Andrew Albano

Uncharted Books

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a novel about a young boy, Christopher, that is neurodivergent. The story follows Christopher a 15 year old boy gifted at math, who writes a book about his investigation off the murder of a neighborhood dog, Wellington. He is amazingly observant, but his lack of insight into other people’s emotional life hampers his investigation. Throughout the story Christopher has to overcome some of his deepest habits and fears as he uncovers some unexpected secrets.

The structural format and style of the novel are quite different than any other book I have ever read. The chapters are listed in prime numbers, as they Christophers favorite numbers. The narrative style is quite literal, avoiding the use of metaphors, excessive logic, and an extreme attention to details. The chapters are not completely linear, separated by snippets of math and explanations of his condition: how it affects him, and what coping strategies he adopts. This effect is sometimes unnatural and occasionally breathless, which is a little reminiscent of people that I know who are nuerodivergent.

Christophers condition makes him very literal- something that he is aware of. Truth is supreme, so he hates situations where he can’t tell the truth and the fact that “everything you tell is a white lie” because you can never give a fully comprehensive answer to anything. Many novels are fixated on finding the truth, but Christopher’s journey takes the idea to a deeper level. Even though we know Christopher is almost pathologically truthful, his condition means that the observations sometimes miss the real truth of a situation. Most of the humor throughout arise from Christopher’s misunderstandings of situations and the conflict between his lack of embarrassment and desire to be unnoticed by unfamiliar people.

Christopher loves math because it is safe, straightforward and has a definite answer, unlike life. He’s also good at explaining some aspects, ending an explanation of calculating primes with “Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away”. His apparent deviations from logic are justified with ingenious logic, having favorite and hated colors reduces choice and thus stress. He notices and remembers every detail of everything, and can recall it at will, whereas other people’s brains are filled with imaginary stuff, Christopher’s brain contains everything that has happened since he was 4.

Christopher never explicitly says anything beyond “behavioral problems” for him being different than other kids. Christopher talks about the special school he is enrolled in, being the first student in his school to take an A-level course, and his particular tendencies. He hates the colors yellow and brown, does not like to be touched, and doesn’t understand emotions too well. For not wanting to assume anything that is not explicitly told to us, I am going to just say that he is nuerodivergent.

Mark Haddon won Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Overall Best First Book for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in 2004. Haddon’s knowledge on Asperger’s Syndrome and autism comes from his work with nuerodivergent people as a young man. Although he is no expert when it comes to special needs, Haddon’s unique character design and perspective brings awareness towards people with mental disabilities. The novel has also been adapted as a play in Britain, making its way in Broadway for a while.

This is the first book that I have ever read that has a character with a mental disability, let alone the protagonist of the novel. This new perspective allows a reader to feel less normal, and explore the differences between people around us. A lot of the population has some sort of mental disability, whether it be autism, anxiety, depression or down syndrome. Like any other minority in country, it is nice when you can read about people different from yourself and understand them a little bit more.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time would be a good book to use in a classroom setting for a multitude of reasons. One being the perspective from a person that is nuerodivergent, most books are from nuerotypical people so this would be a new experience for students. This perspective also changes the way that people think about others with mental disabilities, they are not very different than you and me. Another important issue that arises throughout the book is the way that people around Christopher are affected by his condition. Many people fail to realize the strain and difficulties that can arise from raising a child with a mental disability. Like any drastic change in life, a mental disability can put tension on relationships and disrupt a family’s “normal” way of living. Haddon writes an enthralling novel, keeping the reader entertained and attached throughout its entirety. The new frame of mind from a character that is nuerodivergent, the effects on familial and external relationships, and the battle to overcome fears and habits.

Uncharted Books

Hey everyone, welcome to my first blog post. I’ll be updating this blog a couple times a week to talk about books. The books that I will be talking about are ones that I have read that I think I may use when I eventually become an English teacher.

Johnny Got His Gun is an anti-war novel that released the first few days of World War 2, but concentrates on World War 1. In its essence this book is an anti-war novel, that was its purpose and it served it well, but there is so much more to it than just that. Johnny Got His Gun follows the life of Joe Bonham, an 18 year old that is drafted to fight in World War 1 in 1918.

This book is one of the most disturbing, but quite interesting books that I have ever read. The reader is forced to spend the entirety of the book within in the protagonist’s, Joe Bonham, mind. The reason for this being that due to injuries sustained from war, he has no arms, no legs, no ears, no eyes, no mouth, and no tongue. He cannot see, speak, hear, or taste and is left with a limited sense of touch. Unfortunately for Joe his brain is very much alive and well, trapped in this body with no way out.

A man trapped within his own body, Joe has only his memories and imagination to keep himself busy and amused. Joe brings the reader along many of his thoughts and you can see his life blossom, and be ripped apart. Memories of fishing trips with his now dead father, nights spent with his girlfriend Kareen, and days spent working at a bakery.

Lying on his back for an unknown amount of time, Joe begins to lose his mind, until he begins to tell time. Even this however cannot save Joe from his horrifying fate. Joe eventually finds a way to communicate with outsiders, but even this is doomed as Trumbo keeps us from getting out.

This novel is a stream of consciousness with less punctuation and capitalism, and the reader is thrown into tortuous run ons separated with short ones; and beautiful passages filled with nostalgia… the narrative structure captures the doom of the protagonist magnificently.

This novel is definitely an anti-war novel, written with a purpose– and so sometimes it does slip into straight out pacifist ideals. But since this is all through Joe’s mind the strength of the narrative is not lost to a few pages– and Trumbo still gets his point across. The moist poignant part of these pages would be, They knew that life was everything and they died with screams and sobs. They died with only one thought in their minds and that was I want to live I want to live I want to live.

Dalton Trumbo won the National Book Award for Johnny Got His Gun in 1939. The popularity of the book brought some unwanted attention as well. Trumbo was part of the Communist Party and throughout his career had unpopular left-leaning political stances. Fan letters from Nazi-sympathizers that Trumbo received from the misunderstandings of Johnny Got His Gun led him to hand in the mail to the FBI. The FBI intentions changed and the filed a case on Dalton Trumbo, along with 9 other Hollywood directors and writers, for whether or not the Communist sympathizers had propagandized their American audiences. The “Hollywood Ten” refused to testify and as a result were found guilty of contempt of Congress and were blacklisted from Hollywood for years to come.

The reason why I think that this book would be so beneficial in a classroom setting would be for its humanistic ideals, never losing hope, and just how different and beautifully written it is. Trumbo may have used this as an anti-war novel but I see it equally as a humanistic novel. Over and over again throughout the novel the importance of all people, the Americans, English, French, Mexicans, Germans and all other people on the planet, are equally important and meaningful to Joe. He constantly resents the effects war has on all aspects of every persons life, and how the people that orchestrate wars do not care for those fighting them. Joe puts an emphasis on the “little guy” the ‘everyday Joe’ that you see on the street; how all their lives are affected by the decisions of government officials, higher-ups that aren’t on the frontlines fighting, but in offices far away sending others to their deaths.

Trumbo writes this novel so beautifully, while still allowing his message to shine through to the reader. The persistence of human life to never quit; an ideology for the basic needs of every person, the innate goodness each human possesses, and ability to solve human problems rationally.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone, as frankly it left me speechless by the end.