A Curious Look into a Curious Incident

I have been reading “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon. The book is about an autistic kid, about 15 years old, named Christopher John Francis Boone, who lives in Swindon, England. One night he finds the dog, Wellington, that belongs to his neighbor, Mrs. Shears, dead. This book is the story of him fighting his autism, while also using it to aid him, to solve the mystery. 

Against his father’s wishes, Christopher writes this book about his adventure for a school project. During a misunderstanding, Christopher hit a policeman and went into custody only briefly and with a warning. His release had the condition that he stopped his investigations into the dog’s murder immediately. Despite this, he continued to search for the truth.

This book is not like other mystery books. Rather than being all about the mystery, it is more about his relationships with people and how his autism affects the investigations and his relationships with people. A major relationship in this book is with his mother. He initially thinks that his mom is dead because that is what his father told him. Instead, he finds her in London after finding letters from her that had been hidden. 

I think that this book is a great read and is even divided into sections which makes it easier to read and unique. The book provides a great balance between the mystery section of the book and the relationships section of the book. It also gives a decent insight as to what it is like to be autistic because the author worked with autistic individuals.