Mark Haddons website

http://markhaddon.com/curious.htm

Theme questions

 

1. Is there more than one theme in the book?

Answer: Yes, there are several themes to the book such as honesty, however they are pretty hard to find.

2. Are any of the themes in the book linked?

Answer: Some of the themes in this book are linked such as Honesty and the struggle to become independent. Christopher's father lies to him many times throughout the story such as when he tells Christopher that his mother was dead. Honesty links to the struggle to become independent because if his father had not lied to him Christopher would not have felt the need to leave his home.

3. Out of the following themes which one in your opinion is more important? The struggle to become independent, subjectivity, honesty and relationships. Why?

Answer: I think honesty is the most important theme in the book because, because of Christopher’s fathers dishonesty Christopher runs away which. Without the Dishonesty of Ed there would not be a story

Is the theme directly stated or implied?

Answer: The themes of this book are implied

4. What message do you think Mark Haddon is trying to get across to the reader *

Answer: One message that Mark Haddon is trying to get across is you cannot judge someone before considering things from their perspective.

       5. Did this book lead you to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

Answer: This book made me reassess how I deal with problems because, when there is a problem people generally only consider things from their perspective. People like Mrs. Shears do not understand how people like Christopher, someone who has autism, function.

6. What kind of conflict does Christopher face? (Ex. Person vs. Person) *

Answer: The conflicts Christopher faces in the book The Curious incident of the dog in the night time are:

Character vs. Self, Character vs. Environment and Character vs. Character. In the book Christopher pushes himself to leave his home in Swindon after he finds out about all the lies his father told him even though he is scared of other people and loud sounds. Therefore there is a Character vs. Self-conflict. Many things in the environment Christopher lives in oppose him as not a lot of people understand him. Therefore there is a character vs. Environment conflict. Finally there is a character vs. Character conflict because Christopher cannot trust his father because he told Christopher that his mother was dead.

7.       What kind of relationship does Christopher have with his family?

Answer: Christopher has an untrustworthy relationship with his family. Christopher’s Father lies to him several times throughout the book.

8.       What does Christopher fail and succeed to accomplish?

Throughout the book curious incident of the dog in the night time Christopher Succeeds at becoming more independent, facing his fears (loud noises, people) and completing his A- maths. However he fails to forgive his father.

9.       Do you think that if the novel would had been written in any other point of view (other than Christopher's) that one would have understood Christopher's thought process and been able to truly get insight to his character? Why?

 

Answer: Not at all. Since Christopher is narrating the book we hear a lot of his thoughts that and feelings that we would have not heard otherwise. We learn so much about Christopher’s character because it is written in 1^st person.

 

10.   Mark Haddon uses different language and grammar through-out the book to help us understand Christopher’s character. Do you think it was distracting? Would the story have had the same impact if the language had been different? I liked how the book was written it made Christopher’s character more real; I thought it added to the book. If the language had been different the story would have been boring.

 

Journal 4

What. Did I. Just. Read. 

Nothing happened! -- So, he goes to London. Yeah, k. He finds his Mother, returns to Swindon, aces a math test. And gets a dog. 

Where is the storyline?  Where is the ending?! The curious incident of the dog completely left the story line halfway through the book. What is the connection between a dead dog and reuniting with a family member? The story ended with just stuff that happened. It didn’t end with an ending… It feels like the author just got impatient and just finished the book in 5 seconds. What happened? An autistic boy did something by himself and all is just dandy? -- Notice all the unanswered questions-- 

^What is meant above is; Nothing in the last quarter of the book happens to end the novel satisfyingly. I feel like I read the first quarter and the last quarter of the book. 

Once again, I think I just don’t take joy in reading the mind of an autistic boy trying to accomplish something independently.  The theme and story line are not well portrayed, and it leaves me as a unsatisfied reader. 

I would not recommend the book to anyone, especially if you will be asked to explain it, make any sense out of it, or find structure in it. Because that would be impossible. It was temporary entertainment. 

Interesting: Theatre Adaptation

Looks like they've adapted The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for theatre in New York. Interesting.

http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time/

journal 4

Let me start off this post by saying the ending of this book was terrible! It ended so abruptly, I was so surprised when I found out it was the end because I had so many unsolved questions! It reminded me of mocking jay by Suzanne Collins. In both books the authors kind of solve the problem and then the book ends and with an unclear conclusion and I feel like the characters story were kind of dropped if that makes sense.  The ending of the book was also predictable. Christopher and his mother travel back to Swindon and Christopher preforms his A- level maths and, surprise, he passes them even though he is physically and mentally exhausted.  His Father tries to gain Christopher’s trust again by buying him a puppy which I thought was a cute twist to the story. And Christopher finishes his book by telling us what his plans for the future are (completing his A- level physics, getting a first class honour degree and becoming a scientist)

 Now that everything is said and done I have to say that I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I would not recommend this book to someone who is looking for a happy story because it isn’t. In fact it was kind of depressing.

