By Sowon Jessica Moon
“But in life you have to take lots of decision and if you don’t take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do. So it is good to have a reason why you hate somethings and you like others.” This is not a quote from a renowned philosopher, but of a 15-year-old boy named Christopher John Francis Boone in an incredible novel by Mark Haddon called “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time.”
The novel begins with Christopher Boone finding his neighbor’s dog, Wellington dead. Haddon develops the story by having Christopher writing out the mystery novel. Through the novel, the reader discovers Christopher’s knack for numbers and more particularly, prime numbers, science and simplistic logic of life and his broken family; his mother who passed away when he was young and a father who does all he can to take care of Christopher, who has behavioral problems, despite how stressful it can be.
As the story unravels the question of how much both Christopher and his father can tolerate is tested when Christopher discovers a secret that changes his life forever. He continues on a journey of faith, pain and determination, and eventually learns that life out of numbers and logic, though nerve wracking, is one he must accommodate to.
Haddon does an exquisite job of adding an original edge to his novel by having a 15-year-old to be the narrator of this novel. Readers find themselves drawn in fascination of the way Christopher Boone’s mind works; though he is the one narrating readers are able to feel the pressure and caution those around him must use and the frustration that could come with this.
By utilizing Christopher Boone in first person, the emotion relayed throughout is stronger and that much easier to relate to. Haddon even adds pictures and graphs to give that feel that it actually is a young teen writing the novel instead of him. Though the novel was so basic in terms of the mystery involved and despite the fact that this was, as Christopher Boone stated himself, a “mystery novel,” it was less about solving the mystery of who killed Wellington and more about the mystery of the human mind. By peering into this boy’s life, knowing what he likes and what he despises, readers are able to connect with him and see that regardless of his extreme behavior, he had come to terms with a certain amount of compromise in order to be fully happy; something that society is so unwilling to do today.
This book was a light, enjoyable read full of heartbreak, inspiration, determination and soul. Christopher Boone comes to life and becomes not just another character, but a character believably real; strange, but real. This short novel is guaranteed to please both avid readers and non-readers alike.