Rating: 
Summary: solid overall but disappoints, especially toward the end
Review: After reading so many superlatives about this novel, I have to admit to being disappointed once I finished it. It isn't a bad work at all, but I didn't find it to be the superior work of fiction I had been led to expect. Yes, he pulls off the voice of an autistic main character and remains pretty consistent in doing so, but since the voice itself is basically a reporter's voice, free of emotion and introspection and evaluation, I'm not quite sure why this is considered such a feat. And besides, I'd seen it done as well decades earlier in Flowers for Algernon. The plot is slim: the main character decides to investigate the death of the neighbor's dog and in so doing learns some shocking (to him, but not I would say to the reader) truths about his family and eventually takes an "epic" (again, more to him than the reader I would say) journey. As I mentioned, there isn't much to the plot that surprises, though it is mildly interesting and manages to keep the character before us in varying degrees of distress and tension. Unfortunately, those varying degrees include going over the top once or twice toward the end, where characters sacrifice real person behavior in service of plot movement. The main character himself is nicely fleshed out despite the lack of introspection and the objective voice; the author isn't afraid to have him be unlikable at times. The father is probably the other best realized character, though he fades out a bit just when I would have liked to have seen more of him. The mother I thought was too sketchily and easily drawn, and what should have been some complex changes in her character are skimmed over far too glibly. What works best is the contrast between that steady objective voice and the descriptions of what other characters are saying or doing. Since, however, the author sometimes plays this hand too much or too obviously, it's a good thing the book is as slim as it is. As it is, because so much of the weakness of the book lies in its last quarter or so, the overall reading experience is colored more negatively than the work probably deserves. If you can finish it in a sitting (pretty easy to do), it holds up better than if you spread it over a few days, since you'll find your last few nights' reading inferior writing in comparison to the first few.
Rating: 
Summary: Strikingly Original, Bold, Funny, and Touching
Review: Christopher Boone is not your typical fifteen-year old. He thinks logically, understands extremely difficult math concepts, hates the colors brown and yellow, dislikes being touched, and knows every prime number up to 7,057. He's also autistic. Christopher relates to animals much better than he does to humans. So when he discovers that a neighbor's dog has been killed with a garden fork, Christopher is naturally upset. So this very unusual young man - who is afraid of strangers and unfamiliar places - sets out to find the dog's killer. In doing so, he makes some discoveries that will be very unsettling. Author Mark Haddon has written a very original novel, narrated by Christopher. We see the world through this very special boy's eyes. The way that Christopher tries to make sense and order of the world makes him a narrator like no other we have ever encountered in literature. The novel works so well because the character of Christopher is so well drawn and his problems (and attempts at solving them) are honest, real, and touching. Highly recommended. 221 pages
Rating: 
Summary: This is what my review looks like: * * * *
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and recommend it without reservation.
Rating:
Summary: Red Foods = Good
Review: Novels written from the perspective of a mentally disabled protagonist are a tricky business, they can easily veer into condescension, mawkishness, or quirkiness for its own sake. Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn is a recent excellent example of a highly entertaining book which avoids these pitfalls, and this story about a 15-year-old boy with a highly functional form of autism (Asperger's syndrome) is another. Christopher lives in Swindon ("the armpit of England") with his widowed father, excels in math, can't read people's expressions, doesn't understand statements that aren't literal, and has severe color issues (for example, red foods are good, brown foods are not). The story begins when Christopher discovers his neighbor's dog dead, with a garden tool sticking out of it. Someone has clearly murdered the dog, and in the spirit of his favorite fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, he sets out to discover who the villain is. A social worker at his school helps him record his investigation in book form-thus explaining the novel. Christopher encounters inexplicable adult resistance to his desire to investigate, which by a quirk of fate, leads him to investigate his dead mother. At which point the book takes on a classic quest structure and the dead dog is left behind. The real joy of the book is not its plot (which is skimpy and turns into a soap opera in the final third), but its nuanced portrait of the challenges faced by the mildly autistic, and by those who raise them. Christopher's sensitivity to noise, crowds, colors, and especially being touched, is shown in vivid detail (Some reviewers have criticized the character of Christopher as having many behavioral tics that would be cured in a few years therapy, however they seem to have missed the point that his father is a lower-middle class, blue-collar worker, and by inference could never hope to afford therapy.). At the same time there's no attempt to build Christopher into a figure of pity: he's clever, persistent, irritable, and sometimes irritating -a fully rounded character who simply operates in a slightly different world than most of us. The prose is very simple and direct, as one might expect from a young boy, making accessible to younger readers (although parents should be aware that there are four-letter words present). If for no other reason, the book is worth reading for the humanistic and empathetic portrayal of a mentally disabled youth, and will help any reader better understand the challenges facing those with mild autism.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing first novel
Review: You can read the plot summary in other's reviews so I'll just dive right in.
This book is truly amazing. It's warm and funny, poignant, at times almost heartbreakingly so, and very well written. Everything fits neatly together, from the math puzzles here and there, to the carefully drawn maps and time tables by which Christopher, our hero, plots out his daily life. Even the oddly numbered chapters add to our understanding and appreciation for a child who sees our world from a totally different perspective. The characters were all well rounded and the plot, a murder mystery and more, just carried me along. All this came packaged in a short and surprisingly successful first novel.
