marrr224's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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
abibliophobicbibliophile's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
tanmayee23's review against another edition
5.0
I can not help, but write something about this book. This book will rip your heart out as you would cheer for the protagonist (a boy having autism). I felt like jumping in joy, whenever Christopher had a Super Good Day. Would surely recommend it to all the people who hate yellow color and even those who love yellow color.
_dani's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
amongthestars's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
jackjcaseyv's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jdsatori's review against another edition
5.0
What a feat -- to tell a beautiful and heart-wrenching story from such a narrow point of view without ever once breaking tone, progress, or arc. I loved this story, and its main character.
heathertuna's review against another edition
2.0
I was recommended this book at a bookstore after telling the person there that I loved the book "Flowers for Algernon". Let me tell you, this book does not compare to "Flowers for Algernon". The perspective of the book was interesting, but somewhat distracting considering that you have no idea what mental illness this child has and it is all told from his viewpoint. I enjoyed about the 1st half of the book, but the last half i found lacking. It did not have the stamina to keep you focused on the book and the ever-changing story. I wound up finishing it because I can't stand not finishing a book that I have invested that much time in.
The book also left me wondering what mental illness this boy's mother had as well? It seems like her writing style and mannerisms are a lighter version of her son's.
The book also left me wondering what mental illness this boy's mother had as well? It seems like her writing style and mannerisms are a lighter version of her son's.
potterpav's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
did not think i’d be rating this so high but i also didn’t think i’d read it in less than 24 hours . absolutely loved christopher and he was so understandable and (dare i say) relatable . i love love loved the long unending prose where the sentences just kept going w only “ands” to break up the clauses , no punctuation or anything . it truly felt like a non stop thought process , and i loved the maths and science threaded through the book , as well as the use of different typography depending on the scene . not so much a murder mystery as just an enjoyable book . loved it :)
remivfoliage's review against another edition
4.0
Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. 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.
my synopsis
Christopher is a special teenager. He has aspeger’s syndrome just like me although I would say that he was definitely more on the spectrum. (Yes, this was also one of the reasons that I was dying to read this book.) One evening, he found his neighbour’s dog dead with a garden fork sticking out of its body. He decided to solve this mystery.
the setting
The story sets place in Swindon, a town in Wiltshire. I’ve never been there but from the story, I gathered it’s a big town with a railway station. The town I stayed in back in 2010, Devizes, didn’t have a train station. I’m not complaining. I loved Devizes. It had all the stores we needed and it was a lovely town with a beautiful church and river.
In the story, Christopher lives in a semi-detached house in a residential area. This gives the convenience for Christopher to ask around in the neighbourhood whether anyone saw anything on the night that the dog got murdered.
the characters
Christopher
I actually feel like he is a child about 7 or 8. There are a lot of unreasonable behaviours that he does, such as screaming a lot, never following what he’s told, being way too honest… Since he is quite intelligent, for example, he knows a lot about space science and mathematics, I would categorise him as a child prodigy.
The kid is much like me. There were a lot of passages that made me giggle while reading because he was just so relatable yet sometimes too over the edge. Truth be told, I have a swiss army knife that I keep close at all times as well. Mine has a name and the name’s Swissy. And down below is what I explain to people whenever they ask me why I still wear a watch.
I was also wearing my watch and they wanted me to leave this at the desk as well but I said that I needed to keep my watch on because I needed to know exactly what time it was.
People with asperger’s syndrome might be referred to someone lack of emotions. It’s not that we’re cold-blooded. It’s just that we find it difficult to express our feelings. And when things get too heavy, we’d just scream!
‘But I don’t feel sad about it. Because Mother is dead. And because Mr Shears isn’t around any more. So I would be feeling sad about something that isn’t real and doesn’t exist. And that would be stupid.’
Siobhan
She’s Christopher’s school counsellor. She teaches him how to interact with people and how to learn to deal with daily life. I think she’s an okay lady.
Father
Father is very protective of Christopher and he tries very hard to keep things together for both of them after Christopher’s Mother died of a heart attack. He also seems like he has a great deal of patience.
the writing
I enjoyed reading this book. It’s told from the point of view of Christopher which oddly reminded me of The Boy In A Striped Pajamas. There are many scientific facts and interesting mathematics questions throughout the pages. Even though I didn’t understand most of the math stuff, I think it’s very interesting that the author put these into the book.
Maths wasn’t like life because in life there are no straightforward answers at the end.
star-rating & recommendations
Overall, I had a great time reading this masterpiece. I proudly present it four stars! And I recommend it to anyone who wanted to be an astronaut when they were a kid.