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Holistic Guidance - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $11.16
Your Save: $ 2.79 ( 20% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781400032716
ISBN: 1400032717
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2004-05-18
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 2004-05-18
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Reviews:
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Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Life through different lenses
Comment: Why spend a few good evenings re-discovering life through the eyes of an autistic boy? The answer to that lies in this intriguing novel. While most fifteen-year-olds spend their time playing basketball or crunching popcorn at the movies, Christopher Boone - our protagonist - prefers cracking difficult maths puzzles and investigating the death of his neighbour's poodle. The latter event eventually leads him on an adventure that forms the bulk of the plot - a discovery of the untold back-story to his parents' troubled marriage.
The main selling point of the book, however, lies not so much in the story per se as having the story rendered through Christopher's eyes. And what he brings is a wholly refreshing perspective on life - from the details he picks out with his unbelievably photographic memory to his manic obsession with order. How many people actually can - or will bother to - remember the number (and colour and size and disposition) of cows they've just seen on a random field? This raises serious questions about the things we `normal people' choose to see and not to see. The language too is perfect - methodical, matter-of-fact and well-suited to the subject matter and how our protagonist relates to it.
A truly refreshing and thought-provoking read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking Book
Comment: What an awesome idea. This book is unlike any other I have read. Telling a story from the persepctive of an autistic boy's point of view is brilliant. You will follow this boy's plight step by step as he struggles to come to terms with an "event" about which he knows very little. Great book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Charming, in its own way
Comment: I often worry that these books with a lot of buzz won't live up to the hype by the time I get around to reading them. In this case, I shouldn't have worried. From his prime-numbered chapters to his reasons why he doesn't like the colors yellow and brown, Haddon's autistic narrator is full of his own charm, even if he couldn't tell you what charm was. You can't help but feel for this boy who wants to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, thinks his mother is dead, and lacks the filter we take for granted to see and hear only that which is important to us. From time to time you may get bogged down in Christopher's factual digressions and descriptions, but it's not long before you're caught back up in his story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A touching modern novel
Comment: I know this book has garnered a large and varied response, ranging from disdain for its unconventional structure and use of vulgar words to an admiration for how it views real life from a detached point of view. However, I found that I rather liked this book, and found it a genuinely touching book.
I won't dwell into how Haddon constructs the story, but Haddon's story is thought-provoking and touching at the same time. Haddon's plot questions the disdain we have towards people who are not of our thinking, and his drawing of the characters is so real that you feel as if you could reach out to touch them. I am struck by the way that Haddon draws the character of Christopher, because in some ways he shares many of our frustrations but yet he is still a loveable character. His untangling of the vicissitudes of everyday people is what propels the story forward. I know the plot may not be the best in how it moves abruptly to the investigation of the murder of a dog to the conflict between his parents. However, once you find that the parental disagreement is the heart of the novel and the dog incident is the key to it, the plot begins to make sense.
I know some people have raised concerns about the vulgarities peppered throughout the book. As such I see that it isn't suitable for children. I'm aware that such words, especially the F-word, are offensive but even so the expletives aren't the essence of the book and don't detract from Christopher's dealings with his predicaments.
In short, I heartily recommend this book to all, as one of the most interesting, and accessible, novels of recent years.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrific Read!
Comment: "This book was so terrific that, when I read a passage of it to my teenage son, he said, "I want to read that when you get finished." Well, I finished quickly (it's short) and gave it to him. He read it!
Why is that so amazing? Well, my son reads about one book every 2 years. He loved it.
I have a friend who has an autistic son. While reading this, I could imagine that, yes, my friend's son seems to quite possibly think this way.
It's amazing how Mark Haddon was able to tell this story from the viewpoint of someone that is autistic. Autistic people cannot truly communicate how they think and feel to us. but Mr. Haddon seems to have hit it on the head.
You don't really read this book for the story, which is interesting, but not terrific, you read it for the WRITING."
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