The Dog in the Night-Time
Already done reading Harry Potter? This is a book suggestion.
'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' is a feel-good novel, definitely worthy of literary merit and a good summer read.
In a publishing first, Mark Haddon's first novel for older readers, 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' has been published simultaneously in two imprints: one for young adults with a cheerful front cover, and for adults. The author wrote it intentionally for adults, and he was surprised when his publisher proposed to market it for teenager audiences as well.
In 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time,' Christopher Boone discovers the dead body of his neighbour's poodle, speared by a garden fork. The young boy is immediately accused of the crime. He decides to investigate the dog's death to clear his name.
But the 15-year old teenager's interpretation of life is limited. He has a form of autism, the Asperger syndrome, which makes his understanding of human behaviour and relationship much more difficult. He hates the colours yellow and brown, but he loves red. He fears new places, strangers and he screams when people touch him. On the other hand he is honest, has a photographic memory and is gifted at mathematics. This unique perspective makes him a very good detective.
After completed his mathematic test with success, he plans to take further test to go to university and to become an astronaut. His father, a busy engineer, is the only adult looking after Christopher. Christopher was told that his mother died before the beginning of the book. During his investigation, Christopher discovers the truth about his mother. He records everything in his notebook, entitled 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'.
The book is written in the first-person. Its construction reflects the narrator's perception of the world and his passion for mathematics. The chapters are numbered only with prime number, which are numbers that can only be divided by 1 and the prime number itself. As a result, the first chapter is Chapter two, the second is Chapter 3, then 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, etc.
Mark Haddon's debut novel is about love, determination, through the eyes of an autistic boy. The insertation of puzzles, graphics and drawings allows the reader to understand how Christopher's mind works. He "gets it right": his view of autism is not tragic. Nothing in the book seems 'kitsch' or tacky. In his early adulthood, the author worked with autistic people.The characters are real, with their own virtues and faults. Despite the Asperger syndrome, the young boy grows and changes. He overcomes his fears, he completes his A-level mathematical test and he pursues his dream of becoming an astronaut.
This feel-good novel is guaranteed to pick you up if you're feeling down or just bored.
Who is Mark Haddon?
"I'm a writer. Writing is how I want to spend most of my time on the planet," he wrote on his website.
Haddon lives in Oxford, Great Britain. He graduated from Oxford University in 1981. Later, he obtained an M.Sc. in English Literature at Edinburgh University. After his studies, he worked with people with physical and mental disabilities. He also worked as an illustrator for magazines and a cartoonist. He wrote his first book for children in 1987. He published many other children books, many of which he illustrated. He is known for the Agent Z serie, that became a Children's BBC sitcom. From 1996, he worked on television projects.
His first novel, 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' was a huge success. The book is sold in no less than 15 countries. Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book
On his website, Haddon explains that he did a lot of publicity after the publication of The Curious Incident. "But after eighteen months it was sending me crazy... So for the moment I'm saying a polite 'No' to everything unless there are exceptional reasons...," he wrote.
His first book of poetry, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, was published in 2005.His second adult-novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in September 2006.
Mark Haddon also teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and Oxford University.
Related Article: A Spot of Bother -Bestseller
