The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
By Mark Haddon
In this novel the main character is a boy named Christopher Boone, who suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is a form of autism, which makes it hard for Christopher to understand human emotions, and facial expressions. He refers back to drawings done by his aide Siobhan when he can not distinguish a person's feelings. He can understand happy and sad, but anger and confusion are harder for him to understand.
Christopher has excellent mathematical skills, and he has a great memory when it comes to conversations and the details of certain places. He was able to notice a poster had fallen in his class room, and that it was put up slightly to the right of where it once hung. When Christopher starts to become nervous or scared he does mathematical equations in his head, which helps him clear his mind. He does quadratic equations, finds prime numbers, and squares numbers. All of the chapters in this book are prime numbers. He likes those the best, and the book is a murder mystery because that is the kind of book he likes.
When Christopher has some one touch him physically he becomes violent and panics. When he becomes uncomfortable in a situation he curls into a ball and rocks himself back and forth while groaning. These are part of Asperger Syndrome, and are Christopher's coping mechanisms. His parent's are not able to hug him so they fan their fingers out and have Christopher touch their finger tips. That is how they show their love for each other.
Since this is Christopher's murder mystery book, there has to be a mystery to solve. His neighbor, Mrs. Shear's dog Wellington was killed with a garden fork. Christopher likes dogs very much, so he is very interested in finding out who committed the murder. In order to be a detective he has to over come his fear of strangers. He goes to the neighbors houses and asks them questions about the murder. His father becomes very upset with Christopher when he discovers the murder mystery book.
Mr. Boone tells Christopher to stay out of other people's business and to stop the detective work immediately! Christopher does not truly listen and finds out that his mother is not dead, like his father told him, but she had an affair with Mr. Shears. Mr. Boone hits Christopher, and Christopher becomes very scared of his father. He then hides out in the garden and once his father leaves the house, he packs his things.
Christopher decided to run away to his mother's house, which is in London. This requires him to go on the train. The problem with that is he has to ask strangers for directions and has to be with strangers in small spaces. Some how Christopher manages to get through all of that and finds his mother's home. She is living with Mr. Shears, and is very happy to see her son. Mr. Shears is not very kind to Christopher, so Mrs. Boone takes his car and brings Christopher back to Swindon.
Things eventually work out for Christopher, he is able to take his A Level Math, and he lives with his mother in a small apartment. He stays with his father until Mrs. Boone comes home from work. Christopher was still very afraid of his father, so he refused to talk to him for a while. At the end of the book, Mr. Boone takes out a golden retriever puppy that is now Christopher's. The puppy is named Sandy, and it looks as though Christopher may be able to trust his father again.
The mystery was solved; Mr. Boone killed Wellington because Mrs. Shears loved the dog more. Christopher's parents now lived in a closer area, and Christopher was able to spend time with both of them now. It all seemed to have worked out for the best.
I think this book did a great job illustrating what it is like to have Asperger Syndrome. The novel was written very choppy, going from past to present, just as someone would think through out the day. He gives details and examples of what it is like when they do not understand what is going on. Christopher is a very smart person, and thinks very logically. It was very interesting to read this book because you had to realize what it was like if you had Asperger Syndrome.
In this novel the main character is a boy named Christopher Boone, who suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is a form of autism, which makes it hard for Christopher to understand human emotions, and facial expressions. He refers back to drawings done by his aide Siobhan when he can not distinguish a person's feelings. He can understand happy and sad, but anger and confusion are harder for him to understand.
Christopher has excellent mathematical skills, and he has a great memory when it comes to conversations and the details of certain places. He was able to notice a poster had fallen in his class room, and that it was put up slightly to the right of where it once hung. When Christopher starts to become nervous or scared he does mathematical equations in his head, which helps him clear his mind. He does quadratic equations, finds prime numbers, and squares numbers. All of the chapters in this book are prime numbers. He likes those the best, and the book is a murder mystery because that is the kind of book he likes.
When Christopher has some one touch him physically he becomes violent and panics. When he becomes uncomfortable in a situation he curls into a ball and rocks himself back and forth while groaning. These are part of Asperger Syndrome, and are Christopher's coping mechanisms. His parent's are not able to hug him so they fan their fingers out and have Christopher touch their finger tips. That is how they show their love for each other.
Since this is Christopher's murder mystery book, there has to be a mystery to solve. His neighbor, Mrs. Shear's dog Wellington was killed with a garden fork. Christopher likes dogs very much, so he is very interested in finding out who committed the murder. In order to be a detective he has to over come his fear of strangers. He goes to the neighbors houses and asks them questions about the murder. His father becomes very upset with Christopher when he discovers the murder mystery book.
Mr. Boone tells Christopher to stay out of other people's business and to stop the detective work immediately! Christopher does not truly listen and finds out that his mother is not dead, like his father told him, but she had an affair with Mr. Shears. Mr. Boone hits Christopher, and Christopher becomes very scared of his father. He then hides out in the garden and once his father leaves the house, he packs his things.
Christopher decided to run away to his mother's house, which is in London. This requires him to go on the train. The problem with that is he has to ask strangers for directions and has to be with strangers in small spaces. Some how Christopher manages to get through all of that and finds his mother's home. She is living with Mr. Shears, and is very happy to see her son. Mr. Shears is not very kind to Christopher, so Mrs. Boone takes his car and brings Christopher back to Swindon.
Things eventually work out for Christopher, he is able to take his A Level Math, and he lives with his mother in a small apartment. He stays with his father until Mrs. Boone comes home from work. Christopher was still very afraid of his father, so he refused to talk to him for a while. At the end of the book, Mr. Boone takes out a golden retriever puppy that is now Christopher's. The puppy is named Sandy, and it looks as though Christopher may be able to trust his father again.
The mystery was solved; Mr. Boone killed Wellington because Mrs. Shears loved the dog more. Christopher's parents now lived in a closer area, and Christopher was able to spend time with both of them now. It all seemed to have worked out for the best.
I think this book did a great job illustrating what it is like to have Asperger Syndrome. The novel was written very choppy, going from past to present, just as someone would think through out the day. He gives details and examples of what it is like when they do not understand what is going on. Christopher is a very smart person, and thinks very logically. It was very interesting to read this book because you had to realize what it was like if you had Asperger Syndrome.
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