The Blue Owlary

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 
Published by Random House LLC on May 18th 2004 
Genres: Coming of Age, Fiction, General,Mystery & Detective 
Pages: 320 
Format: Paperback 
Goodreads 
 

Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour’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 favourite 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 Christopher tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers 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 emotions. The effect is dazzling, making for one of the freshest debut in years: a comedy, a tearjerker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

Some people have Harry Potter or Sherlock Holmes as their first come to book moment. But no. This is the book that made me fall in love with reading. My teacher assigned it to me for honor lit, and so I got the audio book. 

Chris, to me, is funny, real and just… I don’t know how to explain it. The fact that he has this illness which makes in really unable to understand human emotion is amazing to me. 

I won’t do a full review but I think it’s a book everyone should read at least once. It’s not really the “Curious Incident of the Dog”, which Chris finds in his front lawn with a pitch fork in it, but more of Chris growth. It’s about a boy and his family all trying to deal with issues but not truly able to speak to one another.