The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Written by Mark Haddon
Narrated by Jeff Woodman
4/5
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About this audiobook
Editor's Note
Inventive & funny…
I loved this book. The story is narrated by Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old math genius with autism, who discovers a neighbor’s dog stabbed to death with a garden fork and starts investigating who committed the murder. The narration is inventive, subtly funny, and opens readers eyes to Christopher’s rich inner-world.
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon has written a number of successful picture books with HarperCollins, including Sea of Tranquility, illustrated by Christian Birmingham, and is best known for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He lives in Oxford with his wife and two sons.
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Reviews for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a great story from the perspective of a teenager on the autistic spectrum. It provides insight into how an autistic person thinks and offers a touching portrayal of relationships. The narration in the audiobook version is excellent. While some reviewers didn't enjoy the ending or the profanity, overall, this book is highly recommended for anyone with a disabled family member or friend. It combines elements of a murder mystery, family drama, and adventure novel, making it a unique and interesting read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I’ve been meaning to read this book forever.
I’m a student so I don’t have much time to read. So I was picking out audiobooks and came across this.
It was so great as an audiobook. The narrator does an amazing job. If you’re trying to decide audiobook or regular book, definitely go for the audiobook.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite kind of book is one that I didn’t expect to love so much. This one gets an A+.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book. Excellent to see the world through this young mans eyes.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delightful portrayal of the inner thoughts of a kid on the verbal end of spectrum disorder. It’s about relationship–to self, family, the universe.
And there’s math, for the tough times.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fast read and a touching story of the challenges and pressure of raising and loving a special needs child. Hilarious at times but always depicting the reality of this condition.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Insightful and touching. A must read/or listen for anyone with a disabled family member, friend or acquaintance.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this audio book. It was easy to follow (except at first when Chapter 2 came after the Introduction...I thought I missed something). I enjoyed hearing Christopher's perspective on things in such a simple, no nonsense voice and how he coped with the difficulties he faced.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have picked up this book several times but as I knew a dog died in the beginning, I was afraid to read it. Thanks to my book club, I started reading. It was good! The story is about Christopher, an autistic teenager who lives with his father. When he finds his neighbor’s dog murdered, he decides to start an investigation. Through this, he finds out some things about his family that leads him on a bit of an adventure.I think that most of us have someone with autism in our life. It was a wake up call for me to get inside the head of a child with the disorder. It’s a different way of seeing life and I can’t relate to it. I can appreciate the way of thinking however. Christopher saw things in such a unique way that you can’t help but wish you could have a glimpse of it yourself. The book is slow at times but overall it is a quick read. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The narrator of this book suffers from autism. Writing style is exceptional- and it is written as a mystery but is actually an expose of how autism can destroy a family and how the child can never truly understand those around him. Wonderful quick read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is written from the point of view of Christopher, a teen-aged boy with autism. One night, he can't sleep and while wandering around, he finds his neighbor's dog killed with a pitchfork. He decides to find out who killed the dog. The author does a wonderful job of channeling his character, Christopher.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One mark of a great novel is if it thrusts you into the mind of the protagonist, so that you feel you truly are that person, you experience what they experience, the way that they experience it, and having finished the book, sit back and think, "Whoa." How brilliant, then, is a novel about an adolescent who actually is incapable of that precise experience, of understanding another's soul? the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is just that sort of book. It takes you inside of the mind of a 15 year old with autism, and brilliantly pulls back the curtain of what goes on inside someone who can do calculus in his head to relax, but is overwhelmed to the point of semi-consciousness at being in a crowded train station. But this is no dry documentary. Instead, it is the intriguing story of the young man's search for answers, nimbly displaying the humanity, in all the twists and imperfections, of a variety of people in his life. As you follow Christopher and the unfolding plot along, you are entertained, challenged, and provoked to think a little more deeply about humanity