Christopher Boone is a fifteen year old boy who has a psychological disorder called Asperges. As the novel opens, he tells us “I know all of the countries of the world and their capital cities, and every prime number up to 7,057.” He finds a neighbour’s dog, named Wellington, murdered and decides to write about it. With the help of his teacher, Siobhan, he decides to write a book about his attempt to solve this mystery. It’s a search for information that, in short, will make its inflexible world destroyed.
He likes Sherlock Holmes and is amazingly observant of tiny details, but his lack of insight into other people’s emotional lives hampers his investigation. He loves the universe and the stars but he doesn’t like anything yellow and brown. It’s hard for him to imagine things that haven’t happened because he can only act on things he knows (for example, he considers metaphors as lies). And he has a great memory but he has many difficulties in adapting to the relationships and emotions that a person lives on a daily basis. A gesture that I liked a lot is that with their parents they touch finger tips instead of embracing each other.
Throughout the book, he experiences a maturity process because he is exceeding his own limitations. He himself says: “to be a detective you have to be brave, although I do not like it” (he doesn’t use the contraction do not).
I thought it was a creative idea to write a book from the point of view of a boy with Asperger syndrome. This is difficult to pull off, but the author does it well. What I like about the book is how it explores Christopher’s autism, and how this affects his daily life and interactions with people. For instance, he doesn’t like being touched; he doesn’t eat or sleep properly, and gets overwhelmed in busy areas. The book has also helped me to learn new words and is easy to understand.
In reference to the other characters in history, I liked the role of the father. For my experience, I can understand that taking care of a child that shows difficulties can be very hard sometimes. The father, although sometimes aggressive and clumsy, has always shown that he is very fond of Christopher and who wants the best for him. He has always been there in the easy and difficult times and gives him the space and time that the protagonist needs.
The moments of the book that I liked most were when the protagonist learned about the hidden truth and how he adapted. The moments that perhaps I have disconnected a bit is when he talk about mathematical theories, despite being interesting.
There is a part of the way Christopher thinks I like and that I think we should all learn. Sometimes we get smeared in a sea of emotions that costs us to find the harbour. As he says: “Because I decided that it was a kind of puzzle and if something is a puzzle there is always a way of solving it”.
Definitely, I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was hilarious and emotional at the same time.
Alexandra Blasco
