Aspies For Freedom

What are your thoughts on the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon?

Did you like the book?  

What did you like (or dislike) about it?

Did you relate to the protagonist, Christopher?

Did you feel that it was a realistic portrayal?

Anything else you'd like to add?

I’d like to hear what you think.

Thank you for all your replies.  It's good to hear what other aspies think of the book.  

I found some discussion questions relating to the book at the URL http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides...t_dog1.asp .  Some of them confused me.  In particular:

Question 5: "Christopher likes the idea of a world with no people in it [p. 2]; he contemplates the end of the world when the universe collapses [pp. 10–11]; he dreams of being an astronaut, alone in space [pp. 50–51], and that a virus has carried off everyone and the only people left are "special people like me" [pp. 198–200]. What do these passages say about his relationship to other human beings? What is striking about the way he describes these scenarios?"

I am not exactly sure what they say about his relationship to other human beings, aside from that they demonstrate that he is very much a loner.  I am curious as to what other readers think they say about his relationship to people, and what they found striking about them.

Question 10: "Which scenes are comical in this novel, and why are they funny? Are these same situations also sad, or exasperating?"

I could not tell which scenes were supposed to be funny.  I liked this book very much, but I did not think it was funny.  I can sometimes “get” jokes, but I don’t often see humor in real life situations.  Which scenes would most find comical, and why would they find them humorous?  Were the funny scenes also sad, or exasperating?

Question 19: "Christopher's journey to London underscores the difficulties he has being on his own, and the real disadvantages of his condition in terms of being in the world. What is most frightening, disturbing, or moving about this extended section of the novel [pp. 169–98]?"

For me, there were many things I found notable about it.  What did other readers make of it?  What would the “typical reader” find frightening, disturbing, or moving about it?

If you have any thoughts on the discussion questions, please post them here.

*Ponders why his own deepest \"dreams\" (Sleeping unconcious dreams) are invariably in nihilistic end-of-days worlds, usually where the world or immediate environment has been decimated in one form or another; despite being a very cheerful and happy person in waking life - scarier still is I prefer it that way, like the bustle of \"living\" cities and people is more stressful than a post apocalyptic one :? *

I have to admit that I had the odd fairly morbid obsession and occasionally tried to get a girl in my class to play "nuclear war survivor" with me, or tried to make friends by discussing some poor nuclear scientist who got radiation posioning and died  :?

going o/t: one thing though. if im normal and conventional and that happens to be the way I really am, does that make me less desriable of a person? Or must i make myself eccentric to make people think i am?

thankfully to my advantage among my peers it is considered hip to be eccentric. admittedly it is eccentrics, individualistic pple that give our world  a whole lot more flavour.but when it comes down to it... id pick the most average person who is giving and has a good nature over the self indulgent, selfish wilde wannabe or whatever. please note i am not suggesting individuality= self seeking but im just saying-- whats more impt in a person... yeah..

Hmm. but of course thats what you I think I think.  :wink:
I think you're getting do-gooder (as i understand it, i may be wrong, a term with a slightly negative twist) and a kind person with a giving nature mixed up theres a subtle difference but there is a difference nonetheless.

I'm sorry i really don't want to offend.
Everyone has different strenghts.
but i just feel that we only prize people who aren't average. I'm sorry. None of us want to feel that we are average in any sense of the word, but the fact is, many of us are.
If we aren't average in a certain category, then it's all right. But I can tell you once the marker shifts and we find ourselfs being called "everyone else" "the rest of the world that doesn't understand..."... you might think differently.
What makes you think the "average" person has little intelligence or understanding?
Maybe i like to watch seinfield rather than read shakespeare. so what?
there are many people who are fairly conventional in their worldview, but nontheless have a great deal of warmth and sensitivity.
Maybe you haven't had a good expereince with the non AS/Autistic world. Probably my own experience with "them" is atypical so maybe I am not fit to speak.
They may no understand or be able to know where I'm coming from, or grasp the complex emotions and situations a human being faces that goes far deeper than any pat answer/inspirational verse can offer. But they have much to offer as well, and they may provide insights which you might not expect them to or, however simple, goes a long way.
Everyone has something to offer.
I know so many people who are average in most respects. But they just do what they can, to the best they can.
I feel open minded people truly celebrate all types, even the more boring ones.
I myself don't like it when people tell me-- why must you be so complex? isn't it better to just live life in a simple, childlike and straightforward way?
No, because this is me and I dont' want to be apologetic for it. I have my own path that I have to take, although it may seem harder.
But conversely, is the other "unthinking" way that so many of us Aspies scoff at worse or better? It is none. It is just different. I dont' want to be self righteous and think I am the 0.1% who knows whats going on while the rest are the mindless sheep milling around. that's rubbish. someone may not think deeply about many things but i can assure you that theres more to them than it would seem.

I'm sorry but this is something i feel strongly about.

Yeah. I go to a school with only ~15 people (it's actually still classed as part of the school, it just physically isn't. We don't wear a uniform like the main school either  :smile: ) that is usually intended for people with behavioural problems etc. Because I get too much trouble at the main school and can't handle it. Because I can talk like them and everything, I don't think they (the teachers) realise that it's actually a bit deeper than I have some 'social problems'. I don't know if they realise I think very different from them, and things affect me in very different ways.  :?



