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

𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴. 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘴𝘢𝘥, 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚘𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝-𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 was a quirky, fun, emotional, and overall good read. The book starts off with 15-year-old Christopher, who has autism, finding out that the neighborhood dog, Wellington, was killed.

Listening to the audiobook, it felt like the book was divided into two parts: a murder mystery and an emotional story of growth and family. Two distinct opposites that some may see as okay and others may disagree with. I'm in the middle.

In the first part, as Christopher acts like a detective, we can see that he sees things and people differently. He understands things differently and notices details not many would even give a thought to. And I love how, while listening to the audiobook version, it feels like I am by his side.

Most of the characters were likable, and I definitely loved how Ed's, Christopher's father's, feelings and frustration were shown. Though I may not agree with some things he has done, his emotions were raw and honest.

Aside from Christopher's perspective and how he sees and understands the world, I also loved the way his parents say I love you to him. The gesture was sweet; it was my favorite detail of the novel. I also really liked the prime-numbered chapters, and it was a novel within a novel.

Unfortunately, even though the book was narrated beautifully, I found some parts tedious to listen to. A part of me wanted something else to happen since the plot for me was predictable. Overall, it was still a good book. I wouldn't probably read it again, but I would still maybe recommend it to those willing to try it.

•••

My Rating System

5 🌟 - Life changing, a new favorite read
4 ⭐ - I loved it
3 ⭐ - I liked it
2 ⭐ - It was okay
1 ⭐ - I hated it but decided to not dnf

Content Warnings

bookreader22's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

It was really hard for me to finish this book. It made me feel scatterbrained.
Also, I hope children are not reading this book for school. There are too many curse words in it. This is not something I would want my child reading.

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

kaylamoran's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

I'm genuinely torn on this book. As far as enjoyment, I loved it. But I don't think I can give it more than a 3 or recommend it because it just felt like a collection of autistic stereotypes clumsily thrown together. Not that any of the behaviours are necessarily inaccurate, but I'm tired of how autism is only ever portrayed one way, we aren't all like Sheldon Cooper or Rainman. We need different portrayals too.

Also, I'm a bit alarmed by how many reviews describe Christopher as high functioning. It's not the functioning labels that bother me, I only recently learned they were problematic myself. It's the fact that Christopher clearly has very high support needs, and the fact that he's being considered high functioning reminds me of how autistics who are good at masking aren't believed. If this is what's considered high functioning, we need more of an understanding of what autism is.

And I blame no one for that (if you wrote that in a review I totally get it, and I'm not upset and I don't think you did anything offensive). Because it's BECAUSE this is the only portrayal we get that that causes the lack of understanding, it's not the reader's fault at all. The lack of societal understanding of autism is largely due to this.

So yeah. Portrayals like this are the reason I hear stuff like "you can't be autistic, you're too good at reading emotions" or "you're sarcastic" or "you're too pretty" or "girls aren't autistic." And I guess it's not the books fault either, because it's a valid experience of autism and some people do fit this description. I guess I just wish it wasn't the only one we saw.

Content Warnings

stories's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

4.0

Reread for the first time since highschool. It’s fascinating what I remembered

Spoiler

eg who killed Wellington

and what I didn’t

Spoiler

eg everything surrounding Mother

.

It is very much still well written - captures an autistic voice so clearly and is highly engaging.

Swearing and family relations make it imo inappropriate for primary. Particularly

Spoiler

Christopher’s father

.

Not my taste, but a solid novel. I’m struck, as I believe I was as a kid, primarily by the sheer, overwhelming bravery of Christopher. Definitely a theme to unpack, alongside truth/honesty and conflict/order.

Content Warnings

kateausten's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

Content Warnings

sarahkinney's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

king_yrcanos's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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