The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon details the life of fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone, a brilliant boy struggling to understand the dynamics of an unruly world around him. He has peculiar tendencies that baffle anyone he informs, such as refusing to touch brown and yellow, resorting to violence if touched, or not talking for the whole day if he sees four yellow cars. He lives alone with his father after his mother died of a heart attack, and despite the previously mentioned tendencies, he lives a life dictated by fact and logic due to a disorder implied to be autism. Because of his reliance on facts and algorithms, the more ambiguous things like human emotions and contact leave him terrified due to his lack of comprehension. Everything about the world confounds him, he simply does not understand why people use metaphors in their speech or deviate from reality with false thoughts in their heads like religion or dreams, or really anything that strays from the logic he holds dear. He loves dogs more than people, as their emotions are decipherable, so when his neighbor’s dog is murdered he seeks answers from his neighbors, despite his distaste for strangers. He viewed it as a detective novel, but it turned out to be anything but fantasy when the information he received showed that the one man he trusted may have breached his strongest code, leaving his world spiraling as he grasped for any logic in his sorrow. This book is very unconventional in the way it is written, as it is essentially written like a diary with seemingly useless details, mathematical equations, and pictures scattered throughout the novel. Yet this unique interpretation of story-writing reflects how Christopher sees the world, he focuses on the tiniest details because they provide him comfort and order when we just skim over them and think about “useless” matters like what we want for lunch. Many readers might find this feature offputting or strange, which reflects the interpretation of neurodivergence displayed in both the book and our world. People in the book would display hostility towards Chris for reacting aggressively when being touched or expressing discomfort in public settings, as they do not understand his condition and judge him on a whim. It is much the same in our world, people who are perceived as different are outcasted for their behavior when the reality is people aren’t willing enough to put the effort in to empathize with the way their mind works. As someone who is on the spectrum, I too have experienced ridicule for my strange tendencies, and I applaud Haddon for bringing light to the issue to promote empathy. This novel also highlights the importance of intuition and bravery in maturing. Many of us, like Chris, have established order in our monotonous lifestyle, repelling anything that threatens to pop our comfortable bubble. Chris lived his life basing his decisions and thoughts solely on concrete facts, denying the theoretical and painting it as trivial, which he was soon forced to change when his world shifted. Life is full of unprecedented changes and discord that threaten our routines and shatter the way we view the world, and we have to be ready to mold ourselves to meet a new environment, Chris compares life and its chaos to prime numbers, they are logical when you think about them but you could never determine the patterns that make them exist. This truth is what established the plot of the story, life made an inevitable turn and forced Chris to force himself into uncomfortable situations to reach the next stage of his life. I feel this is a very beneficial lesson, especially in a generation where kids are perpetually shoving themselves into digital worlds to escape the responsibilities of reality. Change is inevitable and scary, but we need to embrace it and find the strength within ourselves to change too. I’ll be honest, this book was a handful at first, my mind was clogged with random math equations and frog populations when I read it for the first time. But it is a treasure trove of insight into the thought process of neurodivergent minds and how both our and their minds need to grow to meet challenges, allowing us to obtain critical insight into the inner workings of our own mind and those foreign to us and subsequently develop the empathy and determination I have so frequently seen lacking in our society. It's a quick and insightful read, I would recommend it to all readers.
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