Our the curious incident of the dog in the night-time book banter

This is our The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time book banter (title should be all lower case—see book cover!). Our book reviews are not book reports! Instead, we will review this award-winning and thought-provoking book while focusing on the writing style, the content, and the overall message.

Even though the curious incident of the dog in the night-time book was first published in 2003, I had only recently read the book in 2019. What took me so long?

Well, before it was on the top-100 list of The Great American Read, a PBS program that “explored and celebrated the power of reading…”, I had never heard of it.

I became especially intrigued when I heard this book had been banned by many community organizations. For instance, the book had been challenged with a request for removal from the Galveston, Texas, County Reads Day in 2006. Petitioners feared the book could “pollute” the minds of their young readers.

In 2016, the book was removed from a Florida public school’s summer reading assignment list. Another Florida school removed it from its required reading list and reclassified it as an optional assignment. Parents were concerned about the book’s profane, “foul” language, mature subject matter, and the main character’s atheism.

We’re all aware of the profanities that we commonly hear used by today’s politicians—sometimes on live television. Just the other day, I heard the US President say one of those profanities live, and unbleeped!

However, those words didn’t bother me. Instead, the authentic language made the story more relevant and believable.

Based on my good experiences with other banned books, I eagerly bought my copy of this book in 2019. Since reading it, I have it proudly on display on my bookshelf, along with other banned books like The Catcher in the Rye and In Cold Blood.

However, just getting banned is not enough of an appeal for me. A banned book also has to be thought-provoking. It also has to cause me and other readers to consider other points of view that may be valid, but also less popular in our society.

Good things about the curious incident…

Christopher was the 15-year-old main character. He was socially inept. In addition, he had other behavioral issues that were not typical. So, he attended a school for special students. In fact, he had a long list of behavioral problems that suggested he might have autism or Asperger syndrome.

Some of his behavioral problems included an aversion to being touched, especially by strangers. He also had a tendency to say rude things to people, although he didn’t realize he was being rude. In fact, he thought he was being honest and nice by saying things that polite society considers rude.

In addition, the awkward teen was content not to talk to other people for a long time. He also hated being in crowds of people, especially when they’re all jammed into small spaces together.

I have many of those same ‘behavioral problems’ and maybe that’s why I identified so much with the main character. Because of my own social ineptitude, I’ve experienced many of the conflicts that the main character had encountered.

Here are two good sources that explain the main character’s behavior problems:

Autism symptoms—Mayo Clinic, Autism spectrum disorder

Asperger syndrome symptoms—Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Asperger syndrome information page

Despite having many of the symptoms of autism and Asperger syndrome, the author never definitively claimed that Christopher was autistic. Instead, the author wanted Christopher to be different, and not fit in so well with conventional society.

I believe that many people, even those without autism, feel out-of-place and unsure of themselves in social situations. That’s certainly true for me, and that’s why we all might identify with Christopher’s life.

The main character related better to animals than he did to people. I’m the same way. Throughout my life, I’ve never had deep, long-lasting relationships with people, just like the main character.

Yet, with my pet dogs I had developed almost a sixth sense of communication skills. All my dogs have been fiercely loyal, and could sense when I was happy or when I was sad.

In fact, one dog was able to sense when my blood sugar was too low. As a type 1, insulin-dependent diabetic I constantly guard against dangerous low blood sugars.

Type 1 diabetics sometimes find it difficult to tell when their blood sugar is low. Many times while I was sleeping, my dog would jump on my chest with his front paws to wake me up when my blood sugar got too low.

Because of his sixth sense, my dog had saved my life by waking me up from my low blood sugars. I think that Christopher had a similar, deep connection with the animals he encountered in his life.

Christopher’s connection with animals explains why he wanted to solve the mystery of “the dog in the night-time…” I won’t give away what happened, but much of the story depends on Christopher’s intense compassion for animals.

The author included many of Christopher’s obsessions, which I especially enjoyed about this book. For instance, he loved math, astronomy, and science, and was especially good at those subjects.

To demonstrate the boy’s obsession with numbers, the author included a statistical problem, along with a few challenges in trigonometry and algebra. I loved following Christopher’s reasoning, and could understand his excitement.

As your children read the book, they will participate in that excitement over math and science. The problems, and Christopher’s logical solutions, will spur further research. As far as I’m concerned, further research is always a good thing, and is especially beneficial for a young reader.

Christopher’s well-reasoned atheism really concerned local community leaders from conservative school districts. Those community leaders didn’t want the protagonist’s logic to “warp” young minds. So naturally, the book was classified as an optional assignment.

When I was growing up, I faced the same narrow-minded opposition to my own innocent questions about god and religion. In fact, my church and my relatives shunned me because of my innocent, childhood questions.

I think this book does a valuable service for today’s parents—it provides a platform for logical discussions about controversial issues all children will encounter. Above all, this book shows that a person does not have to conform to popular beliefs in society. They can be nonconformists and live a happy, fulfilling life.

Not-so-good things about the curious incident…

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was clever. While it was easy to read, the content remained challenging, thought-provoking, and made me want to do more research. And, those are all good things.

However, after I had heard and read all the rave reviews, I was a little disappointed. Even though the book was very good, it wasn’t as great as the reviewers made it sound.

One reviewer wrote:
“Disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect…as suspenseful and harrowing as anything in Conan Doyle.”—The New York Times Book Review

Well, there were some plot twists, but it was not “disorienting and reorienting” to this reader. However, I do admit that the plot twists were clever and unexpected. In the end, though, they weren’t that big of a deal to me.

Then this enraptured reviewer wrote:
“Superb…bits of wisdom fairly leap off the page.”—Newsday

I do admit that Christopher’s logic, wit, and wisdom challenged me, but I wasn’t overwhelmed. It just wasn’t as a big a deal as the reviewers made it out to be.

TAKEAWAYS AND RECOMMENDATION

I really enjoyed reading this book. If you have children who don’t feel like they fit in at school, they might especially enjoy learning about Christopher.

Even if your children have an easy time in social situations, their eyes might be opened to the plight of people who are different than them—their renewed empathy might help them be more accepting. That’s the big message of this book, I believe. We all need to be accepting and help nurture all people (no exceptions) in this great, diverse world.

That’s why I recommend that you do read “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time”, and buy a copy for your children. Afterwards, have an open family discussion-time.

Thanks for reading our the curious incident of the dog in the night-time book banter and book review. If you’ve read the book, please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Content and photos by Doug Martin and Our Book Banter