The world looks very different to a 15-year-old autisticboy.
Christopher Boone's memory is photographic -- he is able toreconstruct whole maps in his head. But within his head you can seethe tragedy of his conditio.
Although he can notice and take in enormous amounts ofinformation at once, he's unable to filter all of it, causing ablockage -- Christopher describes it like an overloaded computerfreezing up.
In Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in theNight-time," Christopher understands complex concepts of physicsand completes quadratic formulas to calm himself down, while herefuses to be touched or have anything to do with the coloryellow.
The book begins as he discovers a neighbor's dog, Wellington,with a pitchfork in it, dead.
From there, Christopher chronicles his endeavors to findWellington's killer in his very mathematical, processing way.
He interviews suspects, searches for motives and collectsevidence like his hero, Sherlock Holmes.
However, what Christopher discovers is the truth about the endof his parent's marriage.
The search leads him on a journey that would be uneventful tomany, but the most trying of Christopher's life.
His autism does not allow him to feel emotion or mesh well withsociety.
There is a lot of humor, because you find yourself more inagreement with Christopher, through his unforgettable narrative.And you start to see the world for the illogical mess that the restof us make of it.
There is a lot to be learned about autism and a lot to learnfrom it.
At 221 spaced-out pages, it's a short-enough, well-chapteredread that can be managed before midterm papers are due.
It's well worth the extra time. A part of it will lodge in yourmemory permanently -- it's the kind of book you can't forget.
