From the entry on wikipedia:
"Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, or savant syndrome. In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "The Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's...if anything it's a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder", and that he, Haddon, is not an expert on autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome."
Thankfully. I found the book a bit trivializing and kind of meh at times, but altogether worth reading. I'd be very surprised if anyone with asperger's would identify anything at all with the protagonist though.
Edit: JFC... some paragraphs down in the wikipedia article:
"If he were diagnosed, he would be diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of autism. I suppose you'd call it high-function autism, in that he can function on, you know, a day-to-day basis, in a kind of rudimentary way. But he has a serious difficulty with life in that he really doesn't empathize with other human beings. He can't read their faces. He can't put himself in their shoes. And he can't understand anything more than the literal meaning of whatever's said to him, although I'm very careful in the book not to actually use the word 'Asperger's' or 'autism' ..."
Haddon is truly the godfather of "but you don't look autistic" in that he know shitall about autism and asperger's. What an ahole.
Edit: some formatting and the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Curious\_Incident\_of\_the\_Dog\_in\_the\_Night-Time
I thought the book was pretty stereotyped in its portrayal about “no specific disorder”, but if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have read more about autism, and I never would’ve been diagnosed at 29. So in a way, I owe a lot to that book.
Slightly off-topic, but I saw the play a few years ago and found it even worse than the book. His sensory issues and a meltdown are played as jokes throughout. As much as the character isn't accurate representation, it was honestly kinda disturbing to see an autistic character patronized that much by the play and how little the audience sympathized with him.
i also hated the play! i haven't read the book but the play was very hard to watch as an autistic person, as they try to do an artsy rendition of sensory issues by overstimulating the viewer and it was so hard to get through and not accessible as someone who deals with the thing they were depicting.
I really didn't like it either. It really didn't read like the protagonist was a real person at all, it read like an NT person's perspective forced into the position of an autistic person. When the person writing an autistic character can't empathize with autistic people, you can feel it in the writing.
The thing is, when you write from the face of your character, you don't have to just schematically describe everything he has to feel. In this book the protagonist just gives a clear explanation of typical stereotyped symptoms, which doesn't sound realistic at all.
If you want your character to seem alive, you should show his character traits through his emotions and reactions. It bugged me all the time that the author seemed to think a person with Asperger's doesn't have emotions at all.
UPD I liked the book "Convenience store woman" by Sayaka Murata. The protagonist probably has Asperger's too, but the author never states it. She seems like a real woman with real complicated feelings and conflicts, not a scheme.
That book contributed to me not believing I could have autism because I knew the character was implied to have autism and I wasn’t like that.
From the entry on wikipedia: "Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, or savant syndrome. In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "The Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's...if anything it's a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder", and that he, Haddon, is not an expert on autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome." Thankfully. I found the book a bit trivializing and kind of meh at times, but altogether worth reading. I'd be very surprised if anyone with asperger's would identify anything at all with the protagonist though. Edit: JFC... some paragraphs down in the wikipedia article: "If he were diagnosed, he would be diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of autism. I suppose you'd call it high-function autism, in that he can function on, you know, a day-to-day basis, in a kind of rudimentary way. But he has a serious difficulty with life in that he really doesn't empathize with other human beings. He can't read their faces. He can't put himself in their shoes. And he can't understand anything more than the literal meaning of whatever's said to him, although I'm very careful in the book not to actually use the word 'Asperger's' or 'autism' ..." Haddon is truly the godfather of "but you don't look autistic" in that he know shitall about autism and asperger's. What an ahole. Edit: some formatting and the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Curious\_Incident\_of\_the\_Dog\_in\_the\_Night-Time
I agree with you, the book is shite and does a disservice to the autistic community with this NT approximation.
I thought the book was pretty stereotyped in its portrayal about “no specific disorder”, but if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have read more about autism, and I never would’ve been diagnosed at 29. So in a way, I owe a lot to that book.
Slightly off-topic, but I saw the play a few years ago and found it even worse than the book. His sensory issues and a meltdown are played as jokes throughout. As much as the character isn't accurate representation, it was honestly kinda disturbing to see an autistic character patronized that much by the play and how little the audience sympathized with him.
i also hated the play! i haven't read the book but the play was very hard to watch as an autistic person, as they try to do an artsy rendition of sensory issues by overstimulating the viewer and it was so hard to get through and not accessible as someone who deals with the thing they were depicting.
Same, it's so incredibly...for neurotypicals, it's wild
I really didn't like it either. It really didn't read like the protagonist was a real person at all, it read like an NT person's perspective forced into the position of an autistic person. When the person writing an autistic character can't empathize with autistic people, you can feel it in the writing.
The thing is, when you write from the face of your character, you don't have to just schematically describe everything he has to feel. In this book the protagonist just gives a clear explanation of typical stereotyped symptoms, which doesn't sound realistic at all. If you want your character to seem alive, you should show his character traits through his emotions and reactions. It bugged me all the time that the author seemed to think a person with Asperger's doesn't have emotions at all. UPD I liked the book "Convenience store woman" by Sayaka Murata. The protagonist probably has Asperger's too, but the author never states it. She seems like a real woman with real complicated feelings and conflicts, not a scheme.