My husband and I lovingly refer to this gem of a novel, The curious incident of the dog in the
night-time by Mark Haddon as the “upside-down dog book”. Okay, perhaps it’s not the most
original because the cover does portray an upside-down dog. But even more than my unoriginal
thought, since reading this book I realize that the upside-down dog book
warrants so much more than a cutesy nickname.
What I thought would be a quirky, easy read turned into an
emotional look into relationships between adults and children. Written from the
perspective of a young boy, presumably living with Asperger’s syndrome or some
other form of autism, the simplistic, yet incredibly astute understanding of
the adult world combined with his inability to efficiently navigate our adult
world shakes your belief of the goodness of our current way of our life.
Of course, all of this underlying commentary into the
failings of society is subtly intertwined underneath the narrative of a young
boy trying to solve the case of the murdered black dog. And like any good mystery, the killer
isn’t obvious until it is. And this, of course, is followed by the emotional devastation: the killer is too close to home and so you must leave.
I truly loved this book. It's hard to put into words everything that this book offers. All I can say is:
Read it, you’ll love it.
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