making sense of my world
by artist Helen Shaddock

More musings on things from my diaries

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

 

Book

Diaries: 07 June 2024

The voucher for a trip to the chiropodist was an anomaly— when it comes to surprise birthday or Christmas presents my parents tend to know my tastes well. (In fairness to them, the appointment was useful in the sense that I found the cause of my feet issues) Last Christmas, I received the hardback of Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time from my parents. They had seen the good reviews and thought it would make a good gift for me. They weren’t half right.

This book changed my life.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31005615944

 

It is a book like no other. I devoured it. It was like it was written for me, easy on my eyes and mind.

The layout.

The short sentences.

The plain text.

The pictures.

The font.

The simplicity.

But the complexity.

 

It planted the seed in my mind that I could write in my own voice. I didn’t have to follow conventional prose.

 

As for the story, I understood Christopher’s point of view. Christopher’s world made sense to me. His attention to detail. Love of patterns. His honesty. His peculiarities seemed familiar.