Literary Court: 'The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time'

[Scheherazade]

Have you read The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12662) by Mark Haddon?

What is your opinion on the events?
Who is at fault?
Are you angry with the Mother for leaving?
Are you blaming the Father for the way he handled things?
Or do you find it hard to sympathise with Christopher?

Please present your 'cases' till August 20th so that Forum members
(whether they have read the book or not)
can make up their minds and reach a verdict
(there will be a poll for everyone to vote for).


***** WARNING *****

Please note that this thread may contain spoilers.

[Jay]

SPOILER WARNING

This whole post is one big spoiler so if you're thinking about reading the book and don't want to be told what's going on or how it all ends, DO NOT READ FURTHER!

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You are still reading? Ok then, but you have been warned ;)

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I find it easier doing this in first person so I'm writing from the father's point of view.

I might edit this a few times and I could use a second opinion so if there's anyone who's read the book and wants to make my 'case' clearer, I'd be grateful for any help. In order not to make the thread chaotic if you could PM me ideas or opinions instead of posting, that'll be great, thanks.
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I have an autistic son called Christopher who is 15 years old. I work as a heating contractor. My wife left Christopher and me for our neighbour's husband. I didn't know how to tell Christopher that his mother has left because she couldn't handle the pressure of taking care of him so I thought if she was dead for him it would be better for him that way. I haven't given Christopher the letters his mother had been sending to him and when he found them he ran away to live with his mother. In the end I realised how wrong I was but that was already too late and my relationship with Christopher would never be the same again. I think I am generaly stable but when I anger I loose control. It was one of the few times I was really angry and once when I was leaving our neighbour's I killed her dog with a garden fork. Christopher found him and decided to do some detecting to find out who killed Wellington, the dog. That's when things got complicated.

[Scheherazade]

In the beginning of the book, we realise that a horrible crime has been comitted: a dog has been killed and an autistic child discovers it. As the story unravels itself, we find out about the events which lead to this and, even though none justifies it, we see things from different point of views.

Christopher's mother has left her son and husband because she was not able to deal with the pressures of bringing up an autictic child. Even though I agree that it must be very hard to have a son like Christopher, I cannot agree with the way the Mother has handled things. She not only left her family without a word of warning, but also expected her husband to deal with it, try to explain Christopher what was happening and hoped that writing letters every fortnight would make up for good parenting!

The Father, feeling very angry and betrayed, tells Christopher that his mother is dead in the hope that they can forget about her altogether and move on. Then, he is rejected one more time by their neighbour, whose husband has eloped with his wife. The final blow.

Looking back at events, I cannot help thinking that if the Mother had tried to talk to her husband, rather than taking a drastic step and running away, things would have been different.