fada2ii

This novel is written in the voice and style of Christopher, a 15-year-old with autism who is a brilliant mathematician but can't understand human emotion and interaction or see the shades of gray that are the human experience. He sets out to write a murder mystery about his neighbor's dog who was killed in the night, and soon stumbles on some very big secrets. This was an intense read, both content and style-wise, and I found myself occasionally frustrated with Haddon's utter devotion to Christopher's voice but usually in awe. Haddon took on a tough task by writing the novel in the first-person, entirely in the voice and tone of an autistic 15-year-old without virtually any benefit of after-the-fact lessons learned or understanding gained. Christopher is a literal-minded person, who is fascinated with math, patterns and details, and has only a very rudimentary and unnatural understanding of other people and their emotions and motives. He doesn't even understand his own, though he does have a sense of what sets them off and some effective coping mechanisms. Once I accepted the awkward, long-winded flow of the book, I started to enjoy it more, and was impressed with what Haddon was able to impart to the reader without Christopher having any knowledge or understanding himself. For example, much of the mystery of what happened between Christopher's parents is very clear to the reader well before it is to him. Themes: autism, England, characterization, honesty, tragedy, logic vs. reality

2022-11-14 16:56