Reviews tagging 'Blood'

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

18 reviews

chrisljm's review against another edition

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 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Infidelity, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Ableism, Death, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, and Abandonment

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

risemini's review against another edition

funny informative lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dementia, and Ableism

adalinemccormick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Violence and Emotional abuse

mistystar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Ableism, Blood, Death of parent, and Vomit

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

technoblade's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book is not fucking funny if you rated it funny you are only saying that cause he is autistic . This was intensely sad 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Ableism, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence

lara_r's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Surprising plot twists

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Ableism, Infidelity, Vomit, Murder, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Blood, Drug use, and Child abuse

Dead dog

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

rucha_s's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative medium-paced

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

3.75

The best thing about this book was the narration from the POV of a protagonist who is autistic. It made the reading challenging, confusing, frustrating but simultaneously rewarding. Mark Haddon has done a remarkable job of creating one of the most memorable protagonists I've come across and that singular point makes this a dazzling read. 

Now for what I didn't find appealing - That this book is classified as a murder mystery, however, the murderer is revealed at about the 50% mark which was way too soon! Once this reveal occurs, it is all about another subplot, which although in itself is rather interesting, it also kind of takes away the essence of the book being a murder mystery :/ 

Final words - Worth a read simply for the character of Christopher Boone. Also worth noting that the narration is lacking the usual sentence structure and punctuation - that is just to add to the authenticity of the experience, however, some readers might find this off putting. Do skip this book if you're looking for an easy feel good read. While it is feel good, it is certainly not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Excrement, Animal death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders