I recently read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (adult literary), because I had read about it in a writing craft book, and I’m always a sucker for book recommendations. I was so glad I picked this one up.
The Curious Incident is told from the point of view of an autistic narrator, which made it fascinating to begin with. The narrator is trying to solve a mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog. The book had a fantastic voice, a very engaging narrator, and an interesting story line that will hook readers immediately.
Here are the three things I liked most about it:
- The voice. All the way through the story, the voice was incredibly compelling. It was amazing how Haddon sustained it for so long (though it wasn’t a long book).
- The understated emotion. Because the narrator is autistic, he doesn’t feel much emotion, but because he is incredibly observant, you get to download all those cues yourself.
- The last lines. They are some of the greatest last lines that I’ve ever read in literature. Unfortunately, I can’t share them with you, because it would give too much away. So you’ll just have to read it for yourself.
Here’s an example of the really great voice and personality in this book:
“Father came home at 5:48 p.m. I heard him come through the front door. Then he came into the living room. He was wearing a lime green and sky blue check shirt and there was a double knot on one of his shoes but not on the other. He was carrying an old advert for Fussell’s Milk Powder which was made of metal and painted with blue and white enamel and covered with little circles of rust which were like bullet holes, but he didn’t explain why he was carrying this.
He said, ‘Howdy pardner,’ which is a joke he does.
And I said, ‘Hello.’
I carried on watching the video and Father went into the kitchen.”
The Curious Incident was, overall, a fantastic read. You won’t be disappointed.
