Another book, another unexplained death. This time the victim is a dog, killed with a pitchfork by a person unknown. The book is narrated by 15 year old Christopher who takes it upon himself to solve the crime. Christopher is not your average 15 year old boy though; he attends a ’Special Needs’ school and seems to be somewhere on the Asperger’s/Autism spectrum. His condition manifests itself in various ways; an inability to understand the nuances of human behaviour; irrational fears, of being touched, of certain colours, of new places etc.; and lack of empathy for other human beings (including his mother and father). He likes animals and policeman, though.
His condition prevents him both from understanding and engaging fully in the world around him. Much of the humour of the book is derived from the seemingly absurd lengths to which he has to go to complete simple tasks that most of us manage without a moment’s thought – such as going to the loo or buying a train ticket. His inability to understand other people’s feelings or motivations also gets him into a series of hilarious confrontations. But there is sadness behind the hilarity, as we gradually recognise that Christopher is the unwitting catalyst of a series of events that only he is unaware of.
On the plus side Christopher is a mathematical and scientific prodigy who expects to become a great scientist or mathematician on the basis of these gifts. So he is very good at puzzles and sees solving the ‘murder’ of the dog as a kind of Sherlock Holmes mystery to be approached by rigorous deduction (or detection as he prefers to call it).
The book follows the ramifications of Christopher’s attempt to solve the ‘murder’. Along the way his maladroit investigations provoke further mayhem in the lives’ of his family and neighbours, and precipitate a new series of crises.
The technique of using an ‘outsider’ to describe events – be they a child, a stranger, or in this case an autistic boy – has been used by many writers to highlight the absurdities and hypocrisies of human behaviour. And Mark Haddon’s imagining of the thought processes of this unfortunate boy is a tour de force. Christopher’s prose rings true as an artistic creation, even if some people have found his representation of autism somewhat lacking. But how much you enjoy this book will depend on the extent to which you can sympathize with someone who himself is incapable of empathy; and on whether Christopher’s very literal story telling (accompanied by maps, diagrams and puzzles!) holds your attention to the end. Opinions please!
Joe Brannan's Blog 
Like Dad I have mixed views on the book I had been told that it was a great book and I had high hopes for a fantastic read. I’d been put off initially with the death of the dog in the beginning but the ‘detecting’ to solve the mystery drew me in.
Initial view was that it was a refreshing book with a new and very different perspective, I felt as a reader and observer that it had me challenging my own thoughts and frustrations to Christopher’s and the surrounding characters behaviour.
The writing and descriptions were vivid and detailed, creating intrigue as well as at points cringe worthy imagery.
However, given the volume of positive reviews I’d heard regarding this book I was a little disappointed.
I felt that the book could have been 100 pages shorter, whilst it was an interesting read, at points it felt hard going. In part this was the result of some of the scenarios seeming ridiculous to me, the arrest at the beginning (did his neighbour not think to mention his behaviour was explainable) and the train journey… and secondly I think this was a result of not feeling particularly drawn to the characters or the wider plot.
As with everything I never told you, I did feel the other characters were not fully developed and if they had been, this may have brought me in to the book a little more. The Mother figure again felt a bit simplistic. As mentioned, I suppose the descriptions were constrained by the perspective of the author and would have otherwise lost some of the authenticity of that narrative perspective
Similarly to the previous book, I’m not sure it went far enough, in this case to get readers to challenge or understand their perceptions and reactions to those like Christopher in the real world, however the realism of the challenges to family dynamics and tensions felt honest
As with previous review, I guess it’s not entirely fair to judge a book by what isn’t explored but this could have provided a lasting impression whereas it only left me with a feeling of having enjoyed the book as an easy read
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…just finished this book – I read this a few years ago and remembered enjoying it – this time I had to work a little harder to stick with it – I liked the novelty of the format and I enjoyed bouncing around in Christopher’s head and ping ponging around that family – it is a very suburban melodrama – like the Ng book. I was very sucked into the excruciating journey through life that Christopher takes – all of the obsessions and details and dilemmas. In my house there could be no green on the plate – so, I like this exploration of contamination and how to navigate the dangers of everyday life in the suburbs….
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Just reading your review again Georgie – this story and particularly the train journey – could have been an episode from Bottom!
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Nearly time to move onto a new book and not too many have finished this one! From what I hear, it seems that quite a few of us struggled a bit with it. The main problem seemed to be that the author’s choice of narrator hindered as much as helped the story. Although engaging at first, this device seemed to shackle the writing a bit, limiting the author’s options too much. Still, I think it was an interesting attempt to get inside a mind very different from the average person’s. And it very much begs the question: how would you deal with Christopher if he were a member of your own family?
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Apologies – very late adding my comments about ‘Curious Incident’ which I finished quite a few weeks ago. This was a re-read for me as I had read the book several years ago on someone’s recommendation. To be honest the only thing I could recall before embarking on it once again was that it was a book about a boy with autism who managed to go on a train journey – the other bits had completely passed me by. This probably says quite a lot for me and when it was put on the stage I found it difficult to comprehend how it would work but it clearly does as I think the play is still on-going.
Anyway ….. I liked Christopher and it did give me an insight into autism, of which I have very limited knowledge. I felt it described well his need to have everything in order (lists, diagrams, etc) and not wanting anyone to touch him, not even his parents. Also, his not liking some colours and some of his behaviour in school – I am sure there are many teachers/TA’s who recognise this behaviour. I’m not convinced he would realistically have made the journey to find his mother, outwitting the police, hiding behind the suitcases on the train etc but the descriptions of his making noises when things got too much, or sitting on a bench until everyone had gone made total sense to me. Perhaps more people should read this book to give them a better understanding of autism, and in turn to be more understanding and tolerant of what is deemed as not ‘normal’ behaviour. The frustrations of his father I felt was well portrayed as I’m sure it must feel like that sometimes. The bits I did struggle with were some of the explanations of things which were a bit lengthy and not always necessary. All in all not a bad read and I’m glad I read it again if only to remember the whole story.
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I think that you made a really good point Jeanette – the successful completion of that journey is unlikely, as well as achieving an A after messing up the first paper – but I like that this makes you think about the relative difficulty of goals – one simple – one impossible – depending on your point of view!
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Interesting discussion between Debbie and Jeanette about the plausibility of some of the episodes in the book . Georgie made a similar point earlier. In reading any work of fiction you have, to some degree, adopt that ‘willing suspension of disbelief’. We all differ in how much leeway we are willing to give the author, depending on our personality, our knowledge of the subject etc.
So its probably worth mentioning that Mark Haddon was heavily criticised by some parents of autistic children for his portrayal of Christopher. I don’t know if it was a good portrayal of autism or not but I do think these criticisms miss the point. The book is a work of fiction, not a medical text and Haddon did not make any claims about autism. Christopher is a fictional creation and it is silly to argue that he is not like some individual autistic son – as far as I remember Haddon did not even use the word autistic in the book.
I did not have a problem with Christopher’s train journey. I took it that it was necessary to advance the plot. For me the problem was simply that the story had insufficient dramatic momentum to keep me interested. The book fails as literature not as psychology.
Jeanette also made the point that the book might give us an insight into the world of people who are different from us and help us empathize with them. I was struck by how petty, nasty and ignorant most ‘normal’ people are, as revealed through Christopher’s dead-pan descriptions. This was the sad message I took from the book and is partly why I think of it as an interesting failure. This came back strongly to mind today in listening to those scenes outside Parliament where Anna Soubry was subjected to disgusting abuse by a bunch of yobs. As Burns put it :
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!”
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