 Question à Did anyone else notice how many sentences started with and?

Look at the last two pages. 13 sentences started with and.

I thought it was interesting.

The FINAL Journal Entry: "Debatable" Conclusion to a Awesome Novel

Well, we have finally reached the end of our four-week long emotional roller coaster.  We have entered the mind of an autistic individual and walked in his shoes for a while to understand his perspective on life and adult social problems.  Overall, I have nothing to complain about regarding the book.  However, I do have a problem with one thing.

The conclusion was extremely rushed and didn't give much closure.  At one moment, we're in London, and Chris is living with his mother and Roger Shears.  The next moment, Chris and his mother have returned to Swindon (via stealing Roger's car) and are talking to Ed about living back at the house again.  By the end of the book, Roger taxied out to Swindon just to dump all of Judy's stuff on the lawn and flip her off, followed by Chris taking his A level maths, Ed apologizing (to very little success with reconnecting with Chris), the family buying a golden retriever and naming it Sandy, Toby dying, and Judy living in a small apartment.

I found there was too many details left out, sort of like the ending to the Hunger Games books or Mass Effect 3.  I was still asking a lot of questions that weren't answered at all in the book and felt as if Mark Haddon betrayed Chris' character in a way.  Chris is focused on detail (ex. him describing standing in a field and noticing the details. "There are 19 cows in the field.  15 are white with black spots and 4 have brown.  There is a town in the distance with 300 noticeable buildings and a church with a square steeple.  The southeast corner of the field is more elevated than the northwest corner.  etc. etc. etc.") and his obsession with detail is what drives the story forward.

Like the Hunger Games (where so many details were left out after the fight at the Capitol that those extra details could have made a whole other book) and Mass Effect 3 (where Bioware [the video game's developer] received extreme backlash from an extremely loyal fanbase for leaving hundreds of questions unanswered with the ending), there was lots of missing pieces to the puzzle of "Who Killed Wellington," even though we did find out who the murderer was and what really happened with his Chris' mother.  I just wished it had more closure and wasn't as rushed.

Despite this tweak in the storyline, it was an extremely good book.

Journal 3

In this section of the book, Christopher's father reveals the truth about Chris's mother, after Christopher finds letters written to him by his mother. Another shocking piece of information is revealed as well. Ed Boone killed Wellington the dog. When Christopher hears about this, he feels unsafe at home. So he runs away. Well, first hides in the garden. He then runs away to the address on his mother's letters to him. The story quickly comes to a point where Christopher is trying to overcome his fear of London, where there are a lot of people and loud noises. 

This part of the book is no longer about the book he is writing to find the murderer of Wellington. (it was revealed it was Ed)  The book now has taken a turn to searching out his mother. This doesn't have much to do with the main story of the book. (if there WAS one behind all of the crazy side tracks) It's a sad depressing story now. Though, with Christopher's lack of emotion, I as a reader did not feel any emotion. I think this plot turn really helps the book. Until now, it was quite uneventful and boring. This really picked up the story. It is still not one of my favorite reads though. It's still slightly distracted by Christopher's thoughts.  All in all, it's a good book, but not for anyone who doesn't like listening to the mind of an autistic boy. 

Judging by what has just happened in the book, and just knowing how the book generally flows, I feel the ending will be abrupt and unpleasing.  UNTIL NEXTIMEEEEEE. K bye. 

Section 4/4 - Journal Entry

Now that all is said and done, I believe I can give this book a solid 3/5. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm really not sure how to else to react. Everyone's safe, and there's no big "bang" exit, if that makes any sense.

Overall, the book wraps up way too quickly. It's one of many book I've read that fell victim to this trap. No real resolution is given, and all Christopher tells us is that he's feeling

  •   •

\___/

However, the funniest part (for me, at least) in the book happens in this final quarter. While taking his A level maths exam, Reverend Peters was his sort of supervisor. This "reverend" left the classroom on two of the three days to smoke cigarettes (a different amount each day, he seems to have no routine) and watch Christopher from the window. I laughed way harder than I should have.

But overall, it's simply too fast and too stereotypical.

He aces his A level maths despite fatigue and all is well. His mother's relationship with Mr. Shears seems to be crumbling (Mr. Shears to his mother when she borrows the car: "You've got f**king nerve"), but that's not discussed too much. He reconciles with his father, and will spend more and more time with him each week as time goes on. He gets a dog, and names it Sandy. He sets up goals for the future (to get a First Class Honors degree and become a scientist).