...Sorry if that made little sense, it's 4:52 AM here  :smile:

* * * Caution: Contains spoiler * * *






I really liked the book.  One of the things I related to is how he kept missing the signs about his parents marriage breakdown/the affair.  I think it's those subtleties in behaviour/language where children don't pick up on the grown up world going on around them, and that's in some ways a neat reflection of the way that Aspies go through life as adults.  I think we tend to not get the hang of things like that.  I really related to that.  As I've grown older, I've gotten much better at realising things in hindsight, oh, so *that's* what was going on, s/he was referring to, etc., but at the time I still struggle with those nuances.  It's like as an adult, my perception is much better than it was as a child, it's like my adult understanding is one remove away from my understanding of things as a child, but my Aspie adult understanding of stuff is still one remove away from an adult NT's understanding of social situations, body language, communications.

*shrugs* okay then. If that was your experience than i suppose as far as it goes for you that's the truth.

caution: this will seem (might be) a huge over-reaction.. but i think now is a good time...

hmmm... i think you might be misinterpeting me. i have never said any group of people have any form of monopoly on any insight or whatever over the other. Hmm. real life examples? they happen frequently enough for me not to be able to single any one out. Now if you think thats because none are coming to mind simply because in fact there are none, thats your call too.
the fact is anyway I don't see my friends and peers and all the people whos paths have crossed with mine as NT or non NT. There're people. But because they do in this context come under NT... and therefore come under a group that is regarded as unthinking and empty.... I have to say something. i just have to.
I refuse to think non-quirky people or anyone whos "mainstream" are somehow less unique, and all bigoted redneck racist people.
I used to see people who listened to Britney or whatever and did all the things the so -called sheep like people did and tried to stay far away, obviously these people weren't worth associating with. then i got to know them, and my experience changed. I am not saying you didn't try to get to know people. Truth to tell, i probably am one of the last people on earth who willingly takes the first step to get to know people. I just happened to be lucky in that my experiences have been positive.
Or even people who are in one aspect "narrow minded" or overly conservative...
the woman at the cash register who was a total b*tch?-- she is a wife,a mother, she has a story too.
Majority, minority? All of us will fall into both categories at any given point of time. Don't assume that just because you fall into the minority means you understand all minorities better than others doand we are all one big happy oppressed family trying to withstand the forces of the evil mainstream.
Some people statistically fall into the majority for most things. Must they be villianised because of it?

I am who I am, and I do the best i can with it. And if I happen to be un-quirky and relatively ordinary, well I do apologise profusely for taking up oxygen as another mainstream, boring 9 to 5 accountant.
If statistically I am non [insert neurodiversity label], white, middle class, prtestant etc etc,... I'm boring and i dont understand the minority. Well some people actually take the time to, but then perhaps they arent sure themselves how to negotiate it and come across as condecending unintentionally. because within a single group there are so many different ideas on how things should be handled, whichever way an outsider goes abt handling it, they will end up offending some in that group and be labeled insensitive.
I remember a quote from a movie where this straight guy whos lonely and trying to find his way in life tells his gay designer friend something like " youre lucky, you know, youre gay-- youre part of a group, part of something. me i dont have anything."

I'm sorry. I'm not even sure i belong to the neurodiverse group. maybe for all i know i don't. maybe theats why Im defending the people on the other side. but i know what its like to want so badly to belong to the elite group of minority that i keep bashing the majority every chance i get, and then once i realise im really part of the majority after all... what does that make me?

Joining Neurodiversity hasn't helped me accept myself. In fact at the rate it bashes the Mere Mortals who Are Ordinary, it makes me question myself... will people only accept me if im somehow more unique than all the rest... brilliant... intelligent..... extraordinary? I feel the pressure to have an extra-iconoclastic worldview.... to stand out as much as possible so i will never be considered one of those hateful hateful mindless sheep.
I don't think I can do it anymore. I used to think that having a neurodivesity label like AS will at least automatically exclude me from coming under suspicion of being a sheep. But now im trying to break out of that. I used to be.... dont do this so you wont be mainstream... dont this... dont that.... then i thought. Whats wrong with being 'mainstream'?

I'm sorry if this sounds like a completely mindless rant/attack. its just that ive been thinking abt this for some time. im not attacking anyone's viewpoint or anything... I guess we both can agree to disagree. But im glad you brought this up bcause I think it's timely. I realise this is one reason why finding out about AS has muddied the waters for me. It has more than ever made me even more anxious and worried about what makes a person an individual with a real personal story to tell. And according to AS-dom, only Non-Typical people qualify.

it's not your fault as i guess u know-- I have been thinking about this for some time... but now that this has been brought right  to the forefront of my mind,  i feel that in order to try to loosen or lose altogether this obsession with uniqueness... I will have to try to forget about AS for a while... maybe for longer. It has got to the point where I am now always worried that i am unconciously faking or exaggerating symptoms of the labels, because i do know i'd rather have it than not. I may still drop by the AI and AFF forums, perhaps quite frequently at first, maybe to retrieve certian discussions that i made or found benificial, but i hope to be able to cut myself off. But I will no longer post for a while.

From now on, I will no longer define myself as an AS person or whatever, even with all the positive connotations i think it has. I will no longer cling to a label, even though i do show signs that I have them, just so that I can feel more intelligent. From now on I will be a person. And hard as it is for me to do, and I might fail and have to slowly start over, from now on I will no longer hide behind labels and their implications with uniqueness and intelligence and supposed suffering in order to feel like an individual. From now on I will try to turn my back on the constant worry of not being special if I am me. it will be about the choices I make in life, the experiences I make a long the way and what I get out of them.Sme may say it is impossible to separate my AS from all this. perhaps it isn't. And i recognise that many, many of the wonderful people on these boards have found themselves with finding AS. But I guess I am not one of those people. From now on, I will be me.
I wish all of you the best (esp Amy who was probably the first person i met on aspergia) and I thank all of you for a very good interactive online community experience.

Your sincerly
cant think of a username
(longest post ever!)