Column: A rather curious incident

This is the second installment of Adria Nassim’s book reviews in recognition of Autism Awareness Month. The protagonists of the books she reviews deal with forms of autism or Asberger’s syndrome in some way and are written to help Indiana Daily Student readers keep an open mind in regard to autism and other disabilities.

Keep reading the IDS for the final installment of the book reviews.
 
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon

When people ask me to name the top five books I have ever read, somehow Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is always among them. I was first introduced to the book the summer before my sophomore year in high school when a family friend loaned it to me to take to summer camp.

To this day, I can still picture myself with my legs dangling over my bunk, enthralled by Haddon’s balance of conversational prose, sense of empathy and clear understanding of his character — 15-year-old Christopher Boone, who has a high functioning form of autism.

Christopher finds himself faced with a rather “curious incident” — a neighbor’s dog lying dead after being stabbed with a pitchfork.

Haddon, who worked with autistic individuals as a young man, opens the novel with Christopher deciding to “investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog.”

Christopher then decides to write a mystery novel about his adventure, stemming primarily from his interest in Sherlock Holmes.

As the story progresses, the reader begins to sense that this is much more than a story about a teenage boy out to solve the mystery of a dead dog. It is about a boy on a quest to make sense of a world that wasn’t exactly made for people like him.

Like many people on the autism spectrum, he uses unique habits and rituals to help instill a sense of predictability into his everyday life such as squaring numbers, avoiding the colors yellow and brown and always having to know precisely what time it is.

Haddon also explores the strain raising a child with special needs can sometimes have on a family.

This is Haddon’s first novel, and it was a national bestseller after publication in 2003.

After finishing the book, I felt as if I had been sitting in a coffee shop with Christopher as we chatted about what life was like for him on a day-to-day basis.

Readers find themselves laughing with Christopher at the idiosyncrasies of the world instead of at him, which makes for endearing chat and an engrossing read.

Haddon has crafted one of the most open, genuine and heartfelt characters in recent special needs writing.