In short: not enough happens to mark the ending of the novel, and what does happens only takes a few pages (but don't forget the appendix: a three page explanation to Christopher's favourite question from his A level maths exam).

I'm torn as to what the theme of this book is. As a group we toyed with "honesty is the best policy", considering all the lies that Christopher lived through in such a short novel, and all was revealed in typical fashion at the end. Myself, I'm starting to get curious as to how our presentation is going to go :S

Book Review taken from "The Guardian" (London Newspaper)

Christopher Boone is 15. He knows "all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507". He lives in Swindon with his father and Toby, his pet rat. He abhors all yellow and brown things, thinks he would make a good astronaut, and has never been further than the end of the road on his own until his discovery of the "murder" of his neighbour's dog turns him into an amateur detective.

Christopher has Asperger's syndrome, though this is never specified. Mark Haddon's study of the condition is superbly realised, but this is not simply a novel about disability. Haddon, rather like Daniel Keyes in his 1959 classic Flowers for Algernon , uses his narrator's innocence as a means of commenting on the emotional and moral confusion in the lives of the adults around him. Christopher sees everything, remembers everything, but cannot prioritise - cannot sift out what most of us regard as important. On the day he is told his mother is dead, he records his Scrabble score, and notes that supper was spaghetti with tomato sauce. But he isn't callous or indifferent. He can cope with facts, with concrete detail; emotions confuse and alarm him.

Autistic people are not easy subjects for novelists. Their interests are prescribed, their experiences static, their interaction with others limited. Haddon ingeniously uses Christopher's admiration for Sherlock Holmes to lead him out of this stasis, not to effect some miraculous "cure", but so that a story can happen. Detective fiction, relying on the accumulation of material facts, is the only fiction that makes sense to Christopher. As he collects facts relating to the death of the dog, he unwittingly pieces together a jigsaw that reveals to the reader the lies, grief and evasions of his parents' lives.

There is, of course, a great novelistic tradition of children as observers of the darker side of adult behaviour - What Maisie Knew , To Kill a Mockingbird . But The Curious Incident is no out-of-Eden fable. The pathos of Christopher's condition is that he can never understand the havoc his very existence has wreaked in the lives of those around him, however many facts he uncovers. I don't want to give the story away, but the scene in which he reads his mother's letters is one of the most affecting things I've read in years.

But there is comfort as well as sorrow. Christopher's innocence makes him vulnerable, but it protects him too. At the end, when order is restored, we see that he is a touchstone for adult behaviour. Those concerned with his welfare have to learn to temper their emotional needs round his autistic inability to compromise.

"This will not be a funny book," says Christopher. "I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them." But it is a funny book, as well as a sad one. Christopher's compulsive noting of mundane facts provides comedy reminiscent of the best of Adrian Mole, especially in his dealings with the police and his special-needs classmates. And Haddon's inclusion of diagrams, timetables, maps, even maths problems, extends the normal scope of novel-writing and demonstrates the rich idiosyncrasies of the autistic brain. The Curious Incident is published simultaneously for adults and older children; despite its clarity and simplicity, it operates on several levels. I'd love to know what a reader with Asperger's thinks of this book. I think it's brilliant.

By Charlotte Moore, columnist in the Guardian newspaper in England. Published in The Guardian in 2003.

Journal 33333333333333333333333333333

Ed Boone killed Wellington! This came as such a shock to me. Following this major instalment Christopher runs away to his mother’s house as he does not feel safe living with someone who has been telling him lies for his whole life.  One his journey to his mother’s house Chris has to overcome many of his fears. First he needs to walk alone to the train station where he encounters many people, which he is scared of. Christopher comforts himself by carrying a Swiss army knife around in his pocket. I wondered at this point if he would stab someone if he felt threatened, however he didn’t.

When he arrives at his mother’s house Mr. Shears makes it immediately clear that he does not want Christopher there which is proved by several comments he makes. After a brawl between Mr. Shears and Ed I came to two conclusions…. 1. Christopher does not have any emotions and 2. This book is depressing. Even though he can hear his parents fighting down stairs he does not show any emotions. Even after he almost gets killed by a train in chapter 127 he still does not show any emotion.

 

I can’t decide if I like this part or not.  While it has many exciting parts I don’t like the overall mood, it’s kind of dark as well as confusing since so many things happen.

 

Section 3/4 - Journal Entry

Well, we're at page 170. If anyone who hadn't started this book from the beginning tried to start from this point, they'd be greeted to (I kid you not!) a load of gibberish. This is in fact an explanation of what Christopher's brain saw as he tried to take in the signs around him at the train station. I guess I should back up!