and the nature and limitations of human thought and response. My only detraction of the novel is in its liberal use of profanity, which as in most novels is supposed to be "realistic" but ended up for me only being distracting. An entertaining and provoking read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect narration. I enjoyed the voice a lot and the quick read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/55Q, 4P, Junior, Senior and YA - This is quite simply one of the best books I've read in a long time. Haddon is able to capture the thought-processes of a person with autism that feels very real. The protagonist, Christopher, has a particular way of approaching the world, people, things and experiences and Haddon is able to articulate this experience in both a raw and elegant way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5(The title's Holmes reference is almost peripheral.) Gem of a books written as if by an autistic boy, which I'd have thought couldn't be done, certainly not when dealing with emotions.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The unnatural death of a neighbor's dog is a crime in the mind of autistic teen Christopher Boone. Since no one else seems to be doing anything to identify the dog's killer, Christopher launches his own investigation. His search is important enough to Christopher that he forces himself to do things outside of his comfort zone. Christopher's account of his discoveries is detailed, but he is unaware of the implications that will become clear to readers.I identified with Christopher as he negotiated the London transportation system on his own. I remember my own experience as an inexperienced solo traveler in London, and how carefully I watched those around me to copy their behavior. I was rooting for Christopher as he faced and overcame what were great challenges for him.This book has a lot in common with Mari Strachan's The Earth Hums in B Flat. I think most readers who liked one will like the other.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was a fascinating read, and an interesting look into the mind of an autistic character, though at least one father of an autistic child on the Dorothy-L mailing list didn't think it was that accurate about autism.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5?damson good like soo good like amazing and so good
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read this book shortly after the birth of my first born son, when I was devouring books at an alarming rate of speed (all read during those sleepless nights and marathon bf sessions - no one wants to know that, right?) Anyhoo, I was fascinated by it and now wonder if it wasn't a certain prescience that I would soon be overtaken by the study of autism. Maybe I'm Bettelheim's archetype of a refrigerator mother, because I spent so much time reading during those early months. But hey, babies sleep a lot - just not in long stretches of time. And I just read in "Unstrange Minds" that in Shakespearean times, folks used to swaddle up their babes and hang them on a wall for hours at a time - so I guess I'm not the world's worst mother after all.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this book in high school and the narration of it made it even better. It’s a great book and it has the innocence of a child’s writing without lacking depth and the perspective of the adults in the story.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Even though I loved Christophers story, and the excellent narration, I would not recommend it to anyone because of the horrible swearing in it! So so too bad...
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Not a fan of this one. I loved the concept but I’m not into endings that aren’t happy. Also had lots of profanity.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book! It's a murder mystery, a family drama, and an adventure novel all in one. Punctuated by science facts and descriptions of the world by the main character; his fears and worries and tolerances and the way he comes with them. A really interesting book on several levels.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I wonder if this is truly insightful on how an autistic person thinks. If it is there is definitely some wonderful by products as far as the ability to dissect and remember lots of amazing things. A very enjoyable listen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this book. Because it was written from the perspective of a person with Aspergers, this really gave me a new way to look at how these children might perceive parts of their world that I hadn't considered before as a teacher working with children on various ends of the spectrum. I was also completely able to relate to Christopher with some of his behavioral patterns and issues such as being bothered by too many people in one place and with so much noise it makes me cringe and want to leave. A great fiction novel that gave me some nonfiction information as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the story morphs from a young boy’s investigation of a neighbor’s dog being killed into a learning experience about Asperger's Syndrome and what the world looks like to a person with autism. The joy of the story is that the author, Mark Haddon, tells the story through the eyes of Christopher Boone, a young boy with autism, in such a way that you sympathize with him without feeling sorry for him because he is autistic. The story itself rates a full five stars. The treatment of the autism in this story only adds more impact.As is many people with autism, Christopher is obsessed with details, loves puzzles and gets confused by too much information coming at him. All of these elements come together as his quest changes from finding the killer of the next door neighbor’s dog to a quest of a much more personal nature. The crucial part of this second quest involves Christopher traveling by rail, by himself, from his home to London. This would be quite an adventure for any young teen to undertake, but it becomes truly momentous when relayed through his senses, distractions and personal quirks.Highly suggested for people interested in Asperger’s and autism in general, the story is also engrossing enough for loves of adventure stories. Not a tear jerker in the classic sense, but it is a story that will truly have an impact on you.