:: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ::

I sometimes feel like I have "a touch" of autism. When I'm watching the same TV show I've seen so many times before, or playing one song over and over and over, or just finding myself baffled by the motives of those around me, it's hard not to wonder. It may just be a flippant joke regarding my life of routine, but such concerns go back to an early age, being enrolled in G.A.T.E. classes in elementary school: What if "Gifted and Talented" was one of those euphemisms, just another word for "Special."

Christopher Boone is autistic, and they use the familiar euphemism of "Special Needs" for him. They explain they use such gentle terms, because in the past, hurtful words like "spaz" and "crip," though Christopher doesn't quite understand how children chanting "special needs" is supposed to be any less nasty. But this is hardly a concern for Christopher, who is much more busy worrying about the nature of black holes and passing his advanced math exam to fret about such mundane things. And he has a mystery to solve, the mystery of whom impaled his neighbor's dog with a garden fork.

Christopher is the narrator of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is obstensibly his attempt at writing a mystery in the style of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Christopher is a great fan of Sherlock Holmes, as he can understand Holmes' deductive reasoning and Occam's razor, yet he dislikes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, due to his belief in the afterlife and fairies. Yet his story is true, for he cannot understand fiction; if something is not true, it is a lie, and Christopher cannot lie, or understand those who do. And because real life, especially when people are involved, tends to veer off in unpredictable ways, the book turns out to be far more than a detective story. Christopher makes discoveries far more disturbing than simply who killed the dog, and ultimately paints a portrait of human weakness that is damning yet sympathetic.

Which is surprising coming from a narrator incapable of truly grapsing emotion. Which is, of course, the gimmick of this book, yet it does not take long to appreciate that this is far more than a gimmick. It has become a cliche for a simpleton to reveal the truth about the supposed-normal people, but this book is no Forrest Gump. Christopher is not, by virtue of his disease, able to transcend the dark side of human emotion, but is rather all the more vulnerable, unable to cope with the lies he discovers, because he has no empathy for those who tell them. A liar is a very dangerous person for Christopher.

Christopher does offer some insight into the human mind, though it is generally not a pretty picture. He reduces the vaunted ideals of human consciousness down to the notion of a humunculus watching a screen in our heads, like Captain Picard watching the big screen of the Enterprise; and surely this little man is just as much a creation of our imagination as Picard. Christopher has faith in science, but how far can the logic of the mind take us, when the creator of Christopher's literary hero is professing a belief in fairies and Ph.D.s can't fathom the Monty Hall problem.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is being called a funny book, and I suppose it is, to an extent. But it is also a dark and depressing work as well. Yet it does have some uplifting qualities; it is painful to watch Christopher struggle with the mysteries he discovers, which become far more personal than just who killed the dog. We feel for Christopher because we can see he does not have to tools to deal with the problems he faces. Yet he does deal, and is emboldened, in the end, by his achievements. And for the rest of us, who sometimes share Christopher's feeling of being overwhelmed, perhaps his achievements give us hope, too.