The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
As strange as it sounds, this is the name of a book (by Mark Haddon) that I finished reading yesterday.
An interesting, quick, and fun read: Interesting: A detective story, where the 15 year old protagonist plays the role of the detective. The plot involves all the quintessential elements of a thriller - murder, drama, suspense, unexpected twists and turns, deceit.. you name it and its there! Quick: Well as I mentioned, the protagonist is 15 years old (Christopher) so its written in a very straightforward way Fun: This is a pretty integral part of the book. Thanks to Christopher's love for mathematics and science the reader gets to solve puzzles, learn about interesting facts and so on..
Christopher's very simple interpretation of day to day activities, the way people behave, people in general, the world overall.. is overwhelming! yup its simple and yet overwhelming, because it strips off all the self imposed/ societal layers and brings to bear human life in its most basic form.. where hunger, thirst, the fear of death, and desire to live dictate your actions...
Although that is true for most of the story, you realize that it is also what you expect from Christopher (won't elaborate on why, as that would give away too much of the story)..
Christopher surprises the reader by adding on layers of more human emotions - aspirations and goals (although, very simple in nature -but I would not stress too much on that, coz what is simple for one can be overly ambitious for another)..
The realization does make you feel ashamed for putting people in buckets and laying down guidelines on what they should do and achieve in life..
The contrast between Christopher's reactions to situations and his emotions, to those of his parents and others around him is quite thought provoking and does make you reflect on your own actions and reactions.
All in all its a pretty good read!
PS: I have put down what I felt like when I read the book and have therefore, refrained from talking about the story - which you can always rely on wiki for :)
