The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Christopher does seem completely unsuited to narrate a novel, his description of events can be somewhat unreliable as he is unable to see the real truths that lie before him. As he narrates readers are confronted with his peculiarities - whether it is not liking to be touched or his fear of certain colours.

However, what makes him a fascinating narrator is how he has learnt to deal with some of his phobias - as he also cannot bear loud noises, physical contact, strange people or unfamiliar places, he uses coping strategies such as 'groaning', 'screaming', 'hitting' or even 'crawling' into small spaces. By including how he deals with the problems single-handedly adds twists to the plot, making the book readable apart from when he goes into excessive detail about mathematics and