Book Review - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

If a character has ever had such a strong voice, which sounds so real you start questioning whether they really are fictitious, it is Mark Haddon's Christopher Boone. An autistic boy with a love, and astonishing talent, for maths, he sets out to try and solve the mystery of who killed his neighbour's dog. The book is written as if Christopher has created it himself and the chapters go up in prime numbers, which I thought was a great idea that fit his mindset perfectly.

The way Christopher thinks about things is a real insight into how an autistic person's mind works. He does not do chit-chat, cannot understand social nuances and gives no regard to what other people may think of him. However, there is something immediately likeable about him and his naivety is quite endearing.

The end of the book was quite emotional because all of the people around Christopher seemed so self-absorbed and oblivious to his phenomenal mind. He did not realise what an amazing person he was

and no one was thoughtful enough to stop and tell him. They were all just wrapped up in their own worries, whilst pushing Christopher aside, blind to the fact that he was somebody very special.

I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 11 because it is easy to read and appropriate for almost all ages. However, very young children may not understand why Christopher is not like them and to fully appreciate the significance of this novel, the reader has to be able to grasp the concept of autism.

This has become one of my favourite books, which is not something I say very often. If my review was not glowing enough, let that fact be a sign that you NEED to read this book.