It's been revealed that the murderer of Wellington is in fact Ed, Christopher's father. Christopher no longer feels safe at home, and as such, has decided to run away to his mother's. He took one of the most recent letters from her and (easily) memorizes the address. This turns out to be quite a complex (and stressful) journey for Christopher, who isn't accustomed to the busier downtown parts of the city or the people in them.

This is definitely one of the more interesting parts of the book, and a more exciting section to read.

Christopher's methods of dealing with the stress are actually quite logical, and made me realize how bright he truly is. He relates the train station timetable with his own daily routine schedule. I can even relate to Christopher's “calming” math routines, as I know the quadratic formula ([-(b)±√ (b)^2-4(a)(c)]/2(a)) thanks to the last math unit.

Touching on the people he encounters, they really do treat him horribly. They swear, they spit, and take no regard for what he may be going through. This might infer that Christopher looks fairly normal on the outside. Another example that suggests this is that the police officer is surprised at some of Christopher's responses (“You aren't kidding, are you,”).

I wouldn't call this part of the book dark, however. I'm not saying it's completely depressing, but it's no happy fairy tale. It makes you more so feel hopeful for Christopher on his journey. He is bound to encounter the police and his father again, so we shall see how that pans out.

Journal 3: Exciting Plot Twist and Murdererrrrrrrrs

The story gets more and more interesting as the book goes on.  Now we finally understand why Chris' mother left.  We see how Chris reacts to extreme emotional trauma, and he begins his journey to London to see his mother.

Most importantly, we learn who killed Wellington.  This discovery forces Chris' hand to leave the house in Swindon.

We start to see a bit more about Chris' dad--who we discover is named Ed (like Ed Sheeran)--and that he's been hiding a lot from Chris for a long time and been bending the rules of their relationship.  There are dozens of letters that Mother sent to Chris, but Ed kept them away from Chris and lied to him about his mother having a "heart attack" and dying.  It turns out that their honest relationship has been fractured and Chris no longer feels safe in the same house as his dad.

Mainly, in all essence, because Ed killed Wellington.

Chris' own dad was the murderer of Mrs. Shears' dog.

This event has really shocked Chris emotionally.  Suddenly, he's been taking things into his own hands and has shown responsibility and maturity.  He's going to a crowded place on his own (London, by train to be exact.  I think it's safe to say that everyone in England rides the train to get places.) and he's not showing any fear whatsoever in this journey.  It begins to show development of a character and how he's gone from an autistic kid with no real understanding of anything but science and maths into a traumatized individual who is ready to take the world on his own.  Especially when he goes to the station, he suddenly has to man up and use the same observation skills he uses as a detective to overcome his fears.

I only have a quarter of the book left.  Chris has arrived in London and ready to find his mother.  I think the book will end well, as in either his parents will reconcile or something better.

This Post Is Sponsored by Chrios Kendallas

Section 3/4: Character Questions

1. Why are we thrown into Christopher’s mind so suddenly?

Answer: Reading the story from Christopher's perspective introduces his character quickly and efficiently. It makes it easier to explain why Christopher acts the way he does.

2. What, in your opinion, is the strangest of Christopher’s quirks?

Answer: Varied responses. Mentioned were his dislike to certain colours, his car-colour methods of deciding how a day is going to go, and his language (ie: "do sex", instead of "had sex").

3. Christopher often seems to have an indifferent perspective. In what ways does he express emotion?

Answer: While happy, Christopher appears neutral. He expresses fear by running away, anxiety or apprehensiveness by waiting and doing nothing, and stress by sitting on the ground and groaning.

4. Do you think Christopher has more control over his stress levels and outbursts than he shows?

Answer: The general consensus was yes. It was also noted that he gained a lot of confidence throughout the book.

5. Would the book have had the same effect if it was not written from his first person perspective?

Answer: The book wouldn't of been as interesting if it wasn't self-narrated by Christopher. It would be difficult to understand him, and a lot of the interesting parts of the book would be lost. We wouldn't get to enjoy his humorous thoughts, and it would probably be a much shorter book.

6. In which ways had Christopher’s character evolved by where we are in the book now since the beginning?

Answer: Christopher gained confidence throughout the book. Although it took a long time, he made the long and complicated journey from Swindon to his mother's home in London all alone. He began to understand regular society better, and found reasoning for how certain things worked (such as the Underground).

7. Do you think Christopher has an understanding that he is different from others?

Answer: Christopher knows he's different, but doesn't always acknowledge that he is the minority. He often mention flaws in how the general public thinks, and believes that his way of thinking and doing things is better.

