The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book had a really interesting perspective- it's told in first person by a teenage boy with autism. Our oldest son has a high functioning form of autism, meaning that he can function in society better than those on the other end of the autism spectrum. There were some similarities in my son's behaviors and those of the main character but for the most part the book really made me thankful that my son is so much closer to "normal". At first you want to judge the parents for their mistakes but having a special needs child adds so much strain on a relationship/family/parent you really can't know how it is unless you've dealt with it and even then every special needs child is different, just like every "normal" child is different. I thought the author did an amazing job in creating the voice of that kind of child and was really able to get inside the autistic mind. As the story progresses I started feeling like there was no hope for this family and I dreaded the outcome but I was relieved that although it didn't have a traditional type happy ending , there were elements put in place that made you hopeful for the boy's future, as well as the parents- because their individual futures are so closely wound together with his. My husband and I worry about our oldest son's future much more so than we do for our other children and we feel keenly that we may have to be responsible for his well-being for the rest of our/his life. We just have to take one day at a time and hope and pray for the best. I definitely recommend reading this book, I was only going to give it 3 stars because it probably won't be a book that I revisit frequently and it does have a lot of foul language and stressful situations, but it really is such an amazing literary masterpiece, in my opinion, that I feel it deserves at least 4 (I only give 5 stars to my all time favorites). But I feel like you only have to read it once for it to change your understanding of autism and hopefully make you more empathetic and aware of the issues involved.


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