Overview
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, Christophers carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbors 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 Christophers mind. And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddons 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.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9780385512107
- ISBN-10: 0385512104
- Publisher: Doubleday Books
- Publish Date: July 2003
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.85 pounds
- Page Count: 226
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Holmes is where the heart is
Imagine having the capacity to calculate every prime number up to 7,057, but an utter inability to express anger, love or fear. That's the brilliant, bewildering reality for Christopher John Francis Boone, the 15-year-old narrator of Mark Haddon's whimsical first novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
An autistic savant who finds comfort in contemplating the solar system and doing "maths," Christopher Boone lives with his father, a good-natured handyman, in London. (Though his parents are estranged, his father tells Christopher his mother died of a heart attack a few years before).
In some ways, the young boy's life is that of a typical teenhe enjoys caring for his pet rat, Toby, and dreams of being an astronautand in others, it is rigid and ritualistic. He refuses to eat yellow or brown foods, or foods that have touched each other on his plate.
When Christopher discovers his neighbor's dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, any semblance of normalcy in the child's existence comes to a screeching halt. Inspired by his hero, whodunit doyen Sherlock Holmes, Boone sets out in search of clues to the canine conundrum. What begins as a quirky mystery quickly transforms into a moving coming-of-age tale in which a child comes to terms with his parents' troubled marriage.
A creative writing professor at Oxford University, London-born Haddon worked with autistic savants as a young man. Add to that his vast experience as a writer and illustrator of award-winning children's bookshis drawings, from constellations to a depiction of the time-space continuum, are sprinkled throughout the text and you have all the makings of a crackling cinematic success. It's little wonder that Harry Potter producers, Heyday Films, in conjunction with showbiz veterans Brad Grey and Brad Pitt, snapped up the film rights faster than you can say "Elementary, Watson."
Allison Block is a writer and editor in La Jolla, California.
Holmes is where the heart is
Imagine having the capacity to calculate every prime number up to 7,057, but an utter inability to express anger, love or fear. That's the brilliant, bewildering reality for Christopher John Francis Boone, the 15-year-old narrator of Mark Haddon's whimsical first novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
An autistic savant who finds comfort in contemplating the solar system and doing "maths," Christopher Boone lives with his father, a good-natured handyman, in London. (Though his parents are estranged, his father tells Christopher his mother died of a heart attack a few years before).
In some ways, the young boy's life is that of a typical teenhe enjoys caring for his pet rat, Toby, and dreams of being an astronautand in others, it is rigid and ritualistic. He refuses to eat yellow or brown foods, or foods that have touched each other on his plate.
When Christopher discovers his neighbor's dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, any semblance of normalcy in the child's existence comes to a screeching halt. Inspired by his hero, whodunit doyen Sherlock Holmes, Boone sets out in search of clues to the canine conundrum. What begins as a quirky mystery quickly transforms into a moving coming-of-age tale in which a child comes to terms with his parents' troubled marriage.
A creative writing professor at Oxford University, London-born Haddon worked with autistic savants as a young man. Add to that his vast experience as a writer and illustrator of award-winning children's bookshis drawings, from constellations to a depiction of the time-space continuum, are sprinkled throughout the text and you have all the makings of a crackling cinematic success. It's little wonder that Harry Potter producers, Heyday Films, in conjunction with showbiz veterans Brad Grey and Brad Pitt, snapped up the film rights faster than you can say "Elementary, Watson."
Allison Block is a writer and editor in La Jolla, California.