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

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

78 reviews

asoulunbound's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I was advised to read this as it was supposed to be a good example of what it is like to be autistic. I'm autistic, and I was not a fan of it at all. Not just for the stereotypically negative autism portrayal (although the word is never mentioned in the book, the main character is clearly coded that way a la "Rain Man"), but nearly all the adults are horrible to the main character and there is no acknowledgment of the abuse that the main character endures, except in ways that seem to be attempts to explain it away or even "justify" the abuse.

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indohyus's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I picked this up from the library during Banned Books Week. It was very good, and I quite enjoyed the narration's unwavering commitment to the protagonist's perspective. The book would not be the same without it. Thanks to this choice, as well as the matter-of-fact way the protagonist describes all that is relevant, I found myself empathizing strongly with him. I found many of the behaviors and thought patterns he exhibited are ones that I too experience in some circumstances. I appreciated that this book gave me a window into the perspective of another person who is both very close to and distant from myself, not only learning how he navigates life's complex challenges but also how he sees the biggest and smallest parts of the world-- cars, cows, creation, time, space. This book is written at a suitable level for audiences as young as middle-grade, and beyond serving as a means of empathy, I think this book could be a very useful tool for exploring what a novel can be and learning how to analyze a fictional text that provides a limited perspective. I would very roughly guess that took me 10 hours to read this book from cover to cover.

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rynaissanceenby's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really, really enjoyed and identified with this book. The main character's narration feels authentic in a way that fosters a lot of empathy for him and humanizes autistic people. I wish everyone would read this book and understand others a little bit better.

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sunnydai's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

4.75

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nakole's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓘𝓷𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓓𝓸𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽-𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮
Mark Haddon
Mystery

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁: 3.5/5

𝒜 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒: “And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own. And because I solved the mystery of who killed Wellington. And I found my mother. And I was brave. And I wrote a book. And that means I can do anything.”

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Animal death; ableism; panic attacks/disorders; infidelity; cursing; toxic relationships

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rhinobeatle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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blankaurban's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was unlike anything I've read before.

It was really interesting to see what the inside of a person's head with autism looks like. It helps you understand a lot of things about how different everyone is and how that can affect their life and their mind. In Christopher's case it was fascinating to read about how easily he could de-attach himself emotionally from almost any situation. He also had an extreme ability to focus on something for hours in some cases, going into a sort of "trance".

When we got to the biggest reveal and the turning point in the book, I audibly gasped. Maybe I could have guessed it, but it's probably better that I didn't. The fact that there were so many messed-up things in this book made it all the more interesting, which may sound bad, but it is true.

The writing style was simple, yet it had some great quotes in it and it portrayed a 15-year-old's level of writing. It was basic, but you could still understand exactly what the writer meant at all times.

This book was a great read (especially for a debut novel) and I would recommend it to any age group!

I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.

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