Sunday, February 01, 2004

Lingering curiosity

The more I consider The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, the less I regard it.

I've decided that it's an unimportant book. I would not, for example, present it to my daughter on her 13th birthday, like I might The Catcher in the Rye or The Fountainhead, saying "This book will change your life." This book will not change anyone's life, nor open up a world of new ideas.

The book is decidedly well crafted (as I've decided while reading a novel whose narrator is a 13-year-old boy that leaves me cold — but more on this another time), but unimportant. I'm left wondering why all the accolades? Was it a bad year for fiction?

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