the curious incedent of the dog in the night time?

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I read it and enjoyed it. Yes I think he was meant to be Autistic more than Aspergers, but he seems to be somewhere in between because his language is good but he's far from high functioning. The author certainly seemed to get in the autistic mindset very well, rather than some Rainman stereotype.

I don't agree that the author should have written in a bunch of other Aspies to show the spectrum. The book is about Christopher and his journey outside his autistic world to first find the dog's killer, and then to find his mother. It's not a textbook on the autistic spectrum, it's a story about how he overcomes his fears to find the truth. I thought it was a great story, I wanted to clap for him when he was able to get on the train even though he was completely freaked out.

I tried to read that book. It felt like I was reading a math textbook and the story made no sence and went nowhere. But from what I could understand the boy seemed more Autistic than AS.

I read the book about five years ago, so I don't remember very much. What I do remember is that I thoroughly enjoyed it It got me thinking critically about myself and people around me, becoming an early step towards discovering my autistic nature.

The book seemed to me to be a fairly decent portrayal of a person on the HFA/ AS end of the spectrum. I could relate to some of his characteristics, and even some of his idiosyncracies! I've recommended the book to several neurotypical people, some of whom have got back to me with positive comments. I think it's helpful to have more works of fiction out there with a halfway decent characterization of a HFA/ Aspie: the book was a bestseller in England and helped raise some awarenes.

Mark Haddon as far as I'm aware never specifically referred to the central character as being autistic or having AS. It just became clear to those who read it who were in the know that he had strong autistic traits. Personally speaking, I haven't been in a special school since Giant Steps when I was very young, but yes numerous traits were quite familiar to me as the sort of characteristics I could kind of see in myself. Maybe there is nobody out there with autism who is exactly like him. Everyone is different. It's not such a far miss.

It was a fine read anyway. I went through it in one sitting and I'm not an especially fast reader. But what made it a strong story to me went down to the writer's talent for empathy. I totally disagree with the remark that it would have been better third-person, the story was actually fairly insignificant compared with the reactions and development of the character who often seemed only halfway connected to the drama taking place around him. If the difficulties that his mother and father were facing and the antisocial aspects of his character were made more explicit then I'm not sure what the point of the whole thing would have been.

I liked it. I thought he did a pretty good idea of getting inside the boy's head and what he experienced. The thing to remember is that it IS a spectrum and no two people are going to be alike. It's bad enough when NT's fall into that trap but when we start doing it to ourselves and saying this one or that one isn't as severe or doesn't exhibit the same kind of traits that he or she can't possibly be on the spectrum then how are we going to expect NT's to not stereotype us? From what I understand, it is only very recently, like in the last 20 years or so, that anyone even admitted they were on the spectrum, let alone talk about it publicly. Even if that kid doesn't think like a lot of us on WP, it still is a positive attempt to show what does go through the mind of someone on the spectrum and the treatment he or she receives as a result. Because I am old enough to remember when there was ZERO interest in how any of us thought.

I read the first thirty pages and I couldn't get into it. The first few pages where the boy describes him having AS/autism I could relate to though, and that was before I realzie I had issues with facial expressions: he had drawings of facial expressions and what he couldn't and could read, and I could only read a few of what he couldn't read.

Overall, however, I really couldn't relate to the MC much. I don't think that negates it's influence on creating a positive view for autism, however. Anything's better than the New York Times bestselling curebie books.