A must read.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating and heartbreaking......a clear voice
Review: This is a fictional novel told in the voice and mind of an autistic teenager named Christopher. It is a sad story but it is filled with magnificent moments and a keen awareness of autism. It is both fascinating and heartbreaking. When Christopher finds a dog that has been killed in his neighbor's yard he must figure out the mystery of who killed the dog. His investigation leads him into unknown areas and he expresses his thoughts and concerns in a very intimate and yet detached manner. Mark Haddon has rendered a clear voice for autistic children. While autism occurs in differing degrees, this is a focused and understandable peek into one world of an autistic child and may bring understanding and compassion to those with autism and their families.
Rating:
Summary: Uniquely Curious
Review: Christopher Boone is this novels 15 year old narrator. He lives in a modest home in an average neighborhood but for him the world can be confusing. What makes Christopher unique is that he is autistic. We the reader see the world through his eyes. Upon discovering the neighbors dog has been killed, a pitchfork put through its body, Christopher decides to solve the mystery and record this in his book. We meet his father, a struggling man, who is trying to cope with his son's disablilites, the neighbors, Christophers teachers at his school and various "strangers" that he meets throughout the story. As the novel progresses we see increasingly the logic that Christopher uses to interpret the world and how this can comfort and at the same time imprison him. For example, if he sees three yellow cars on the way to school it is a bad day and if he sees three red cars it is a good day. His reasoning is based on a somewhat skewed perception of information and the reader is able to see the process he uses to come to his conclusions. It is here that the author Haddon excels in his work bringing the reader into this boys world without making it melodramtic or overly simplistic. In Christopher's world there is a rationale behind everything he says and does although this may be hard for the person he is interacting with to understand. This is a book that starts out as a mystery and unravels more than who killed Wellington the dog. It shows the reader the working of a mind that is different but none the less precious and unique in its own way.
Rating:
Summary: Tour de force
Review: Haddon does a wonderful job of maintaining a unique narrative voice and allowing us to feel compassion for characters who do some not very lovable things. If you enjoy audio books, this is a great one to listen to. The novel is set in England, and the reader and author together do an excellent job of taking us inside the head of a 15 year old British autistic savant. Funny at times, almost unbearably sad at others, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: An autistic boy tries to make sense of his world.
Review: Mark Haddon's touching novel, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," is the story of a British fifteen-year-old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a form of autism. He is a genius in math and science, but he has trouble understanding facial expressions and he communicates with others without making eye contact. He abhors being touched by anyone, and he groans and withdraws when he is upset. Christopher goes to a special school and he clings to the routines that make his life bearable. One night, Christopher's orderly world is shaken when he finds a neighbor's dog, Wellington, dead of stab wounds. Christopher loves dogs and he determines to use his sharp mind to find out who killed Wellington. Christopher's father orders his son in the strictest terms not to stick his nose into other people's affairs. However, Christopher ignores his father's orders and his investigation leads him down some unexpected paths. Haddon's book is a brilliant journey into a world that few people can even contemplate. What must it be like to have a literal mind that can process only certain types of arcane information but is powerless to handle the everyday social interactions that we all take for granted? Haddon, who has worked with autistic individuals, has deep compassion for Christopher. By writing this book from Christopher's point of view, the author enables the reader to feel this boy's confusion, anger, and heartbreak as his life begins to unravel. Haddon not only lifts the curtain on an autistic's boy's world, but he also explores the strain that having such a child places on his parents. "The Curious Incident" is eloquent, poignant, darkly humorous, and unforgettable. I predict that this book will become a classic and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the intricate workings of the human mind and heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Stereotypical view of an autistic child in a dark story
Review: Being the parent of a child with an autistic spectrum disorder, I was eager to read this book. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all. From a literary perspective, the approach of using the autistic teen-ager as narrator was unique and interersting. However, the genre of the novel jumped from mystery to soap opera very quickly and the ending was rushed and unsatisfying. Other than the narrator, the only sympathetic figure was the boys teacher and we only know her in the teacher/therapist context. Besides just not being a fun book to read, my biggest problem with the book is that it relies on stereotypical views of how autistic people perceive the world. My son is autistic and I saw very little of him in Christopher's character although he is also high functioning (albeit younger at age 10). First, only a tiny percentage of autistics are savants but apparently only savants are interesting enough to portray in fiction (this book, the movies Rain Main, Mercury Rising). If austistics aren't portrayed as savants, they are portrayed as retarded - neither is true with my son. Where are the average, ordinary autistic kids in literature? Not all autistics fall so totally on the analytical side of spectrum; my son has no interest in logic or math but is very interested in fiction - like alot of autistics, Disney movies are a passion with him. He is extremely affectionate and still loves to cuddle. My son is also very capable of lying - he is as adept as any child in acting totally innocent when asked if he did somehing wrong. That all austistics can't deal with change is also incorrect; my son loves to go new places and barely notices when I rearrange the furniture in his bedroom. I also thought the novel implied that an autistics reactions to the world are unchangeable or modifiable through therapy. We know Christopher goes to a special school (I was suprised he wasn't in a regular school like all of the high functioning autistic children I know but chalk that up to differences in the British system) but beyind teaching him math and language/ reading/ writing, it is not clear that any behavior issues have been addressed. At three my son may have reacted like Christopher when touched (hitting whoever touched him) but by 6 this type of behavior was extinguished through therapy. At 3, my son reacted to crowds like Christopher did in the train station; with therapy, he now handles crowds quite well. The novel also implies that living with an autistic is such a difficult experience that parents can't cope and families fall apart. While there are difficulties living with an autistic child (especially when they are quite young), autistics often are alot of fun and bring great joy to their families. The implication in this novel is that Christopher's problems bring the family to the crisis it is in is distasteful. So basically I feel like the good aspects as this book do not outweigh the reliance on a steretypical and limited perspective on autistics.
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