The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Time: 6 hours 3 minutes Narrator: Ben Tibber

A relatively short novel written from the perspective of Christopher, a 15 year old boy with Asperger’s.

Story Christopher finds the neighbour’s dog after it has been killed. During his investigation Christopher finds information that he really wasn’t looking for and his carefully controlled life spirals out of control. Written in short pithy sentences, we see everything that Christopher doesn’t. It is incredible that a book written from the perspective of a child who doesn’t understand emotion, can inspire such deep feelings in us.

Narrator Ben Tibber (I Am David), was about 11 or 12 years old when this book was recorded, and he sounds it. As a breathless child he was and sounded a little too young to be 15 year old Christopher, but otherwise did a magnificent job. His youth made the story so much more emotional. As a parent, parts of the story made me ill to listen to. I don’t remember having that depth of feeling when I read the book, back when it first came out.

The narration is interspersed with dramatic renditions from the adults in the story, that are performed by various people. And break up novel, nicely.

This audiobook really does bring the novel to life. Be ready for some heart-stopping moments before the end though.