The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time - Book Review #16

by Platypus

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️​⭐️/5

The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-time, by Mark Haddon, is a national bestseller and winner of the Whitbread Book of The Year Award. The genre of this book is realistic fiction, and the recommended audience is age 13 and up. This story follows Chrisopher Boone, a 15 year old with Asperger’s syndrome. Christopher lives in Swindon, England with his father, and his pet rat, Toby. 

Christopher has always enjoyed the color red, dogs, space, math, and mysteries stories (specifically Sherlock Holmes). Little did he know that one day he would be writing a story about his own mystery. One night as Christopher was walking around, he discovers that his neighbor’s dog has been killed with a pitchfork. Determined to figure out who is responsible for this murder, Christopher embarks on a journey that teaches him about self-discovery, bravery, and the truth. 

A prominent theme in this story is bravery, which is something that Christopher learns a lot about throughout the book. An example of when Christopher had a lot of bravery was when he was trying to question people on his street to see if they knew who killed the dog. This was a huge feat for Christopher because he does not like talking to people, especially strangers. “I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.” Another example is when Christopher has to travel to London, which is also difficult for him because he’s never traveled on his own and there are many things that could go wrong.

 Overall, this story could be enjoyed by many different people,  but you might enjoy it especially if you like realistic fiction or mystery. There is nothing that I disliked about this book and I’m only giving it 4 out of 5 stars because I wish the ending was longer.