8. In which ways did Ed’s character impact Christopher?

Answer: Although Ed make a pretty good effort of taking care of Christopher throughout most of the book, his lies and admittance to killing Wellington finally drove Christopher out of the house. How could he trust his father? What other lies has he been telling? Is he going to kill me next?

9. Despite what he’s done, do you believe Ed is a bad person?

Answer: No. He hasn't had an easy time taking care of Christopher alone, yet he generally keeps his temper and tries to be understanding. His lie of Chris' mother's death is inexcusable, however.

10. From what we know, describe Christopher’s mother’s character.

Answer: On the inside, Christopher's mother is a caring person. She did what she thought was best at the time in the situation when she left. She wrote letters to her son despite thinking that he hated her as he never wrote back, when in reality Ed was hiding the letters.

journal 2

After reading the second part of the book, which I found to be revealing and dark, I have developed strong feelings towards certain characters and have gained more interest in the storyline. In this section of the book, Christopher discovers that his mother had an affair with Mr. Shears. Upon learning this information, Christopher adds it to the he book he is writing. Christopher also writes something that made me realise how well he understands life and how street smart he is, “But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr. Shears isn’t around anymore. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid”.

This is where I started to establish a certain disdain and hatred towards Christopher's dad (Ed). Subsequently to reading his son’s book without permission, Ed loses his temper with Christopher and beats him for disobeying him. I found this extremely mishandled on Ed's part as Christopher is an autistic child who was just curious and writing his feelings in his book. Following this incident, the story spirals into a totally new direction. Christopher discovers letters that are addressed to him, written by his mom who is supposedly “dead”. He then realises that His mom ran away to England with Mr. Shears.

As much as I like the way the way the book is written I found that the language in this section was a little hard to follow and I often got confused.

:)

Questions Regarding Conflict

System of a Down-Question!

I was responsible for 10 questions regarding conflict.  Here they are:

1.       1. What do you think the main conflict is in the story: Character vs. Character, character vs. self, or character vs. environment? Why?

It’s more of a character vs. environment conflict.  No one really understands Chris (poor chap) or his motives.  All he wants to do is solve the mystery of who killed the neighborhood dog, but people aren’t accustomed to his behaviour and mentality, so, in a way, they’re slightly afraid of him.

2.     2.  Do Chris and his father have a good relationship?

I’d say, yes, they do have a good relationship with his father, even in the worst of times.  They get along and his father is very patient and understanding of Chris.  Even then, Chris pushes the limit of each other’s trust and does things that he knows are risky in his father’s eyes.

3.      3. What really triggered Chris’ curiosity surrounding his mother’s “death?”

Well, obviously, whenever he talked to Mrs. Andrews about Wellington at the corner store.  Suddenly, a huge veil was lifted and a completely other mystery was revealed, adding further complication surrounding the plot.

4.      4. Do you think that Chris’ dad overreacted when he found Chris’ book and read what he wrote down?  Was it really necessary to bring on violence?

He was perfectly sensible up until he hit Chris, in my opinion.  I’ll be honest, he was fed up with Chris disobeying his orders and breaking his promises, but violence wasn’t the answer.

5.       5. Chris seems to go off topic a lot.  Does this in any way help progress the story, or hinder its progress?

This is tough.  Personally, I see it progresses it in a strange way, because his off-topic things aren’t really that off-topic.  They just give lots of explanation to an inquiry or to why someone has done this or that.

6.       6. Dramatic Change: Chris’ Mother May Still Be Alive.  Does this plot twist make the story more interesting than before, or is it still a dull read?

I really don’t know why I asked that question, because it isn’t a dull read in any way whatsoever.  I do find that when Chris finds those letters in his father’s room, that everything suddenly changes, and that the story is no longer just about dogs and maths.

7.      7. Chris’ mother never died.  Why do you think his father told him so?

This is tough.  We first must understand that Chris doesn’t understand human behaviour that well.  It’d be too complicated for Chris to understand what went on.

8.       8. The initial mystery of the book was pretty bland, do you find?  Do you find that people are brushing off Chris as some kind of message?

It seems like more of a kid-ish mystery to solve.  If he was a younger kid trying to do it, the neighborhood would think that it’s cute.  Since he’s 15 and should know better, everyone in frustrated.

9. How does Chris' character add to the conflict?

He's an interesting fellow that handles situations differently.  This creates a bit of a barrier between him and the rest of society that is a huge obstacle for him to overcome.

10. How does Mrs. Alexander's part in this mystery add conflict?

She revealed everything about Chris' mother's death--I mean, affair with Mr. Shears.  Enough said.