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have read this book twice now...within a year's span of time. I once described it to a library patron as "a book that you would not want to put down before completing it!...the next day, the patron returned with a smile on his face and said, you were right, it was a definite page turner and I have just returned it into the chute!"...this was a note-worthy compliment for a sheer geniousity of Mark Haddon.This book is about an Autistic kid (Christopher) who has the tendency to describe every detail of every thing in his life...his parents separate due to the difficulties and controversial manners in which each of them thought they would cope and bring up their only child, but things don't run as smoothly as forseen. The highlight of this story was when the main character decides to leave his drunken and non-intentionally abusive father to live alone with his mother & travels from a place called Swindon to his mother's new residence in London. His journey describes his gratitude towards his teacher - Siobhan, who has taught him how to cope with his condition, his love for his pet rat, his embattled mind being torn between wanting to live with his father but feeling betrayed and thus seeking his mother.This is not a 'happily ever after' story from all angles, Christopher has his happy ending in living with his mother but the mother is forced by circumstances to make a choice between her child, her husband and her lover....A highly recommended read! :)
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A cynic would assume this got so many good reviews because it's about a retarded child. The book suffers from a yawning credibility gap when it comes to its pivotal discovery. Why doesn't the mother just ring her son up? Or go to his school? Or pop round the house? It's not as if her son has gone anywhere. And when it comes down to it, a child's train trip just isn't that exciting. The book has its plusses, but it spends too much time in its hero's head. It's far too slight and the ending made me cringe.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was really enjoyable. It was written a little differently, but nicely done. It gave me a little better understanding of autism.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not typically the sort of book I read, but my wife picked it up and I became interested. An autistic boy (how old is he?) plays sleuth when he discovers a dead dog on his neighbour's front lawn. The story becomes something less interesting (to me) halfway through, but the narrative voice of the boy kept me hooked. I've no real-life experience with autism, but the author appears to have captured it convincingly. Very interesting digressions, inserted in a 'Cryptonomicon' sort of way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Few things that i loved in the book The Curious incident of the dog in the night time written by Mark Haddon are They way it is written it not only brings in the suspense of what is going to happen in the next chapter, but with more so to break the monotony you have actually have diagrams, maths puzzles, maps, flowcharts, floor layouts in the novel itself. It was like asking my parents when i was introduced to novels, why arent there any pictures in this book, then they told me you automatically form and imagine the image in your mind.About the story it starts with a 15 year old boy, Christopher who is planning to give Maths Level A exams and sees the dead dog who has been murdered with garden fork and he tries to solve the mystery. While unraveling the truth, he unravels some mysteries of his own life. The other thing that i liked in the book was that the little Christopher has been very finicky in things which has been made very clear that starting with he does not like colour Yellow and Brown. If someone was under some stress or anger, normally, people would say start counting from 1 to 50(1, 2, 3, 4, ...), but Christopher's case it would start doing cubes of each number to ease out on the stress (1, 8, 27, 64, ...). This actually makes the book engaging. He relaxes by solving maths problems. Mark Haddon actually brings in the new perspective to the normal mundane things that we do, and specially when we have the maths to solve in them. But at the same time, there have been simple things as to why people are thinking, probably it is new to them are they would want to know more about it and when it comes from a thought process of 15 year old, it just seems to simple, but at the same time, when we become complicate things and being in a lot of elements at the same time, we have a lot of distractions. Example would description of the farm would be green pastures with white fence spread across 2 acres of land with 27 cows, out of which 18 white with black patches and 9 pure black cows. With such a kind of description and the maths becoming difficult, this is surely a light read, if you want to skip these problems, but at the same time for the geeks, this book is the ideal one to read.