Book Group

We met last night to discuss The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I can't recall the last time I was so captivated and moved by a novel. This was such a remarkable book, I am (almost) speechless. It's a brief story narrated by a 15-year-old boy with some degree of Asperger's or autism (it's never stated explicitly, but it's obvious from the get-go). I can't describe how simultaneously heart-warming and heart-wrenching it was to get into this boy's mind and see what makes him tick. It was enlightening, distressing, frightening, encouraging, and—ultimately—gratifying to learn how someone "different" makes sense of the world. I think I will read it again, because I was very anxious throughout (I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say that there were a couple of things I feared might happen but didn't) and would like to enjoy the book without that apprehension looming over me. Thumbs-up all around from our group. Read it. Next up is Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson.

Comments

[Lora]

I am quite sure that he explictly says that he is autistic, although I'm to lazy to find exactly where. I also loved this book. It's was a quick read, but definitely left an impression on me. No doubt, I'll reread it sometime soon.

[Tonya]

Wasn't that a wonderful book? I absolutely loved it. Wasn't it interesting that the supposed "normal" folks were the ones who were ultimately dysfunctional?

[scott]

Yes, I liked it, too. I had occasion to spend a weekend with a young man about that age not long after I read it. His mother of course knew that he was different and had trouble in school. The school surely realized it. When I gingerly suggested that perhaps he had a mild form of autism called Asperger's syndrome she was stunned: "you mean there's a name for this?" I told her I couldn't diagnose the boy but he seemed to fit: inability to cue in to other people's emotional states, getting along better with animals than people, some signs of compulsive behavior... He was a good kid, though, and his family was very nice. Naturally I also told her about the book. Not as a therapeutic tool, but because it was good.