Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

9 reviews

daybreakreads's review against another edition

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

3.5

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

agusbelperso's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and Grief

stories's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Cursing

Moderate: Excrement, Ableism, Vomit, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, and Child abuse

sarahkinney's review against another edition

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

trippalli's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An inspiring story narrated by an autistic teenager as he navigates large challenges and solves a mystery. Clever and respectful, this book pots you in that boys shoes and is a unique book narrator that is both eloquent and engaging.

The trigger warnings are from an autistic perspective so while still can be upsetting these have a uniquely informative perspective, less emotional upset and more logical analysis of situations and disgust at things that trigger the narrator, and there narrator's response to being upset.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Vomit, and Animal death

Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Excrement, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Grief

jfield351's review against another edition

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

bellaiu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

the plot twists left and right were groundbreaking 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

jessie_roz's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, and Infidelity

alomie's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Solid book, I liked it a lot. 

I like stories like this, and I listened to the Audio book which really helped immerse me in the story, I had read this one years ago but I had mostly forgotten the story. 

I found Christopher to be a strong main character and I really enjoyed seeing the world through his perspective. It must be really scary to not understand what is going on a lot of the time but also to by hyper intelligent in other ways. 

I like how he used maths to make sense of a world that really doesn't hold much in the way of structure. 
I also enjoyed that it wasn't just a  "they all live happily ever after" ending, it left it open and if felt honest and real. 

Christopher's Parents, I did sympathise with them, however I did think that they were pretty shitty parents overall, and there was a lot of questionable moments, and the losing of tempers turning into violence against a child who is so very much on the spectrum felt uncomfortable, and more so that it was from Christopher's perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Grief