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

Most of us tend to separate humans from animals, being quite convinced that we have evolved beyond being an animal. Well, according to the good-ole dictionary, an animal refers to any member of the kingdom Animalia, comprising multicellular organisms that have a well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move voluntarily… and so on and so forth.

Well, apart from learning that animals actually have a kingdom, this definition also makes a case for humans still being animals, and so does The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

So what is this book about? Well, it’s about a man by the name of Christopher John Francis Boone, and he is tasked with investigating a grisly murder that will take him on a very unusual adventure. Naturally, like most protagonists, Christopher isn’t a dime-a-dozen guy you can find anywhere; he knows all the countries in the world, their capitals, and every single prime number all the way up to 7,057.

Needless to say, that information never helped him to get laid as he lives a lonely life; he does not understand human emotions nor can he tolerate contact. On the other hand, he relates to animals quite easily… not to mention that he hates yellow. Oh, about the murder he is investigating, the victim is his neighbor’s dog. 

What makes this book truly stand out however is that the approach taken by Christopher is extremely serious; to him, the dog is more important than any human being, making this investigation much more important to him than even his neighbor. 

Needless to say, Christopher’s social awkwardness comes into play on many occasions, sometimes impeding his progress, and at other times creating some comic situations (unless you are Christopher, that is). All in all, a very entertaining read as the unusual characters and peculiar story fit well to create somewhat surrealist world where a dead dog becomes the center of focus.

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Mark Haddon Personal site Mark Haddon is an English poet and novelist who dedicated virtually his entire career to writing, starting as far back as 1987 with a children’s book, Gilbert’s Gobstopper. Though he mostly writes children’s stories, he also wrote some books for adults, such as his most famous one, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.