Life is what happens when you're making other plans....aka my first book review

This is so typical of me; I write that I don't make resolutions because I tend not to keep them, yet I am going to change that and actually set the bar higher than I should. So of course, this blog has been dormant for its first 14 months.

Since I began it, I have moved from Los Angeles back to New Orleans and am starting all over again in a city that I used to call home. Most of my books, including "A Prayer for Owen Meany", are still in storage and will be sent here later this year. I have had to opt for other books with which to start this journey. It is very fitting that I found the first entirely by chance.

Prior to starting as a full time staff chaplain at a large hospital here, I was required to go through health services and have all manner of tests performed to ascertain that I'm healthy - flu shots, blood work, etc. While I was waiting to be called in to get my flu shot, I glanced over the waiting area and among the magazines scattered across the end table was a book with an eye-catching title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I read the brief plot synopsis on the back and was so intrigued that when my name was called, I surreptitiously grabbed the novel and took it with me.

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This is our brief outline of the 'author' of the book, a teenage boy getting ready to take his A-levels (as an American, I have only a limited understanding of these, which I presume are similar to the ACT and SAT that we struggle through over here in the US). In the first chapter (charmingly, the chapters all begin with sequential prime numbers, so don't be confused if you think you missed a few at the start) Christopher discovers that his neighbor's dog has been killed with a garden rake and he makes it his mission to find out whodunnit.

What I liked about the book is the absolute logic with which Christopher describes every thing he does and experiences; it is a fascinating glimpse into the world of one person who doesn't happen to be on the typical end of the human spectrum. It's a good thing to live outside the box we view as the only acceptable experience, if only for a brief period of time. Unfortunately, Christopher's tendency toward logic, detail and problem solving sometimes causes distractions for the reader. Perhaps this is part of author Mark Haddon's intent, as his protagonist, in describing his enjoyment of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, points out that most good mysteries have a few red herrings/distractions thrown in.

The story takes some surprising turns that keep the reader turning the pages, but toward the end I feel as if the detail starts being dragged out a bit too much. Perhaps I'm impatient and waiting for a denouement? I am not the type to read the last page of a novel first to make certain it ends the way I want it to, but I do admit to reaching a point where I'm tired of anticipation and I want the finale.

The ending of this novel does not tie up everything nice and neat, which I like very much because as the protagonist himself understands in his own way, life is not fixed and tidy and cannot always be neatly tucked into a box. Despite the lack of a resolution to the major issue Christopher faces, he still manages to grasp on to what is the most important thing to learn through his entire investigation: that he can take chances in life and that he'll be okay.