Second Journal

Journal on the second quarter of the book

The second half of the book is rather boring. Despite the book going through a serious plot and conflict change, the book is uneventful and uninteresting. Christopher finds out his mother is still alive, and the story is taking a major turn and switches from the death of a dog to finding his thought-to-be-dead mother, and why his father was hiding his mother from him.  We also get a glimpse of the relationship between Christopher and his father tensing. The problem with this quarter is that it seems uneventful, with distractions of Christopher's humor. 

In this section we see foreshadowing of the information Christopher gets on his mother being alive. Mrs. Alexander tells Christopher earlier in the book that his mother isn’t really dead. In this section Christopher finds out his mother left his father to live with Mr. Shears (the ex-husband of the neighbor).

Chris and his father’s relationship takes a dark turn when the father finds Christopher's book full of evidence, after him repeatedly telling Chris to not get involved. This results in Chris and his father physically hurting each other. Yikes. 

The humor in the book is great, but continues to take away from the conflict and the storyline. This leaves the reader unsure of how to respond, like the first quarter of the book.  Despite all the excitement and mystery, the book is uneventful. The humor has a huge role in that.

The book is bay far a unique read, but is not really a great book. It’s good for laughs, but the storyline is weak, and on top of that too much distraction from the main storyline. The conflict also seems to change halfway through the book. I don’t know what that’s about. It needs to start focusing on the storyline more, rather than Christopher’s strange thoughts. Though, that IS how someone with autism would see the situation. So maybe it’s just not good to read the mind of an autistic boy.  Not sure yet.  

Mystery: Zach's 2nd Journal Entry

Suddenly, the book is warming up to be quite the suspensful read.  In this quarter of the book, we discovered new information from Mrs. Alexander surrounding Chris' mother's death.  The hints that we get are that Chris' mother may have never died.  She left with Mr. Shears (the man that Chris accused of killing Wellington) to live somewhere else and had an affair with each other.  In Chris' words, "because he was doing sex with someone else when he was married to Mrs. Shears."

We also see the stress in the relationship between Chris and his dad.  After his dad repeated several times that he didn't want Chris to  go snooping around in other people's business, he finally lost it when he found Chris' book filled with his "evidence" in the murder.  It concludes with Chris grabbing/scratching his dad (I was a bit confused at this point) and his dad hitting him back.

Otherwise, this section was darker than the first half of the book.

Still, I think that it is a generally humuorous read.  At one point in the book, he goes on about he has to take chances with this mystery.  By the end of this digression, we were doing a deep analysis of a newspaper column revolving around luck and how this certain person was deemed wrong by so many people.  We were shown a (rather confusing) mathematical problem and a (less confusing) graph showing the outcome of a game show.  After all that, it left me with a little bit of a "dafuq did I just read?" feel.  It made me laugh how we digressed that quickly.

Near the end of the section is when things get exciting.  Chris ended up losing his book and decided to search in his father's room for his book. Even though he didn't find his book, he did find an old shoebox filled with letters adressed to Chris. Intriguing...

Upon opening one of the letters, he sees that they are in his mother's handwriting and mailed a few months after his mother died.  One letter talks about how his mother is now enjoying her job as a factory worker in London.

Whoah.  Back up.  Slow the **** down.  His mother never really died?  Despite all the talks and apologies from the neighborhood for the family's "loss?"  It means that Chris' dad has been lying the entire time.  And he's all about Chris being honest to him.  Isn't this in the slightest way hypocritical?

Well, sorry, I digressed.  However, further reading of the various letters reveals that Chris' mother is alive, and did indeed split from his dad to live with Mr. Shears, which explains why Mrs. Shears is single and explains the line "Mr. Shears is an evil man." This was said earlier in the book by Chris' dad.

This is turning into a big mystery.  I'm liking the book more and more.

Section 2/4 - Journal Entry

I hate to admit, but the second quarter of the book isn't quite as intriguing. My initial review probably should've been a bit more critical. Nevertheless, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is still an interesting read. I admit I read a little past this quarter of the book, as page 113 is an awful place to stop. A major plot twist is taking place: Christopher's mother is actually still alive, and has been trying to communicate with him by means of letters for years. His father has been hiding all of these letters in a box underneath his bed.

Christopher continues to go off topic with mathematical formulas, but his humour and perception on life continues to shine. His list of why he didn't like brown things made me laugh, particularly his bit about a girl named Melissa Brown:

Melissa Brown (who is a girl at school, who is not actually brown like Anil or Mohammed, it's just her name, but she tore my big astronaut painting into two pieces and I threw it away even after Mrs. Peters sellotaped it together again because it looked broken).

The humour like this though causes major conflict with the dark storyline. It's often hard to know how to react. After getting this far in the book, also picked up on some foreshadowing from earlier on page 58. Mrs. Alexander seemed surprised when Christopher explained that his mother had died of a heart attack in the hospital. This is because she knew that Christopher's mother had not died, and was in London was Mr. Shears.

I'm starting to question whether this was the right book choice for me. It is a good read, and not really comparable to anything else, although I thought this book would have a little more depth. The plot is hardly about the initial conflict anymore, and is more so a window into the autistic mind of Christopher Boone.

I'm also wondering how a film adaptation could possibly work. This book is mostly self-narrated! We shall see. I hope this book can again give me the intrigue it did at first.

journal 1

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon, is one of the most thought provoking and interesting books that I have ever read.

The main character is fifteen year-old Christopher Boone. He is a smart, high-functioning autistic kid whose view on life is particularly fascinating. He likes Sherlock Holmes, and the colour Red, but detests the colour yellow. He narrates the entire book, and gives an amazing demonstration of the autistic mind and thought process, he brings the reader through scenarios that most people would react completely differently to.

 Christopher's descriptions of events are funny and interesting, and keep the first quarter of the book enjoyable, which is good because of the somewhat flavourless settings and depressing story line. For example, one night Christopher finds his neighbours poodle dead, with a garden fork jammed through his chest in the yard of a typical English home.  After discovering that no one had plans to discover who murdered the dog named Wellington, Christopher decides to investigate Wellington's murder (against the wishes of his father), and begins to write a book about his adventure.                                        

I found the first part of this book extremely entertaining as it is written in such a creative and different way, and it makes me think about other people’s perspectives on life and how different they are from me.  I liked how the author introduced the dog’s death so early in the book as it makes the rest of the book more fascinating and attention grabbing.                                                                                                                  

I wish that the author would have developed a better setting in the beginning of the book as the lack of depth made it a bit vague, however from the little amount of setting detail that I did read, it painted a sleepy and dull location which I assume was done so it contrasts the setting later on in the book.                                                             

Overall I am extremely happy with my novel choice by means of entertainment.

Section 1/4 - Journal Entry

After reading the first quarter of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I can say with honesty that I am extremely happy with my novel choice. The book is extremely intriguing (I am in fact already much further past the first quarter!) and has caused me to almost miss my stop on the bus a couple of times.

Being thrown into Christopher’s autistic perspective and the main conflict nearly right away in the book was interesting, and helped reflect his character. The dreary, lower-middle class setting of Swindon sets the dark tone of the book perfectly and reflects the town’s characters’ mostly neutral feelings towards life.

One of the biggest draws of the book is clearly the humour, which Mark Haddon wrote very intelligently as Christopher’s does not usually realize he’s funny. In fact, when he does purposely attempt to tell a joke, it is related to mathematicians and is more insulting than hilarious. The diagrams of things he sees (either literally or in his mind) help the reader grasp a sense of how he thinks, and this is very interesting.

For example, Christopher drew a diagram of a complicated math game he played in his mind to calm him down while he was in stressful situations, though for the average person, it would probably only stress them out more! The rapidity at which things happen often leaves me having to reread a couple of paragraphs back in order to understand, as Christopher hardly stops to breathe, though this is simply a reflection of his personality.

Speaking of Christopher’s personality, he’s incredibly positive given what happens to him. He is constantly swore at and insulted by strangers and authority figures, and can count on one hand the people who actually care about him. He doesn’t even try to defend himself with the police officer. It is really quite a dark book once you look past the humour, and often leaves you feeling guilty after reading it for a while. His mostly mellow way of reacting to others reminds of a recent biography I read of the alternative rock band Radiohead. Lead singer and songwriter Thom Yorke simply didn’t feel the need to defend himself, and did what he loved.

This book doesn’t really have anything to teach you, though it is an out-of-the-ordinary read. I read on its Wikipedia page that a film adaptation is in the works, and I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Journal Entry: Zach

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time starts off with a legitimate bang.  Right off the first page, before any characters or setting are introduced, the main conflict is revealed.

What happens is that Christopher John Francis Boone (the narrator and hero of the story) finds his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, dead, with a pitchfork in the dog's side.  Shortly after, Mrs. Shears accuses Chris of killing the dog, the police come, and basically all hell breaks loose.  This section ends with Chris going against his father's word and trying to solve the mystery of "Who Killed Wellington."

Personally, I find the first quarter of the book slightly strange, as far as structure is concerned.  We learn about the conflict (Wellington's death), we are introduced to some central characters (Chris' dad, Mrs. Shears), and we learn a lot about Chris.  However, we don't learn too much about the setting.

