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Blogger: Writing Pool - Edit your Template
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writing pool
A Collection of Reviews, Short Stories and Essays
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Monday, September 24, 2007
 After months of reading books half-finished, I finally managed to reach the last page of a novel today--without even skimming pages! Mark that in your calendars people.The book in question wasn't even included in my last list. That is because I just got my last pay and ended up buying not one but two new books last Saturday. It's ironic how I, Miss ADHD, finished a book written from the point of view of an autistic child--The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, a murder mystery of sorts narrated by an autistic 15-year-old Christopher Boone. Christopher's quite the character. He knows all the countries in the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057 (chapters in the book are divided according to prime numbers). He relates well to animals--he has a pet rat--but is clueless when it comes to human emotions. The story starts with him finding his neighbor's dog killed with a garden fork. So he then resolves to find the murderer using the style of his favorite (logical) detective, Sherlock Homes. What happens after is an adventure as Christopher discovers secrets about his parents' relationship, it's link to what happened with Wellington (the neighbor's dog)...and he's able to move out of his comfort zone a lot. He doesn't like being in places with lots of people but he was able to go to London all on his own. He's a quirky character. He relaxes by groaning and doing complicated math problems in his head or by hiding in a cabinet or tool shed. He predicts days to be either Quite Good, Good, Super Good or Black according to the number of red cars (good) and yellow or brown cars (bad) he sees. He hates yellow and brown for some odd reason. And will not eat yellow-colored food unless he mixes it with red food coloring. And he doesn't like eating food touched by other people. He cannot stand to be touched by other people, even his parents. He SCREAMS when touched! The only show of affection he can stomach from his parents is by touching the tips of his fingers with theirs. It was a sign that meant they loved each other. And I swear, every time he did this with his dad or mom after a particularly tiring episode, I get teary-eyed. :') It's an amusing and enlightening read. This is supposed to be Mark Haddon's first novel and it's already a masterpiece. :)
posted by Tricia @ 7:57 AM 0 Comments:
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