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Summary: PARENTS BEWARE! FOUL LANGUAGE SPOlLS THIS BOOK
Review: It is sign of how low standards have sunk when this book has received so much praise. I am so frustrated that the author felt that it was necessary to liberally use so much obscene language in this book (no doubt in the cause of realism - but we all don't live our lives surrounded by people swearing). It's a disgrace that this book wins a children's fiction award. My daughter and I couldn't get through it. This book should have come with a warning for parents.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting glimpse at a small slice of humanity
Review: Some folks I've spoken to about this book say it's a good book for teens. In general terms I'd tend to agree except for one thing: this book gives readers a detailed glimpse at a small (but apparently growing) segment of humanity that is not often discussed or widely understood. For that alone it's well worth anyone's time, moreso because it's a quick read.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book
Review: I find this book similar in style to "Flowers for Algernon". The narrator in that story had a different viewpoint than most people due to his changing intelligence. The author here presents his story from the viewpoint of an autistic child. Being extremely literal, he cannot completely understand the world. But as one reviewer put it, the author lets you understand what is going on even though the narrator cannot. I loved reading this. And it was fairly short too. It is nice to see an author get his story across without a lot of bloated subplots and wordplay. Too often a writer refuses to cut the story down the essential and thus diffuses the impact. Not here. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: sustained my interest, but did not transcend
Review: without getting academic about it... this was a perfectly decent read, but after all the hype I was expecting much much more. I did not find myself very attached to the characters beyond the natural sympathy towards a tough situation. the story/plot I found thin and not at all transcending. language, authentic enough, but not so original a voice. maybe more suited as an after school special, or a novel for teens (that is not meant facetiously).
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful effort
Review: Mr. Haddon has managed to entertain, educate and enthrall in one fell swoop. Much of the debate around autism has been about nature vs. nurture, fMRI scans are now being used to see how autistic people's brain "light up" differently than ours. Mark short cuts all of that science by wrapping his wisdom gleaned from years of observation in one of the most delightful characters I'm ever encountered. Christopher tugged at my heart from the beginning, even understanding that he would never see the reason behind my feelings. An important work for anyone, but especially for those who come into contact with autistic people and would like to have a perspective to try to understand the differences in our realities.
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Summary: Now THAT's different
Review: With "Dog in the Night-Time," Haddon delivers an intriguing, and often hilarious, story with a biting wit and a truly unique approach. If you want to add something out-of-the-box to your summer reading list, "Curious Incident" is for you. If you dig this, and/or you're into writers like Yann Martel, Sue Monk Kidd, Dan Brown, etc., then there's a new writer you should check out: Greg Ippolito. His new novel, "Zero Station," is absolutely terrific, and an excerpt is available for FREE. He's still a relative unknown (a friend turned me onto his work)...but this is a must-read. You can check him out and read the excerpt at: www.ZERO-STATION.net. Don't miss it!
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Summary: poorly executed literary exercise
Review: This may be the worst book I have read this year. It is not a fun read; the writing is blunt and dull and there is no interesting use of language and no plot to speak of. Oh, and the "mystery" is resolved in the middle of the book and followed by another 70 pages of exremely tedious explanation of a trip to London. "But that's not fair," you say, "the protagonist suffers from autism. Of course the book would be written in simple language!" Maybe this is an accurate portrayal of what would happen if an autistic person wrote a book. I would say that it is not; Haddon just takes every stereotypical trait of an autistic person and assigns them to the protagonist. If you want to read a crime/mystery novel written from the perspective of a person with a disability, read Jonathan Lethem's book "Motherless Brooklyn" (the protagonist has Tourette's syndrome). Lethem's book is a clever and witty book; in this book, the disability is a device designed to give the book some humor and color.
Rating: 
Summary: B O R I N G
Review: Had a difficult time getting through this book.
Rating:
Summary: A curious read
Review: Mark Haddon's sometimes heartfelt first novel tells the story of a Christopher, an autistic 15-year old who embarks on a investigation to find out who killed his neighbor's dog. Along that journey, we get a glimpse in to the mind of a person with autism, his need for logic, his black and white understanding of the world, and the quiet exasperation that he evokes in his parents. There is an awful sense of humanity in this book, a dark suggestion of the daily struggle that Christopher's parents deal with while trying to raise a son that can't understand society's norms. It is this suggestion that touched me the most. At many moments, I felt for Christopher's parents, not for him. Mark Haddon has spent many years working with this kind of syndrome, and I do not doubt that he is intimately familiar with the constant battles that people with autism face. And he is successful at depicting these battles. But it is difficult for someone who has never known an autistic person personally to find the greater importance of this novel on a literary scale. I had it's title in my head for several weeks before buying it, and think that I should have just waited for a used paperback. It is a quick read, and certainly puts the reader in the mind of a young person with autism -- which is probably its greatest feat. But I think that the comparisons that I have read of this book to Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" are nothing more than publicist's speak.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss It!
Review: Not many people can quite understand what goes on in the minds of the mentally impaired, all that is seen and understood is the outward culmanation of their thought process. Yet Haddon succesfully manages to portray the mind of a (fictional) autistic boy beautifully, creating sympathy and emotion for a mind that knows neither. Christopher, the narrator, is a 15 year old boy, yet his writing seems simple and straight-forward, mirroring his thought-process. Although to others, an autistic mind may seem complex and non-comprehensible, Christopher's thoughts explain his actions in a simple manner, which he cannot convey to others in words. When Christopher discovers his neighbour's dog dead in her garden, he decides to embark upon an investigation to determine the murderer. To Christopher, dogs are just as important as people, and so the killer must be found. But his investigations take him much further than he expects, revealing truths about both of his parents, and turning the world-as-he-knows-it upside down, completely rearranging his life. However, Christopher's reaction to the events of the novel are not as the reader experiences them. When he discovers the truth about his Mother and Father, his physical anguish is clearly shown, yet his narrative technique does not show passionate emotions or distress. His mind and thoughts remain calm and passive. Through Christopher's eyes we see normal every-day events from a different perspective, and experience normally upsetting and traumatic events through an emotionally indifferent mind, creating even more empathy and sorrow than usual. The simple writing style of Christopher allows an easy reading of the novel, which has images and illustrations scattered throughout. However, Haddon allows the reader a fuller understand than Christopher's interpretation of events, by portraying full dialogues throughout the text that the reader can interpret differently to Christopher's unemotional grasp, giving the reader an upperhand of situations. This three-dimensional approach allows a contrast to Christopher's two, or one, dimensional interpretation, allowing an intimacy with Christopher's character that would not normally be permitted by an autistic person. Despite the novels slightly large appearance, it is a quick read, due to the simple writing-style, but time should be taken whilst reading it in order to appreciate it fully. The indifferent manner of Christopher compared to the emotionaly turbulent events that take place in the novel create a parallel that gives the reader full enjoyment of the novel, leaving a feeling of enlightment and deeper understand, and perhaps some guilt, for all autistic people. Rather than just understanding an autistic person from the actions they display, Haddon allows us to understand Christopher's actions and thoughts, which are wholly different, and in this way the reader can come to appreciate the intricacies and levels of an autistic mind, not just by face-value. Don't miss this great book! Another quick recommendation is The Losers Club by Richard Perez
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