Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Favourite Bit:
Page 2-3 (Introducing himself and Siobhan)

This is a very short passage about Christopher and the different emotions that Siobhan drew for him so that he understands what emotions other people are trying to portray to him. This is one of the very first parts of the book and I think it grips the readers because even at such an early stage, we already get the hint that this book is not going to be like any other. 'Then she drew some other pictures but I was unable to say what these meant.. and now if I don't know what someone is saying I ask them what they mean or I walk away' - this is very humourous and insightful in a way because it gives us an idea as to what people with Asperger's Syndrome are like and also, Christopher makes us laugh even probably without meaning to. He is just describing what he feels and what he does or does not understand.

He describes what he remembers very bluntly, for example when he talks about Siobhan - 'and then she laughed'. It seems like there are no ups and downs to his tone of voice but just constantly thinking and describing anything that comes to mind. Once again, it hints to a very different kind of book because the narrator himself has an illness. We, as readers, already think of adjusting to his way of thinking as we get this very first impression of him. He also draws images of the different faces Siobhan has described to him. This isn't what you would expect from a novel and I think Mark Haddon uses this to surprise and even make the readers expect the unexpected. I think that this is a very good way of keeping the readers gripped to the story. Again, it is another insight to Christopher as a person because he exposes himself as a visual learner. From a very short and early passage, we get quite a lot from his character already.