Log #4

Book: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Author: Mark Haddon

Page: 1 – 221 (finished)

        Christopher is a fifteen-year-old genius, who is especially good at logic and math. However, he seems to have no understanding of human emotions and have difficulty getting along with people normally. This book talks about Christopher wanting to find out who has murdered his neighbor’s dog in the midnight and he unexpectedly finding some truths in the process of investigating into the death of the dog.

        In my opinion, what makes this novel interesting and appealing is mainly Christopher’s being a very unusual person. He is very intelligent and rational, but at the same time, he seems to have no feelings. Because of his two extreme personality traits, I admire him but dislike him as well.

        To begin with, I do appreciate his wisdom and rationality. When one of his neighbors tells him that his mother has love affair with other man, he doesn’t feel sad at all. He thinks what his neighbor says is not really proved to be true and thus it is stupid to make assumptions of something that doesn’t exist and feel sad about it. I think Christopher’s opinion really makes sense. We always imagine things that aren’t happening now and worry about it. However, it is actually a waste of time because our worry can’t solve any problem, and maybe the truth is there is no such thing. Of course everybody knows the idea of not wasting time worry about what’s not happening, but it is much more difficult to do than to say it. Thus, I think Christopher’s ability to stay calm and rational is really worth learning from.

        Nevertheless, there is also something about Christopher that I don’t quite appreciate. He is a person with no emotions or feelings. He isn’t grateful for others’ care about him. In his story, there are one of his neighbors showing care for him and a lady concerned with his being hit by train. However, he just doesn’t allow anyone to touch him and even thinks everyone around him has bad intentions and may do harm to him. I think his excessive self-defense mechanism will increase the distance of his relationship with others and make it harder for him to get along with other people. Yet, it is not totally his fault because he is born having problems understanding the emotions normal people have. Thus, although I don’t like Christopher’s behavior, I think he is poor, and thinking of his story, I learn we should all cherish that we are born sound and can feel the warmth and love from those around us.

        This is a worth reading novel with special subject, and I enjoy the time spent on it!