Getting inside a character’s mind is pretty hard, especially when the character in question has some sort of mental condition. Normally, it would be really hard to feel empathy in these cases, because it’s really hard to understand them. So, Haddon’s portrayal of an autistic character is a very interesting perspective to tell a story.

Christopher was a very compelling character, all in all. His struggles to understand the world were almost painful to read. As most autistic children, Christopher has problems trying to relate to others, he just can’t understand them. And the lists of the things he liked or disliked was endless, and for most people they probably seem irrational. Christopher, however, finds them to be perfectly normal. And it was really sad to read him being frustrated over those things that seemed so little to me, but were really important for him.

Another thing that caught me about this book was how everyone’s relations were shown through Chris’ eyes. It was pretty obvious that his mother felt that Chris was completely overwhelming her, and his father was also pretty frustrated over him. It can’t be easy to have a child with such a condition, and his wife has just left him. Though my sympathy for him ends right there. Lying to Chris about his mother being dead was insane. And pretty unfair, as well.

The story begins with Chris holding a dead dog, in his neighbor’s yard; the poor thing was killed with a yard fork. For Chris it’s easier to connect with animals than with people, so the crime horrifies him even more than a person being murdered would have. Being a Sherlock Holmes’ fan, he decides to take on the investigation of such an ugly affair.

The investigation works more so the readers can learn about Chris’ way of thinking than as a plot device. It shows how obsessive he can be when something interests him, and the limits he’s willing to push for getting the answers that he wants. In that way, his obsession with Maths was pretty understandable. He’s trying to make sense of the world, as he does when he resolves equations and all that jazz. He fits things into a coherent line.

The way the book is narrated allows you to get into Chris’ mind, and to understand how he thinks and how he sees the world. I don’t know much about the autistic spectrum, but I do know that all these disorders are pretty heavy for both the children and their families. I think that in this book all that plays an important role. We get to see how hard things are for Chris and his own parents. Even if they’re not the best parents around, they also show that they love him a lot. One of my favorite parts was the moment when Chris’ father attempts to reconnect with his son. It’s hard when you know that Chris may never hug his father (he can’t stand touching others), but it’s still a sweet moment.