Reviews with content warning for Death - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

This might be a good book...

Update:

Representation: Character with autism, minor Asian character
Score: Six and a half points out of ten.

I wanted to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time but never got around till now. I had to pick it up when it was time--it was the next book in my TBR. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing. I headed in, thinking I would read a story about the murder of a dog. However, that is not what I got, and, as a side note, the narrative was okay and nothing too remarkable.

Spoilers ahead. I've warned you.

It starts with the first person I see, Christopher, stumbling upon a deceased dog and wanting to discover who killed it. The unique aspect of this fictional composition is that Christopher has autism. The prime-numbered chapters were an appreciated touch as they made The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time stand out, but the story's entirety isn't solely dedicated to solving the dog murder mystery. Only the first half is dedicated to that. The second half revolves around Christopher going to London after stumbling upon a deeper mystery. Christopher discovers her mother is alive and not deceased as his father said. Toward the last 200 pages, Christopher sets off alone to London, and he eventually finds his mother. The conclusion wasn't satisfying enough for me as it petered out rather than ending with a bang. I couldn't connect or relate to Christopher or any of the other characters in this piece of fiction, even though Christopher has autism. The authenticity isn't guaranteed either as it's unclear whether the author also has autism.

Well. To summarise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time promised to be an intriguing murder mystery, but it subverted my expectations when I read half of it, and it cannot be trusted as an accurate portrayal of neurodiversity. You'd be better off reading genuine neurodivergent novels like Please Don't Hug Me and A Kind of Spark.

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reddeddy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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pianoplayer279's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It took a while to get going but once the plot really began, I really enjoyed it. Age 14+

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ashielovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was such a brilliantly written but sad, like super sad book😭 there were funny moments, yes, but I can't get over the sad reality of this. There are parts where I had to skip the info dumps and it is individual preference ig. Overall I loved this book and it made me real sad.

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chrisljm's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

not a mystery, just mostly about how shitty christopher’s parents are

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daybreakreads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I would describe it as “cute”. I listened to the audiobook, but I know the physical book has illustrations that might have made it more endearing. I was looking for something similar to The Maid by Nita Prose or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine in the sense that I love socially awkward narrators. In comparison, the narrator here feels much less well-rounded and developed and more of a stereotype of autism rather than a real person. It was still cute and endearing, but it was hard to feel real connection or empathy to a one-sided character. There isn’t a lot of plot; it’s mainly focused on showing how the narrator sees the world and interacts with it so much differently than the rest of us. It’s just hard to enjoy that kind of book when the narrator is hard to love. Ending was a bit cute but that’s it really.

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risemini's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really liked this book, but only one of the two plot twists took me by surprise, so I didn't give it the full five stars. The writing was great, and I liked following through Christopher's point of view. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and felt like the story was really good! I enjoyed it, and honestly felt like it was one of the best books I've read so far this year. However, it wasn't a full five stars because I found one of the plot twists predictable.

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