books I read over the summer:

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

Now This by Nancy Star

About a Boy by Nick Hornby

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin 

I am not exaggerating when I say that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time was one of the best novels I have ever read. The language Haddon uses is brilliance in its simplest form. When first reading the novel, I was skeptical as to whether or not I would find the plot interesting because it consists of planning to solve the murder mystery of a dog. Not owning a dog myself, I wondered how I could relate to such a plot, especially narrated by a fifteen year old autistic boy named Christopher. But the exact opposite proved to be true. 

Haddon succeeded in opening my mind through the narrative of the main character, Christopher. By using such mundane details of everyday life to explain the inter workings of his mind, Haddon brings Christopher's character to life. Christopher describes in the novel, while on his search for the murderer of his neighbor's poodle, what he is thinking. This type of narration puts into perspective a type of behavior and thought that I had never considered before or had been previously exposed to. For example, to Christopher, certain colors are associated with "good days" and "bad days," varying in the degree depending on the type of day. By the end of the novel I found myself hoping that Christopher would pass by five red cars in a row on his way to school so the day would bring him luck. 

My favorite part of the novel is after Christopher runs away from his father's house to go live with his mother whom he recently discovers was still alive. Without being aware that he has in fact solved the most important mystery in his life, and no longer trusting the man who cared for and raised him, Christopher braves the train station alone to escape from his past. HE describes trying to overcome the feeling of being incredibly overwhelmed by his senses due to symptoms of his autism. He hears voices over load speakers and sees blinking signs with unfamiliar words on them. The diction is so powerful in this part of the novel that my head was spinning too, the sign of, in my opinion, a great book. 

The passion for life that the novel portrays through Christopher's curiosity, amazing ability at mathematics, and attitude towards what and whom he is close to is narrated with such ease. At one point in the book, Christopher casually mentions that he has been trying to set a personal record in order to beat the expert level of Minesweeper in under ninety-nine seconds. Being a huge fan of the computer puzzle myself, this piece of information gave me an inside glimpse into just how much of a mathematical genius Christopher is, in an extremely clever form. 

Throughout reading the novel, I found myself transforming from a reader with skepticism to one with fascination to one with complete appreciation and a better understanding of the human condition. Haddon's writing style contributed completely in my opinion to the success of the book.