Thoughts on "The Curious Incident"?

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Anyone read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon? The main character is a 15 year old boy with Asperger's. I know there's some pretty mixed reviews of it from aspies. Some people thought it was spot on, and others were offended. I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

Thoughts?

I haven't read it yet. I'll probably wait for the movie.

I didn't know they were making a movie! I know there's a play.

I read it quite a while ago. I didn't relate to it much, even if thinking back to when I was 15, but that doesn't really prove anything. I did enjoy it though.

I found it to be interesting. The descriptions of his reactions to stimulus did seem believable although I can't say I related to the protagonist except in his realization of the crime. If nothing else, I thought it was a good mystery.

Well, I read the book 9 years ago when it first came out, and could relate to several aspects of it in my teenage years - like when Christopher stood too close to the man at the ATM machine w/o realizing the man would find it odd or intrusive, and when Christopher asks the neighbour to clarify what she really meant by some comment suggesting that two people were having an affair, causing her to be more blunt (and hence uncomfortable explaining).

It didn't talk about bullying so much, but I guess you can only squeeze so much in, and it has to be a centrally coherent theme

I know I related to the parts about Christopher not knowing what was socially acceptable/ appropriate, and not being able to "read between the lines".
I think some people objected to the way he was portrayed emotionally. The monotone voice sometimes made it seem like he didn't feel much, which is already a stereotype of Aspergers...the way I saw it, it might be because that's just how an aspie might hypothetically write. Maybe he wouldn't feel the need to talk about his emotions too much because he was writing a mystery, and he wouldn't see it as relevant.

This trailer is from Ledge Films. However, according to Wikipedia, the movie rights were optioned for Warner Brothers.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPiY2miwKzo[/youtube]

^ I'm not sure I like the bit in the beginning where it says he's not meant for this world.

Actually, before I read it, I didn't think it would be good because of the reviews. It turns out, it was. My problem is that I would never forgive [Spoilers Removed] killing the dog. Never. I haven't read the book in a long time, but I think he does forgive [pronoun censored to reduce spoilers] in the end.

I think Mark Haddon (the author) is brilliant. He wrote another book that I love called "A Spot of Bother." It's about some things that happen to an old guy. Like The Curious Incident, it's a black comedy with sad stuff as a sub-plot. That trailer to me looked too sad, and it wasn't clear if the sadness was because of Christopher or the stuff he finds out. I also didn't like it saying that he wasn't made for this world. It's one thing for an aspie to confess feeling like that, but it's another to say it ABOUT an aspie. I would never consider that any of my family didn't belong in this world.

I think The Curious Incident shouldn't be used as an autism primer, but it takes a step in the right direction. Sort of how like To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't tell you everything about racism, but it makes a good positive point.

I liked "A Spot of Bother" too. Also I agree that The Curious Incident isn't exactly a good source for saying "this is what autism is", but it does a decent job of showing an autistic character, at least in my opinion.

It read like the author was an outside observer to Autism, not someone with Autism.