the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Today I read a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (actually, it's supposed to be all lower case and is 1) a tribute to Sherlock Holmes and 2) shows something about how its narrator sees the world). I read it because one of the classes I assist in is reading it, and parts of it looked funny and interesting. The basic plot line is that a 15 year old, Christopher Boone, with Asperger's Syndrome (a high functioning version of autism) wants to discover the mystery of who killed Wellington, his neighbor's dog.

Parts of it were funny and interesting, and it was such a fascinating read that I read it all in one day. There were times when it was so cute, and the things he did were so crazy that they were absolutely hilarious. There were a couple times that I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

By the end, though, I didn't want to laugh anymore. It wasn't funny. Not at all. In fact, I started crying on the train. One of the functions of Asperger's, and autism in general, is that people with the disorder don't understand human emotion like regular people do. Christopher can understand the meaning of happy, sad, frightened, and safe, but not much else. This is why he likes dogs and cares about Wellington's death - dogs too, only understand these basic emotions, and most importantly, they can't lie since they don't talk. His therapist, Siobhan, tries to teach him how to follow what people mean (since people rarely say what they mean or mean what they say) when they speak, and it's heartbreaking to read about his struggles.

The part that made me cry was his relationship with his parents, especially with his father. Without revealing too much, since you really should read the book - it's absolutely fabulous - the lack of ability to connect emotionally leaves Christopher completely at a loss to understand or appreciate his father's point of view. The book was so well written, I could just about feel the way that Christopher's actions would have been like a knife to the heart that didn't stay put but kept sawing back and forth. Christopher, of course, has no idea of the pain he's caused his father because he doesn't see the world in at all the same way.

It gave me a tiny, tiny window into what parents with autistic children must go through every single day. To have a child, a child you love more than anyone or anything else in the world, be completely incapable of returning that affection would be the most horrible thing in the world that I could ever think of. They all have my deepest respect.

All in all, it was a brilliantly written book, and I disagree with the reviewers on amazon.de who said that the second half of the book trailed off. The second half of the book is when you begin to see how difficult Christopher's understanding of the world is for his parents to cope with. This is when you get out of the "fun" and the "mystery" part of the book and finally see how this child's unique abilities are both a blessing and a curse for the two people who love him most. When you have time, go read it.