Joe's Reviews > The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by
The concept is interesting: narrating the novel through the POV of an autistic boy. The chapters are cleverly numbered by prime numbers, which ties in with the novel. It has interesting illustrations and diagrams to look at. However, I would not recommend this because it disappointed me and I couldn't, in good conscience, tell anyone to read a book I was disappointed in.
I guess my disappointment lies in the fact that not only did my book club tout this as a mystery novel but also many of the literary reviews I read as well. What I was expecting was an exciting roller coaster ride mystery about an autistic boy trying to find the killer of his neighbor's dog and, as he slowly sleuths out the killer, finds himself embroiled in dangerous life threatening situations. Kind of like Tartt's The Little Friend told from an autistic POV.
However, The Curious Incident... is not a mystery in any way, shape or form and because of this, the autistic POV begins to wear thin by the second half of the novel remaining sometimes fascinating yet sometimes tedious. Instead, you get a novel that starts off as a promising murder mystery. At the first half of the novel, the mystery is solved. Or rather we're unceremoniously told who is the murderer of the dog. From that point, the second half of the novel hugely focuses on Christopher attempting to travel to London by himself. A difficult task considering Christopher is autistic, hates crowds and can't stand to be touched by people. I won't tell who the murderer is or why Christopher takes off to London, as these are the only two real surprises of the novel. I will say overall this was a huge disappointment to me. I thought I was getting an exciting murder mystery and instead I got a highly readable family melodrama. Perhaps if this was not pushed as a murder mystery I would have enjoyed it much more.
An interesting read but I wouldn't recommend it.
by
![632671](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1229710327p2/632671.jpg)
The concept is interesting: narrating the novel through the POV of an autistic boy. The chapters are cleverly numbered by prime numbers, which ties in with the novel. It has interesting illustrations and diagrams to look at. However, I would not recommend this because it disappointed me and I couldn't, in good conscience, tell anyone to read a book I was disappointed in.
I guess my disappointment lies in the fact that not only did my book club tout this as a mystery novel but also many of the literary reviews I read as well. What I was expecting was an exciting roller coaster ride mystery about an autistic boy trying to find the killer of his neighbor's dog and, as he slowly sleuths out the killer, finds himself embroiled in dangerous life threatening situations. Kind of like Tartt's The Little Friend told from an autistic POV.
However, The Curious Incident... is not a mystery in any way, shape or form and because of this, the autistic POV begins to wear thin by the second half of the novel remaining sometimes fascinating yet sometimes tedious. Instead, you get a novel that starts off as a promising murder mystery. At the first half of the novel, the mystery is solved. Or rather we're unceremoniously told who is the murderer of the dog. From that point, the second half of the novel hugely focuses on Christopher attempting to travel to London by himself. A difficult task considering Christopher is autistic, hates crowds and can't stand to be touched by people. I won't tell who the murderer is or why Christopher takes off to London, as these are the only two real surprises of the novel. I will say overall this was a huge disappointment to me. I thought I was getting an exciting murder mystery and instead I got a highly readable family melodrama. Perhaps if this was not pushed as a murder mystery I would have enjoyed it much more.
An interesting read but I wouldn't recommend it.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
November 21, 2007
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-24 of 24 (24 new)
date
newest »
![Down arrow](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/down_arrow-1e1fa5642066c151f5e0136233fce98a.gif)
![Carly Svamvour](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1413895417p1/1480335.jpg)
I found this book something that left you thinking about autistic people.
Don't think I'll read it again, but it was enjoyable when I did it on audio one summer, while gardening.
![Tomid Tomid](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442522570p1/3134391.jpg)
I know it's two years ago, but can you remember why you wrote this? I don't recall the chapter numbers tying in with the novel. I just assumed it was a marketing gimmick, employed to get people talking about the book: "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - isn't that the book with prime chapter numbers?"
![Joe](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1229710327p1/632671.jpg)
![Jaime](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1623204154p1/245916.jpg)
![Ms.pegasus](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1335705124p1/5015851.jpg)
![Anne Marie](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Louise Culmer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1439742574p1/1881974.jpg)
![Mark Wilson](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Samantha Stavropoulos](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1629082792p1/31571836.jpg)
![Midnightxmonster](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Pragyam](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1610292021p1/6097062.jpg)
![Joe](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1229710327p1/632671.jpg)
My "preconceived expectations" were a direct result of how literary reviews and my book club marketed this novel, nothing more—which is clearly expressed in my review.
Neither my review nor my opinion should detract from your enjoyment of the novel. The bottom line is did YOU enjoy it? If yes, then that's all that should matter to you.
12 years later and people are still salty over my review which is beyond bizarre to me.
![Danny Seipel](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
That said, I don't agree with him. Blurbs (which I no longer read, they are almost always rubbish), reviews and promotions set up expectations. Those expectations may cause you to read it and you may be disappointed.
You said so, you explained why. You didn't say it was a bad book, merely that it wasn't what you were expecting. Basically warning people that if you want a certain thing, this book (in spite of the marketing hype) isn't for you.
Surely that is what reviews are for.
I started reading it a couple of years ago. I got part way through it and had much the same reaction as you.
I did what I always do when a much hyped book isn't working for me. Your review saved me wasting more time, simply because it confirmed that the book didn't get better as it went along.
We all have different tastes, and you review acknowledged it.
Bloody good review.
![Coreyw](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Joe](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1229710327p1/632671.jpg)
I'm glad you enjoyed it and were able to translate what the reviews meant by "mystery". I hated it then and I still hate it now.
![anya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1705941429p1/144263182.jpg)
For the sake of your child i really hope you don’t model your parenting strategy after this book bc as an autistic person it was horrid to read and its extremely ableist
![Olivia Noelle](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1667530733p1/156148401.jpg)
I loved the book, but I knew what I was getting before I began. I'm sure that I'd be disappointed if, say, Inspector Morse spent 300 or so pages doing his taxes or rearranging his record collection.