when the kid's parents revealed their hardship in handling the him, yet he in no ways could aware of that. You can't accuse any character in the books cos, when you put yourselves into their position, could we gurantee that we can do a better job? I doubt...
Anyway, quotation again:
"Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them." (Chap. 19)

Is this helpful?

張小張・Cons said on Dec 19, 2006 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

7 people find this helpful

The author of this book has told a simple story with touching words.
Maybe, we should learn to see other people, no matter having autism or not, in a totally different angle. And then, the world will become a very different place.

Is this helpful?

Denise said on Dec 14, 2006 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

4 people find this helpful

" I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them. "

Is this helpful?

yopomelo said on Sep 21, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

A touching and extremely well written story about life and social relationships.

Through the lens of autism, life looks different, simpler and more complex at the same time. I gave it four stars only because I wouldn't put it in the impossible-to-miss section of my library, although some passages were deeply moving.

Is this helpful?

BlueBilly said on Feb 6, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

"All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are. I'm meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they have special needs. But this is stupid because everyone has learning difficulties because learning to speak ... (continue)

"All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are. I'm meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they have special needs. But this is stupid because everyone has learning difficulties because learning to speak French or understanding Relativity is difficult, and also everyone has special needs, like Father who has to carry a little packet of artificial sweetening tablets around with him to put in his coffee to stop him getting fat, or Mrs Peters who wears a beige-coloured hearing-aid, or Siobhan who has glasses so thick that they give you a headache if you borrow them, and none of these people are Special Needs, even if they have special needs."

Is this helpful?

Rents, party crasher said on Jan 30, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

4 stars because I liked the style, the original point of view. It simply catches you unprepared. How could you imagine life and relationships for a child with Asperger's Syndrom?

Is this helpful?

Ecila82 said on Jan 23, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback