Finished: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (Haddon) Another book that was hard to put down...a story told from the viewpoint of an autistic, highly intelligent, British teenage boy. I can't decide if it was more heartbreaking or uplifting by the end. The story opens with Christopher out walking at night and he comes across the neighbor, Mrs. Shears' dog that has been run through with a garden pitchfork and killed. :-( Christopher loved the dog and he picks it up to carry it into Mrs. Shears' house when she comes out screaming, accusing him of killing her dog. The story ensues, the police come, and not realizing Christopher is autistic and can't be touched by strangers, they try to grab his arm. Christopher hits a police officer and is taken into the station. His father comes to get him and explains Christopher's extraordinary circumstances to the police chief, who lets Christopher off with a warning. From that point on, Christopher is determined to logically figure out who killed the dog. At his special school his teacher encourages him to write a book by writing down all of his activities. That book becomes the book that the reader is reading, and it's pretty fascinating. I don't know if the author has experience with autism or Christopher's mind is just how he would imagine a mathematically superior, yet socially inept, autistic child to be. Whatever the case....reading the book through Christopher's voice is mesmerizing. Christopher has been told by his father that his mother died two years before, when in reality, the mother couldn't handle the stress of raising Christopher any more and she had left home with Mr. Shears, the husband of the neighbor whose dog was killed! The mother was far less patient with Christopher than the father and she figured there would be less fighting and more normalcy for Christopher if she didn't live there. She has, however, written him letters every week for two years which the father has unopened and kept from Christopher. One day Christopher stumbles across the letters and after reading a few comes to the horrifying conclusion that his mother is actually alive and his father's been lying to him all this time. :-( Christopher goes into a bit of a trance, and when the father gets home, he is so terribly sorry and promises he'll never lie to Christopher again. As a matter of fact...he will be completely truthful starting now...HE'S the one who killed Mrs. Shears' dog. :-( :-( Mrs. Shears had begun to come over and take care of Christopher and his father for awhile after the two spouses left, and Christopher's father had begun to think maybe she'd come to stay. Mrs. Shears didn't have that in mind and one night after arguing at her house, the father left through the front door in anger and the dog was there and growling at him. He realized he could just keep walking, but instead he killed the dog. This horrified Christopher almost more than realizing that his father had lied to him about his mother. All that Christopher formulates in his head is to be afraid that his father is going to kill him too. So...Christopher runs away the next day and heads to the address on the last letter from his mother in London. The train and "tube" rides are harrowing for the poor guy, but he finally makes it to his mother. She's very happy to see him and has no idea that Christopher thought she was dead. Of course, Mr. Shears isn't so happy to see him. The mother ends up leaving Mr. Shears and taking Christopher back to his hometown, but Christopher still wants nothing to do with his father. The father doesn't give up though and brings a timer with him one day when he meets Christopher and tells him that they'll set the timer for a minute at a time and he hopes that he can earn back Christopher's trust a minute at a time. This logical approach seems to work...and... the fact that the father buys Christopher a puppy to name and take care of. In the end, Christopher actually passes his Level A Math exams, which is apparently a huge deal...and he's gradually spending more time with his father, taking care of his dog, and seeing his mother who now lives nearby, equally as much. Like I said...I can't decide whether it was more heartbreaking or uplifting because it was just a small fraction of time spent with this boy and his family in a long, long lifetime that they will all be living with his autism, while helping him carve out as normal a life as possible.