Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time follows its autistic protagonist through alleys and agonies as he, Christopher John Francis Boone, uncovers the mystery of who killed his neighbor's dog.
Unfortunately for the intelligent but emotionally-handicapped Christopher, he discovers the dog-killer's identity all too soon. It is the information in the shadows surrounding the case that lead Christopher on a course of discovery about himself, his family and ultimately his place in the world.
The novel's pace is brisk while offering interesting diversions such as the formula for the population of animals, the maths behind "The Monty Hall Problem" and the reasons behind Christopher's dislike of the colors yellow and brown.
Even though Curious is a fast, interesting read, I can't help but feel it's all a bit too slick and easy. I'd like to know if anyone else had read any Haddon and what they thought about it.
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Having never read it completely and needing a shot of entertainment after the somber Dubliners, I turned to another Dubliner, Jonathan Swift, and explored the pages of Gulliver's Travels. Page after page of swiftly flowing satire followed, and I swallowed every bit.
Swift's narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, is a lurid innocent in that he readily relates every nasty detail he can while maintaining a matter-of-fact voice throughout his tales. This gambit works because Gulliver is set up as the author from the start of the book. Through Gulliver, Swift takes full measure and delivers blow after blow upon the high and low aspects of his own country, society and family while delivering a fanciful account of foreign countries, societies and families. It is a brilliant ploy executed almost flawlessly and so leaves the reader entertained and -- gasp! -- educated.
As my version is one of a series in Case Studies in Comtemporary Criticism, there are several styles of criticisms of Gulliver's Travels following the story itself. In these, the point is made more than once that Swift, via Gulliver, is searching for some larger truth about human nature while not quite revealing it. I think these critics are wrong.
Swift/Gulliver leads the reader around the world (and back) exposing the flaws in humanity by magnifying (or reducing) the size of mankind's concerns. With the diminutive Lillipudlians, he reduces quarrels over land and "us vs. them" issues to a small size, thus showing how important they should be in the "normal" human world.
With the huge Brobdingnagians, Swift illustrates that large size (as in that of the English state at the time) leads to overconfidence and a lack of concern for the "little people." Class differences are also skewered as Gulliver magnifies how ugly traits can take over a being when viewed from a lower, "closer" perspective.
Swift then delivers a kick to the rump of new science, lofts a few bombs in the direction of the glorification of past ages and no doubt ruffles a few feathers by briefly turning religion and tradition on their heads. However, Swift's thrust suffers a bit in the endgame when Gulliver is stranded upon an island of sentient horse-beings, the Houyhnhms.
All along, Gulliver has presented alternate worlds as reality. The some holds true in the land of the Houyhnhms. There, Gulliver is viewed as a Yahoo, a lower, more coarse form of the same species. Gulliver presents the Houyhnhms as an ideal race whose discourse is measured and rational. They know no war, no violence, no poverty or perversion amongst themselves. Those traits are readily displayed in the Yahoos. Yet, even the Houyhnhms are elitist. They use the Yahoos as servants and look down upon their disgusting habits, practices and mannerisms.
Here, Swift presents the Houyhnhms as an archetype, a goal to be achieved by his fellow humans. Yahoos are the current state of humanity. Gulliver is the bridge between the two. He admires the Houyhnhms yet knows he cannot reach their "perfect" state. At the same time (and much to his chagrin), Gulliver interacts with the baser Yahoos. He sees with clarity the foibles of the Yahoos and knows those same faults as his own.
The ending of Gulliver's Travels and Gulliver's travels cannot reconcile the two states of being. The Houyhnhms ultimately reject Gulliver even though he is well-heeled and well-mannered. In the end, they still see him as a Yahoo. Dispirited and depressed, Gulliver returns to his home and family whom he finds he can hardly stand as he views them as Yahoos whose worth is below his own (Gulliver sees himself in a loftier position having spent time amongst the Houyhnhms).
Even as it seems Swift has failed with this ending, he has clearly succeeded. Swift turns an already cracked mirror upon humanity. The examination is harsh, for microscopic and telescopic points of view can never reveal the entire story. So Swift realizes that humanity is perfect in its imperfectness. Hope lets him reach for new heights, but reality grounds his perspective.
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