Favorite Banned Books – The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time

This is “Banned Book Week”, an annual campaign by the American Library Association and Amnesty International to increase awareness around banned and challenged books, celebrate the freedom to read and highlight persecuted individuals.  This year I am doing a little highlighting of my own, with a favorite banned book each day.  The list of books that have been banned in our own country both fascinates and appalls me.  I encourage you to read widely and outside of your usual comfort zone at least occasionally.  Each of the books this week is a well-worn favorite that I have read over and over.

The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime by Mark Haddon (2003) – Christopher is fifteen and lives with his father after his mother’s death.  One day he finds the neighbor’s dog has been killed in the garden.  After being briefly suspected of the crime he decides to solve the mystery itself.  Along the way, he discovers some secrets about his own family.

While it is never stated in the book, it becomes clear that Christopher exists somewhere along the high-functioning end of the autism scale.  This brings a unique point of view to the story, which is narrated in Christopher’s voice.  He can not “read” the expression on people’s faces, interprets what he experiences literally, can be quickly overloaded by too much input and struggles with social situations.  The greatest victory for Haddon is how he places you inside the young man’s head.  Things that are obvious to the reader are a puzzle to Christopher.  The experience of navigating “everyday life” from such a position was stunning for me.

If nothing else, readers of Sherlock Holmes may never look at their hero quite the same way again.  The title is taken from a Holmes story “Silver Blaze”.

This is not a book about autism or even a story about a boy with the condition.  It’s a murder mystery.  One that is solved by a detective with a unique way of looking at the world that will both aid and obstruct him along his journey.  Haddon has been quick to point out that he is not an autism expert and did minimal research into the condition before writing it.

Of all the books this week, I’ve read this one the least often.  But it had such a stunning impact on me that I still recommend it regularly.  It is a masterful piece of storytelling and character development.

It is the very nature of the main character that provides the basis for the attempts to censor it.  Because anything other than direct, observable facts are essentially incomprehensible to Christopher he is unimpressed by the concept of God.  Storytelling is the same as lying in his understanding.  Needless to say, there is a percentage of the population who find such a point of view intolerable.  There was also at least one challenge lodged because of the “F-word” found on page four.  The challenger stopped reading at that point.

This is a wonderful book that explores what it means to be different and outsider in a unique manner.