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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
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Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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Post edited by JustV on
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it also helped me when talking to a girl i used to talk to who was autistic and she communicated over msn, really really good book and i'd reccomend it to anyone.
I loved the book but thats probably because I can relate to it.
We need to start voting for Octobers book soon!!
May I recommend Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser?
Or, perhaps better suited to this site, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby?
No, if we're going to go for a Flashy then it should be 'Flashmans Lady' which is better.
I'm only up to book 5. Elspeth sounds lush!
I really didn't rate the writing style at all. I thought it fell somewhere between a failed attempt at Hemingway-lite and author's workshop draft. While the stilted way of narration was supposed to be representative of an child with Asperger's and the common speech patterns but it actually made it very hard for me to empathise with the protagonist as I didn't actually feel that it was actually very representative. I pretty much felt it was a paint-by-numbers "personwithautism" rather than an actual character, and that in itself was as much of a cliché as the REAL sticking point for me - his "mathematical genius". It is probably worth mentioning at this point that the utterly tiresome myth that autistic people all have savant powers as some kind of compensation for their autism is very troubling to me and something I feel should be thoroughly stamped out rather than perpetuated in the mainstream as it was in this book. Yes, I have autistic family. It's hard to say whether I might've enjoyed the book more if that hadn't been a factor, it's a definite maybe.
I also thought there was no real resolution, as if the author got as bored of his story as I did.
Oh, but for people who did like this, I would recommend Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as I think you'd like it :thumb:
I suppose so, but she's a bit dim.
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord is good too, hell they are all good, its just Flashman is the first and its not quite as smooth as the others.
Don't worry about hating it, it would be boring if we all said that we liked it
I read it a while ago, so I will also see what I can remember. I did like it, although I can't really remember why :chin: I think I may have read it in the middle of a few heavier books and this was a very simple concept and very easy to read. I had little knowledge of Aspergers, so I found it very interesting, although like Briggi said, I wonder now if it is just portraying a stereotype of someone with Aspergers and not going deep enough into it.
On a side note about the book club in general, I've read a few books recently which have a book club guide in the back with specific questions/topics/themes that they think people might like to discuss. I just wonder if that might be more useful in case we get stuck into a rut of people just saying whether they liked the book as a whole or not, but not going too deeply into the themes etc?
Good point :yes:
Here's some initial questions to think about for this book if anyone fancies having a go...
1. What was your first impression upon reading the first few pages of this novel?
2. In what ways did your first impression about the book change, as you continued to read the story? Why did it change? If your first impressions did not change, why is this the case?
3. What made reading this book an unusual, engaging, and sometimes challenging experience?
4.Generally speaking, what did you appreciate the most about this story? The least? And why?
Ok these are still pretty general, so we can add some more specific literary ones in if people would like. I also thought it might be interesting for people to quote (short) parts of the book - I'm thinking 2-3 sentences - that they really liked or disliked and say why. :thumb:
I felt sorry for the dog.
2. In what ways did your first impression about the book change, as you continued to read the story? Why did it change? If your first impressions did not change, why is this the case?
I still felt sorry for the dog but i also felt a bit sorry for the boy as well - but not as much as he wasnt' dead.
3. What made reading this book an unusual, engaging, and sometimes challenging experience?
I found it very interesting that he was able to hide for so long on the train - personally I would have found this very hard.
4.Generally speaking, what did you appreciate the most about this story? The least? And why?
That it shows that not all parents can be hero's and its OK to say that you cant' cope if things get to tough.
It was certainly the case for a young woman who did a presentation about her autism at my Dad's work.
I think there are some really striking and quite breath taking insights in the book. Soon after I first read it, I went to an occasion where I spent time chatting to a guy who worked at a school with autistic children - some of the stories he told me about one of his students sounded as if they could have been Christopher. However, I do also agree that several scenes in the book are really hard to believe, but not in terms of the autism, more in terms of plausibility in the world we live in.
I just popped in between meetings, I'll comment properly later!
Indeed - and remember it's specifically aspergers that Christopher has.
ETA: but even then it's not as if he's meant to represent people with aspergers in general too heavily. This quote was in a Guardian interview with Haddon back in 2003:
The internet tells me that he's not, just that he'd worked with autistic children in the past.
It's a great idea to write from the perspective of an autistic person but once you've gotten over the the fairly unique narrative you've got a pretty dull plot. I understand that it's supposed to be Christopher's response to the situations that form the storyline but I just lost interest.
The book basically ran out of steam. You have this massive build up and then you race through the major plot points. Maybe this was intentional, to show the disconnection and the focus but it just made the last 100 pages seem incredibly rushed.
If I'm honest, I would never have read the book if not for this club, it's not my cup of tea, so I may be undeservingly harsh. I was glad when I finished it, which probably says more about me than the book.
I have no experience with autistic people, so I can't say if it's an accurate portrayal or not but the sense of frustration and heartbreak from the parents, I could certainly feel that. BY design it was going to be an uncomfortable book and I don't think my tastes are built for that. I can handle books that are filled with uncomfortable moments but I just felt weary after I'd finished the Curious Incident.
My problems with the book were the exact same reasons that it's unique. Which is a same. I don't think I left it with any more insight into the condition itself, more how tough it could be on the parents. I'd like to say how big the rewards can be as well but I really don't think that came across in the book at all.
That's my brain fart on it anyway. Savage me at will
I agree tbh.
again reading it a second time I can really identify with that - I've started reading "We Need To Talk About Kevin" which actually I was struggling with a bit - but it's suddenly become massively more appealing now that I've re-read Curious Incident.
Very interesting valid response IMO.
So not really a savaging from me at all
Just finished reading Mr American, which isn't a Flashman, though it does feature him, but well worth reading if you want a novel covering such things as can a man escape his past, wome's rights, class in the UK and WW1. Even if you don't do it for a reading club, like all GMF, its worth reading.
Its a massive tome of a book, but I also thoroughlly enjoyed it.