The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
2 journalers for this copy...
I found this fair-condition softcover at a Salvation Army thrift store, and as I love the book, I was glad to have another release copy. (The play based on the book did quite well in the Tony awards - and it's coming to Boston this year, so I hope to be able to score tickets.)
I adored this book when I first read it (and the audio version narrated by Jeff Woodman, is also excellent). I had no idea it would go the way it did; I'd only heard about the "boy finds dead dog, tries to solve mystery" aspect, but this story manages to be both realistic and surprising. Seeing the world through Christopher's eyes was fascinating, sometimes pathetic and often scary; and funny, too, as when he discusses metaphors: "I think that it [a metaphor] should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me because imagining an apple in someone's eye doesn't have anything to do with liking someone a lot and it makes you forget what the person was talking about." I note that Terry Pratchett's character, Death, also refers to metaphors as lies, so Christopher is in good company...
Even though the book was in Christopher's words it also conveyed how disturbing he could be to others; much of the pathos of the story came from this, as I empathized with him and with the person who was terrified to encounter him standing in her yard in the dark. And then when - but that would be spoiling it. I was delighted that nobody'd spoiled the story for me so I won't say any more; but this is a very good book indeed.
[There's an entertaining TV Tropes page for this book, which opens in the same style as the book itself! Do beware of spoilers, though; most are masked, but some may not be.]
I adored this book when I first read it (and the audio version narrated by Jeff Woodman, is also excellent). I had no idea it would go the way it did; I'd only heard about the "boy finds dead dog, tries to solve mystery" aspect, but this story manages to be both realistic and surprising. Seeing the world through Christopher's eyes was fascinating, sometimes pathetic and often scary; and funny, too, as when he discusses metaphors: "I think that it [a metaphor] should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me because imagining an apple in someone's eye doesn't have anything to do with liking someone a lot and it makes you forget what the person was talking about." I note that Terry Pratchett's character, Death, also refers to metaphors as lies, so Christopher is in good company...
Even though the book was in Christopher's words it also conveyed how disturbing he could be to others; much of the pathos of the story came from this, as I empathized with him and with the person who was terrified to encounter him standing in her yard in the dark. And then when - but that would be spoiling it. I was delighted that nobody'd spoiled the story for me so I won't say any more; but this is a very good book indeed.
[There's an entertaining TV Tropes page for this book, which opens in the same style as the book itself! Do beware of spoilers, though; most are masked, but some may not be.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Baked in Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Monday, February 27, 2017
I left this book on the bookshelf inside Baked at around 12:30 when I stopped by for lunch. Hope the finder enjoys the book!
[See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2017 Theater release challenge. ***
[See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2017 Theater release challenge. ***
Given to by a friend