The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ~ Mark Haddon

I first read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in class when I was about thirteen and I hated it. I don’t know why, I didn’t care to think about it much, but I was very glad when we finished the book and moved on to other topics. Now, several years on from finishing school, I’ve been asking myself whether or not I hated it as much as I originally believed, or whether I hated how we studied it with a teacher that didn’t like my class. I saw the novel on the recently returned shelf at the library and thought it was time for me to reread it.

Turns out, it was definitely the circumstances in which I read the book the first time that made me hate it. It’s not my favourite book, isn’t quite my cup of tea, but it wasn’t unbearable. I think my biggest problem is the narrative voice. I think it’s really cool to have a narrator that is on the autism spectrum, however, I prefer my narratives a lot more descriptive and that isn’t the case. It makes for a very different story having Christopher be the narrator but it’s simply not for me.

I’m also not the best at wrapping my head around mathematical equations and situations and so sometimes I felt very much out of my depth trying to understand what Christopher was trying to explain. However, I understand enough maths that I couldn’t just pass it over as unintelligible. It made my brain hurt a bit.

Unlike the first time I read this book, I did find the plot a bit better now that I’m old enough and mature enough to understand that some neurodivergent people see the world in a completely different way to others and that things that don’t make sense to me make perfect logic to them. It’s definitely a lot more palatable a book when you accept that rather than question why Christopher does things differently.

Overall, I can’t say I enjoyed this book because it just isn’t my preferred genre, but I can definitely say I have a lot more appreciation for it this time around. 

C🌙