Reviews tagging Infidelity

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

35 reviews

sarahkinney's review

emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

While in 2003, the book was praised for autistic representation - the author's claim that he did not research the topic while writing the book is apparent while reading. Despite this, the book is an easy read, with a unique writing style and the twist is presented excellently. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Infidelity

flimsy_gorgon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Ableism

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's bittersweet, and more on the bitter side.

The author kept describing overwhelm as almost purely visual and intellectual, especially with words. While lots of sights of signs can be part of it, along with lots of things to think about, sensory overwhelm isn't just about how *many* things are around that you "notice" but that they feel intense. In fact bc of the intensity of color and brightness and sounds and temperature and air currents and clothes and people moving and bumping, you might "notice" even fewer things, bc it's hard to be observant when you're overwhelmed! The author does not seem to understand this distinction between being extremely observant while calm and being overwhelmed. 

This character isn't totally unrealistic (I'm sure there's someone out there like him), but he embodies all the stereotypes one could cram into an autistic character at once. The math thing is especially heavily utilized in this story. Christopher also is quite ableist and condescending to the other "special needs" kids at his school, has casual racial prejudice, and other prejudiced fears of certain kinds of people. I can't tell if he's just supposed to have picked these up from the people around him or if the author considered these accepable prejudices at the time that no one would think twice about reading.

There were a few things I liked about this book:

Totally related when Christopher was asked "Do you like biscuits?" and he said "Some biscuits" because there are different kinds w different textures and flavors and sweetness you could like or not!

Christopher's dad (when he's not angry and frustrated, which was hard for me to read this second time having experienced that in real life) does a lot of useful things, like explaining how he's going to touch Christopher to move him, and where, and why, and all the steps, before he does it; prepares foods in a way Christopher can/will eat and doesn't force him to eat differently; has a special gesture to show love that doesn't force hugging.

The informational digressions!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Ableism, Animal death, and Infidelity

Minor: Suicide, Racism, and Violence

noahsingh's review

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

2.0

mixed feelings about this book as someone on the spectrum, definitely related to the main character a lot but the amount of abuse he suffers from his family, which isn't properly condemned imho made me incredibly uncomfortable. yeah, wouldn't reccomend it to other people on the spectrum, definitely found it triggering

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Ableism

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Police brutality, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

fairy_gardenn's review

adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Infidelity, Murder, and Animal death

Moderate: Vomit

jfield351's review

challenging lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

3.0

It was okay. Interesting to get inside Christopher’s mind and see the world as he sees it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit and Cursing

Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Bullying

Minor: Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, and Animal death

i found certain parts disgusting like how he cleaned his hands with spit that made me uncomfortable

wentub's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Infidelity

ageckocalledachilles's review

funny sad fast-paced

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

2.0

I found this book funny and cool when I first read it at 11 years old, but since then I have grown up and come to realise that it wasn't that great.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

Christopher is treated with mingled pity and irritation by the author, to the extent that his father is portrayed as 'the reasonable parent' (he hits Christopher at several points. That's literal child abuse.) The portrayal of autism is accurate in places, but in others comes off as stereotyped and poorly researched. In summary, if you're gonna write a book where the adults treat a child like shit, don't imply that it's justified bc their disability is 'just so hard to deal with'.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Violence

chocolatsalade's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Infidelity

marinapaso11's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Violence