Yes, it's obvious that the story takes place in England.  The language (profanity is introduced on page 4 and continues for the most part throughout the story), culture references ("football" instead of "soccer"), and some geographical references (refer to USA as "America" instead of "US", camping trips to France), tell you that it's a very English story.  But apart from a brief visit to the police station (where Chris stayed in his 2m x 2m x 2m jail cell), not much is really revealed about the setting other than it takes place in a suburban town in England.

Other than that structural problem (which really isn't a problem, but more of a different way of progressing the story), the book is quite exciting.  I'm glad I chose it.  It is...uniquely written, with the 233 chapters (which are prime numbers) and multiple graphs and charts.  It also has, personally, the most interesting character in most of the books I read.

...by the way, this has exactly 302 words in it.
--Zachary (aka Zachasaurus Rex)

Journal 1

First Quarter of the Book

The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night time is a rather odd book. It starts out almost directly with Christopher, who is autistic, finding a dead dog and punching a police officer. 

The story itself tells quite depressing and odd story. An autistic boy finds a dead dog, has a single father, and has a dead mother. Depressing. The author seems to try emphasizing on the situation and it's unordinary nature by having a very bland setting. It makes contrast between the story line and the bland setting at the beginning of the book. Which is genius, but I don't think works well because the book really does not focus on the setting in the first quarter. 

The author also seems to use Christopher's autism to lighten up the book. It can be quite humorous at points, and I think the book is creative and funny. Despite that, it is not my favorite book to read for long periods of time. With the humor it leaves me confused to how to react to to upsetting story it and unsure of what my thoughts and opinions are on what is going on in the book. The story is also somewhat hard to catch with the distraction of Christopher's thoughts. Overall the book is depressing, funny, and unique, but not very addicting. S'okay.

-Bethanyonnomnomlettuce-

Setting Discussion!

Discussion questions on the setting and the affect it has in the book

1. How would it effect the story and the characters if the book had started out in a larger city?  

Answer: The setting in the beginning of the books helps describe the nature of the Characters. Particularly Christopher. He does not like strangers or talking with people he does not know. Being in a small suburban area shows this about Christopher. Furthermore, the small, suburban setting helps create contrast between the unexpected death of Wellington and the quiet, normal setting.

2. What contrast was created between the setting and the incident of Wellington's death? Did it put emphasis on anything, and did it benefit the story?

Answer: Because Swindon is such a small, quiet town, the murder of Wellington was even more shocking and unexpected in the book. It puts emphasis on the incident and benefits the story by putting focus on the it, compared to the boring setting of the town.

3. What mood and general feeling does the town set?  

Answer: The town sets a very neutral feeling and tone. Swindon is a small, ordinary town, and tells the reader that it is nothing special.It sets an almost boring feel.  

4. Does the setting help develop or help the reader understand the characters at all? How?

Answer: The town of Swindon, particularly Christopher's street, gives a predictable description of the neighbors, and helps the reader understand the neighbors, without the author having to describe them much. It also helps develop Christopher by showing the reader how he prefers quiet places.

5. What effect does Christopher's autism have on the story of the book?

  

Answer: The overall story of the book is rather dark and sad. The author uses Christopher's autism in a friendly, humorous way. This helps lighten up the book and keep it interesting. It gives a funny, and not-knowing-what-to-expect feel to the reader.

6. What does the town show and tell the reader about Christopher?

Answer: It shows the reader that Christopher is uncomfortable around strangers, dislikes loud noises, and prefers having a quite lifestyle.  

7. Does the book being written autobiographically (first person) affect the setting?

Answer: The book being written autobiographically (first person) does affect the setting. Because Christopher is autistic, and you are seeing the setting through his eyes and thoughts, it dramatically changes the setting and the overall feeling. Christopher takes in little details, and really opens the eyes of the reader to the setting. It changes the feeling of the setting in a way that most people are not used to reading.  

8. What  effect does  an autistic boy writing the book and having a depressing storyline together have on the reader?

Answer: The combination of a dark, depressing setting and a funny narrator creates a paradox, making the reader conflicted.  

9. Do you think having an ordinary setting benefits the story? How or how not?

Answer: Yes, the setting benefits the story to some extent. It creates contrast between the conflict and the setting. The setting also describes the characters. Though, the story also suffers from the setting. The setting makes the story somewhat boring, by having nothing unique about it.  

10. Why would the author create what is supposed to be a normal setting, and put chaos in it?  

Answer: The setting puts emphasis on the strangeness of the murder of Wellington and the whole situation. The setting and conflict work together by being opposite.  

-Bethanyomnomnomlettuce-