Book Review: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

I bought the paperback of this book finally. I have read about it on The Independent and have seen the coverage on the BBC but it was marketed as a young adult's book.

But I wanted to get a proper book for my 11 year old sister. She can read big books. In fact she can finish the Harry Potter - Order of Phoenix in less than two days. This is a feat considering I know of some adults who can not even read it in a week.

Back to the story, she was eyeing up one of those 40 pages children's book which I think is quite pathetic for someone who has read Harry Potter. Reading those would essentially downgraded herself. I don't blame her for wanting to read it - but I am not going to pay two quid (RM14) for something you would only read once and nobody else in the family would touch!

I found the book in the young adult's section. It was the cover actually of an abstract drawing of a dog laying dead that caught my eye. A quick glance at the title and all the reviews that I read and heard came rushing back to my lazy brain. I bought it. And today after a three hour session I have to say that it is one of the best books I have read over the summer.

I would say that this is a crossover book which is targeted at both adults and young adults. There are some 'bad language' like fuck and shits like that but its alright. But the storyline isn't suitable for someone who is 11.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

I pulled the fork out of the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him. He was leaking blood from the fork holes.

I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.

I had been hugging the dog for 4 minutes when I heard screaming. I looked up and saw Mrs. Shears running toward me from the patio. She was wearing pajamas and a housecoat. Her toenails were painted bright pink and she had no shoes on.

She was shouting, "What in fuck's name have you done to my dog?"

Anyway, while I was in KL - did not manage to find any HP hx4700. Damn! But I did get to check out the GS XPlore G88 PalmOS smartphone. Damn its nice! The size is probably as small as my T630. But this is running PalmOS! Okay, its only PalmOS 4 but its better than the non touch screen Symbian Series 60 or Windows Mobile for Smartphone. If GS can fix OS5 in this with a 320x320 pixel LCD this would be my next phone.

Size reference with a Nokia 8210: