Michael Wu - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

-

                    (Review) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon’s, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time tells the story of 15-year-old Christopher Boone, living in Swindon, England, who narrates his journey of solving the mystery of a stabbed dog in his neighborhood.

Christopher has an insanely good memory. He's able to remember tiny details about everyday occurrences. This almost computer-like memory makes him a great detective but also means that he often gets overwhelmed in places with a lot of noise or visuals. The only way to clear his mind is to close his eyes and groan to block out any outside sound. Another consequence of Christopher’s computer-like mind is that he thinks extremely concretely and literally, having no sense of abstract concepts such as jokes, metaphors, certain phrases, and emotions. Therefore, communication between him and others is significantly slowed by his lack of understanding of others’ feelings.

Understandably, Christopher loves straight-to-the-point subjects like math that require him to logically analyze concrete facts and numbers. He takes advanced math courses at school and has memorized every prime number up to 7,057. Even the chapter numbers in the book are replaced with prime numbers. His methodical thinking is an asset to him as he tries to identify who killed the neighborhood dog, as he feels personally responsible. After investigating for a while, however, he realizes that his own family has much more to do with this case than he initially thought. I realized that this story's plot runs much deeper than I first thought. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a pretty easy read. Mark Haddon styles the book in the way Christopher would write it. The writing structure is full of run-on sentences explaining every little detail back to back. The sentences almost feel like reading out a long math equation, a line of code from a computer, or someone’s actual train of thought. There's no need to break down the writing that much, and I read through the whole book in less than a week.

I give it a 4,943 out of 7,057 (~7/10).

Michael Wu

Comments

  1. AlexSeptember 12, 2022 at 11:02 AM

    I like how you described the way the author wrote the book, it makes me want to try the book out for myself!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olisa AllanahSeptember 14, 2022 at 7:28 PM

    I like all the detail you put in your review, I might just read this book!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sasha GoncaloSeptember 19, 2022 at 9:25 AM

    Hi,
    It sounds like an interesting book. I was curious if you felt the writing style of robotic simple sentences added to the book because it reflects the main characters personality, or did it just make reading it feel repetitive?
    -Sasha

    ReplyDelete
  4. Emmie VargasSeptember 26, 2022 at 9:34 AM

    This book struck me after seeing the cover and the dog. Your review was even more striking. I loved the descriptiveness and the details that create a perfect picture of the plot for the reader of this review. I also thought the rating system relating back to the story was very funny. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. JoeyOctober 13, 2022 at 8:42 AM

    Why did it have to be a dog?? Stabbing is bad either way, but a DOG?????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JoeyOctober 13, 2022 at 8:42 AM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Tintin: Explorer of the Moon - Saif Shakir

-
Image
  Summary This story starts out with Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Wolff getting ready to go to the moon for an expedition. When they enter the rocket, they do all the necessary procedures, and they take off with no issues. However, early on in the journey, Tintin finds detectives Thomson and Thompson on the aircraft. When the detectives were confronted about this, they explained to Tintin how they were just inspecting the inside of the rocket. Them being on the rocket created many difficulties because there may not be enough oxygen supply to go to the moon and back for fourteen days. When the rocket finally reaches the moon, both Tintin and Haddock decide to be the first people to walk on the moon, and they explore the little caves and structures of the moon. Right when everything is going well, the whole crew is surprised by Jorgen, a spy who is looking to sabotage Tintin’s mission. Jorgen then ties up all the crew members and is looking to kill all th...
Read more

Gus - "The Silver Chair." Narnia

-
     "The Silver Chair" is the fourth published book in the beloved fantasy series "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis. It takes readers on a thrilling adventure set in the magical land of Narnia. The story follows Eustace Scrubb, a character from a previous book, and his classmate Jill Pole, who find themselves transported to Narnia by Aslan, the great lion and ruler of the realm.      In Narnia, Eustace and Jill are given a mission by Aslan. They must rescue Prince Rilian, the rightful heir to the throne of Narnia, who has mysteriously disappeared. Guided by instructions from Aslan, the two children embark on a perilous journey to the underworld, aided by Puddleglum, a courageous Marsh-wiggle.      As they venture deeper into the dark and dangerous realm, Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum encounter various obstacles, including a treacherous queen who tries to enchant and deceive them. They must rely on their wits, bravery, and the guidanc...
Read more

Tucker Gergen - The 7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcasle

-
Image
The 7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcasle is an interesting book. It starts you of in a forest with no memories yelling the name Ann. You are beaten up and one of your presumed attackers gives you a compass pointing a direction and you follow to a big mansion with many people inside. A doctor checks you out and says you will be fine and will gain your memories back in a few months. In the mean time you make friends around the house. You also try to learn what happened you you and Ann.  When you are get back from a walk and are resting in your bed a man in a strange costume approaches you. He tells you you have 7 days and 7 bodies to find out who will Evelyn Hardcastle at 11:00am and then you can escape this trap. Whenever you go to sleep, die, or it is pasts midnight you switch bodies. If you fail you die permanently. There are two other people competing as the same time as you and the person to get it right first, wins and escape the mansion.  You later find out each body has a his...
Read more