Curiously Compelling
Written: Sep 24 '06 (Updated Sep 24 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great story-telling, interesting choice of main character
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: It's not your generic story, but completely worth the time to read it.
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| martytdx's Full Review: Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in t... |
I'm a big fan of fiction because I'm a fan of story-telling, the old-fashioned weaving of words to envelope the reader in a blanket of the author's landscape, to pull them in and with only words create an experience that the reader takes part in. To me, that's why A Prayer for Owen Meany was so good - as absurd as Owen was, Irving nevertheless made him real. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel's ability to spin a tale was similarly captivating, as the author's style captivated me from the opening lines. And now, Mark Haddon has done it with the excellent release the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.
"It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had not fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer, for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this."
From there, we read about Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic boy with the tortured personality of someone with the disease, surrounding a stubborn drive to find truth in the world. This is his story, written as a project from his teacher to become part journal and part recollection, is his mystery which begins with the discovery of Wellington (the neighbor's dog), cruelly murdered. Coming upon the dog and finding himself accused of the murder (and of accosting a policeman), he decides to take it upon himself to find the culprit.
Starting with the methods and ideas that his childish mind and restricted means give him, he starts pursuing the clues that will reveal to him the killer. But as clues to the murder lead to questions that extend past the case, this chase becomes a journey of self-discovery as much as a a way of exonerating himself and solving a murder, and leads Christopher past the edges of his small world and into a larger space than he had ever dreamed of. Along the way, he finds skeletons in his family's closet, courage to face those who would tell him that he is necessarily different and a trip out of his small town to search for someone he lost long ago.
Christopher is a genius trapped in a shell that is half of his own making and half-created by those around him, although he doesn't realize it at first. He finds solace in logic, in familiarity and routine, in the small things that he understands and can get comfortable with. At the same time, his mind is advanced, solving problems and understanding logical and mathematical problems far beyond his years and the thinking of the adults that shelter him. This dichotomy helps create the situation, but it is the murder of Wellington that stimulates him in a way that leads to dramatic and frightening changes in his life - in effect cracking the shell and setting him free. But freedom has its own challenges, and Christopher finds himself in new territory with each decision, taking him far past the simple attempt to solve a dog's murder. But Christopher's courage propels him to new heights and in the end reveals the ultimate truths to him.
Mark Haddon is a new author, but writes like a seasoned vet; however, unlike an older, more established author he has the courage and the creativity to tackle a completely different type of story and succeed with it. Haddon does an amazing job of getting into the mind of the autistic boy. We forget to think of his autism as a crippling disease and instead find it as aspects of a unique and burgeoning personality that is coming into its own. In a way, it is that autism that helps Christopher become the man he is heading toward becoming, and Haddon doesn't use it as a crutch but as a way that Christopher is in some ways more advanced than those around him. The story has the feel of a story told by a boy but reads as though from the mind of a genius - a man that can more easily understand the workings of the universe than have a conversation about the weather - which is precisely the way that Christopher is: matter-of-fact and almost completely devoid of sarcasm or subtlety, he can easily tell you the first 100 prime numbers but miss the most simple of jokes.
And Haddon follows the quirks of Christopher with the way that the book/story is presented. Chapters are done in order of the prime numbers, starting with Chapter 2 (no chapter 1), which actually confused me for a second before I figured it out. And the book comes with illustrations made by Christopher, diagrams and logic puzzles - all which fit nicely into the way that Christopher would truly write his story - point-of-fact, without subtlety but with a earnestness born of both his youth and condition.
Part murder-mystery, part coming-of-age tale, it's an intriguing and strangely heart-warming story that is even more interesting because of the main character's quirks. Through it all, it's an odd tale with characters and situations which are just off-center of normal, made more interesting because of it. While the story is odd, with a character few would tackle, let alone pull off with such skill, grace and humor. From beginning to end, Christopher's story kept me captivated and wanting more - and I barely put it down until I was done. I found this story enjoyable, quirky, funny, sad and amazing, with great characters that came together to make one of the best books that I read all year.
[ • my SUMMER READING LIST • ]
Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart
• The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - Coming Soon
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
martytdx
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 481
Trusted by: 179 members
About Me:
Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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