the curious case of the dog in the night-time (2003) & cultural lenses

// link to goodreads reviews//

So, let's get a few things straight. This book came out in 2003 and I, for better or worse, am firmly stuck in 2023 as I sit down to write this review. 

From a young age, we're told context matters. How deftly important it is, something that I preach when entering any discussion or argument, especially when I used to help out with the afterschool program at the nearby elementary; unfortunately as well as anytime you're dealing with grown adults online. 

And on a point, I swear I will not dwell on very much, & wish not to come off as an old man yelling at the sky (and if I ever do, please god save yourself and click away), but some people have raised the overwrought point that media tends to subtract any context to push sales figures. This is certainly not a new trend in media, but it seems to happen much faster. And like all points being made, there's a grain of truth there but it's a tiresome and uninteresting cacophony of noise discussing it. 

What I felt stuck between the great gears of context when reading this book, and engaging in any cultural artistic discussion is: time. I feel that we're struck by the headbutting of the context in 2003 and of the contemporary context. The less said about the fictitious 'cancel-culture' the better, but here's where the arguments arise from. 

So, when reading this book, which follows the interactions of an autistic child in 2003, how should one appraise it? In the confines of 2003, or 2023? Well, like so many things in life, it's a little bit of everything in my belief. And, just to throw a wrench into the machinations of cultural discourse, there's another lens of context that is flicked over your eyes and thoughts, inseparable to a fault: personal context. So it's best that's gotten out of the way as well. Look at me, trying to cross out contextual variables like an algebra problem to reduce things more simply. That's probably a problem, a distancing of one's self from the art, refusing to give yourself over to it. Oh well, something to look into & inward. Here we go. Time to actually talk of something of substance. Opinions, the horrid things. 

I have virtually no experience with Autism. I don't have it myself nor have anyone close in my life who has Autism. As someone who voraciously watches films from an attempted multitude of different viewpoints and contextual lenses, I can't vividly remember one that submerged me as much in the viewpoint of an autistic person as this book. Now, perhaps as a little experiment, I deliberately haven't checked any outside reviews of this book or even checked if the author himself has or had any experience with Autism. Here's wherein lies the problem, I bloody well hoped he did, otherwise all my takeaways from the book were be falsified to a degree. But I did this to try to eliminate the 2023 thought process onto the book, to plant myself firmly in the discourse of my own mind. I realized foolishly halfway through reading that I'm a product of my time and by cultural osmosis, this was a fraught idea, but hell, I was halfway through and commitment feels good, eh? 

So one has to ask themselves, what do I have to add to this whirlpool of words and opinions? Well, I guess it's time to dig up that old personal context of mine as that's all I can ever bring to something. Objectivity be damned. (If you've read this far through my public therapy session through words, congrats! and I would strongly urge you to find a better use of your time.) 

I was able to embody someone's mindset for a couple of days thanks to this book, and I think it added to my contextual experiences going forward interacting with autistic individuals. Stuff to do, stuff not to do. Of course, I bring my knowledge of individuality into the mix and know about equitable interactions, but I would argue it's better than nothing. I related to many aspects of my own personality and logical thought process to the main character and it made me introspective. 

So, as someone not from a community represented in the novel, it gave me context, empathic connections, knowledge and introspection on my own thought process based on the non-autistic individuals clashed with the main character of the book. Now, I'm eager to jump online and see if it was good knowledge! 

As for the rest of the novel, the denouement was more of a bus crash that was drawn out for the last 40 pages and a blunt and melancholic ending devoid of any catharsis which seems appropriate but never trapped me in its pages.

It's hard to knock the writing style as it's quite evocative of the main character's world and thinking process. 

As I now look up and down these hieroglyphs I smeared across HTML5, I'm reminded again of how I need to sit down and plan my writing out before I commence. But that's hard and takes time, and as I said before I'm a product of my time and need self-aggrandizing quick & dirty gratification. So, the best thing I can do is to keep things short. 

thx & ttyl