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Hi Oriana,

I really, really loved this book too. I thought it pointed out with absolute guilelessness that our suppositions of what is normal are far from it. The way that the boy with autism reflected what the others around him said and did, the crazy things they said and did, was an extraordinary and clear reflection. And I loved the descriptions of his groaning episodes. Don't we all do that, in ways, when we comfort ourselves by whatever means we use -- food, sex, substances, etc? Have you read his follow-up book, A Spot of Bother? It is very good as well, although not at all about autism. I highly recommend it.

Mark

I am totally due to re-read this wonderful book. I did read A Spot of Bother, which I enjoyed very much, but was not remotely in the same stratosphere as Curious Incident. I've been meaning to read his poetry, too, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Haddon writes poetry? That's good to know ... although, I must admit I'm surprised. Even in Curious Incident (and I agree with you it was leaps and bounds superior to Spot of Bother) it was not the language that was so impressive, as much as the unique and perfectly rendered POV.

Thank you for the review!

Yeah, I was surprised to, to learn about the poetry too, because I agree, his language per se is not what makes his work so stunning, to me. But maybe we should both go get The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea before we make any decisions!

Thanks for the link! The reviews appear to be lukewarm at best. Let me know if you end up reading it :-)

I read somewhere that the book was originally written for children/young adults. Does anyone know if this is true?
Also I was told not to bother reading the next novel by someone I know as it would only dissapoint me. I gather that this isn't the general consensus here though, is it worth risking my hero worship of haddon on? I seemed to develop one after reading the curious incident!

I don't know about your first question, Tilly, but to your second: I think it's best to approach A Spot of Bother as if it's not written by Haddon at all. It's a nice book, maybe even a pretty good book, on its own, but if you're hoping (as I of course was) for something on par with Curious Incident, you're bound to be disappointed.

I agree. It's meant to be read in one sitting.

Yes, I know it is totally unrelated to this book. But, have you read "The tunnel" by Sabato? Also meant to be read in a single sitting and heck, that was (for me) the pinnacle of dissociation.

I haven't! But now I'm extremely intrigued, thanks. On the to-read shelf it goes!

I agree with you, Oriana. It fucked with my head (and made me feel like I am a closet autistic/asperger), but in a very good, fascinating way. I turned it on (listened to the Audible version) and couldn't stop listening until it was over!)

Such an amazing, powerful book.

It makes you reassess what normal really is. How "normal" were all the people surrounding Christopher?

yep, this messed with my mind in a good way

While reading this book, my mum called me. I didn't laugh at any of her jokes. I feel horrible now. Thanks Mark Haddon

Ha!

Your review is pretty accurate.

I read it in one sitting and I enjoyed it and it didn't mess with my head. I like to learn how other people think and I can understand just about anything.

As an autistic person, I can say this is how my head is all the time. Think about that for a minute.

I was really surprised at how accurately it was portrayed. I'm an autistic writer and I don't know if I could have done it myself.

Jill, thanks so much for sharing that. This is truly an incredible work.

I read it in one sitting, I just literally finished it 2 minutes ago. I went on ŷ������ because I don't know what do with myself now and I wanted to see if I'm the only one who got fucked up by this book. Turns out, we all did. In the best possible way. I love this book.

Oriana, I think I know what you mean by “forget how to be normal��. But I do believe you could have expressed it in a better way since one of the books main messages is that it is not we, the people, who are wrong, but the world and society which we have created and now live in. So my question to you is why you chose the word “normal��. What is the definition of being normal? Does it exist a such thing as normal? We are all individuals which can not be compared. So I think you could have put it in a better way considering the book’s message.

I mostly agree to user Oriana about her review, therefore I have felt so too during completing the reading of the book. Because of the deep insight you get into the narrator’s thoughts, I sometimes felt being in another world. He has another perspective of life, mostly based on logic thinking and his own thoughts. For instance the narrator has difficult to interact with other people. That creates his own little world and exactly was this review mentions. After finishing the book it feels like that you want to be a little bit like Christopher - because there is only his own perspective all the time through the novel. That makes it last even after the book, and I think that is what user Oriana means. Maybe it would have been a good idea to read the whole book in one sitting, perhaps that would have strengthened the lasting of that feeling.

The only aspect that I do not agree with is the definition “normal��. I do understand what user Oriana means. I think the user does just mean that the reader thinks from another perspective after reading the book. In my opinion the word normal should not exist here, since it is a lightly definition. As we know, every person is different, and that means that it is hard to be normal when there is not anyone like you. Just because we should fit into today's society it does not mean to be normal. I absolutely understand the point, but please do not use this definition in conjunction with this theme.

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I know exactly what you mean... read this in one sitting and now I am basically a 13-year old Christopher Boone...

So true. I end up thinking like Christopher. I realise that some of us aren't so different from him after all.

"normal" ...

I somehow missed all the people in these comments noting my ableist use of "normal." You're all correct and I'm very sorry! I wrote this review in 2007, long before I had my eyes opened to the pernicious prevalence of this kind of language. I'm going to edit the review now but I want to thank you all for your very apt criticism here.

I love this. And you🤓

Awwwww <3 <3 <3

ableist to use normal?? lol this whole book is ableist as fuck

Can’t something be “normal�� for you?