English Reading Journal

The author tries to show us the thoughts of a young boy who has Asperger Syndrome and how it differs from other people. He wants us to get an image of how life is with such an affliction and I think he does that well. It’s interesting to get another view on things we’re just accepting as normal. Some things seem a little overstated, but it’s not too bad though. Most interesting for me is to see how the author describes the reactions from other people to Christopher’s behaviour in different situations. I think the author should leave the very strict “ego-perspective” and give us some detailed information about what other people think. Without the filtered comprehension from Christopher. This would give a better contrast between “normal” thinking and Christopher’s. All in all I would say the author did a pretty good job in representing Christopher’s life but he could certainly have done better by giving us better contrasts sometimes.  (160)

Christopher always talks about his father making food for him. He’s very thankful for that because he couldn’t do it himself and he wouldn’t know someone to do so. Having someone to make food for me without me paying him, would be a very nice thing! Since I live alone and there’s no mother anymore to make supper and clean the desk and tidy up and stuff like this,  I’m spending a lot of my time on that by myself. That’s not always easy because there are so many other things to do all the time, and sometimes I just want some leisure time. But exactly then, I start to get hungry and must make some. It’s important to get independent, but it’s not easy at all as I started to learn. Every second weekend I return to my mother and it’s just marvellous to be cared for all day long.  (151)

I don’t really like the situation of Christopher’s father at this point. He’s actually a very kind person who does everything for his son. But some things he did, I don’t like to much. He has a very heavy burden to carry and it seems as if he’s kind of depressed of the situation and not he’s happy in life at all. I hope that there would be a conversation between him, Christopher and his mother which would help all of them for sure. Father seems to have many secrets he’s hiding from Christopher to his own good, but I don’t think that this can go on like this for much longer. Christopher starts to get very suspicious about some things and father doesn’t know what to do now. It’s also noticeable that his father has an alcohol problem, what isn’t unexpected. If the family could assemble again this would help everyone.  (152)

Write about the relationship between two characters and how it is changing or developing. What are the characteristics of the relationship? Mother and Father We don’t really know how their relationship was, before they split, but since they lived together and had a son they must’ve been happy together. Christopher changed a lot for them as we learn throughout the story. He caused a lot of problems, due to his behaviour and it surely wasn’t easy for them to have such a son. Father has always been very calm and patient, whilst mother was very hot tempered and got angry with Christopher several times. Since she could not help herself with her son, she felt more and more miserably and wrong in place.  She decided to leave her son and her husband, because she thought it would be better for them. Father got very angry on her and banished her. Their relationship is very bad now and we don’t know if it will get better again. Father starts to lie on Christopher, because of...

Christopher leaves his home and starts to search for his mother, who lives in London. His father probably follows him and tries to stop him. I think that Christopher will find his mother, because otherwise the whole story wouldn’t make any sense at all. But I also think that there will be an encounter between mother, father and Christopher and maybe also between Mr. and Mrs. Shears, which are closely connected to them. Hopefully this will bring some smoothness and clarity to their situation and Christopher won’t get mad in the end or something like that.  I think that Mother and Father will get closer again because Christopher is much older now and can look after himself a bit better now. Maybe they will all live together again, and then Mr. and Mrs. Shears could also get together again, and live in their neighbourhood. Father could buy them a new dog as reparation for Wellington.  (152)

Christopher finds a killed dog and starts to investigate himself to the case. We learn that Christopher’s mother died to a heart attack and that he lives alone with his father. His father doesn’t want him to investigate, but Christopher follows his own intentions and starts to talk with people in his neighbourhood, to find out who’s killed Wellington.  An old lady is very kind to Christopher and talks to him for multiple times. From her he learns that his father had an affair with Mrs. Shears (she’s the one, whose dog got killed). Christopher writes everything in a book (the book we’ve been reading) because in school they should write a story. His Father finally finds the book and gets very angry with Christopher. He takes away the book to hide it somewhere, but Christopher tries to find it whenever he has the opportunity. Finally, he finds it in his father’s room, but not only this. Where the book is hidden, he also discovers many letters which are addressed to him. He reads ...

The life of a boy with autism The whole book is built around a young boy with big issues. He probably has Asperger Syndrome, some kind of autism. He thinks very different to other people and his reactions are very unpredictable and sometimes strange as well. Relationship between parents of such a boy Another important theme is, how Christopher influences the relationship between his mother and his father. Only by Christopher they recognized how different they are and that they want different things in their life. This causes his mother to leave the family and live with another man in London. Detective work (Sherlock Holmes) Christopher writes this story, because he gets involved by the case of Wellington the killed dog. He starts to investigate in the case and this leads to him unrevealing the disappear of his mother. He also mentions Sherlock Holmes for multiple times as his role model. Meaning of things Christopher looks at things in a very strange, but al...

The author chose a very special way to tell us his story. He imitates the style of a young boy with big psychological issues. In the story it’s this boy who writes the very same story about his experiences and happenings in life. Compared with books of other authors, the style of writing seems to be much simplified and uncommonly unengaging. Many sentences begin with the same words, and the syntax is very simple and basic. It already seems to be done like this on purpose. I think he does a good job in imitating this style, even though I personally don’t really like it. As someone who’s been reading a lot in the last years, I learned to know different typed of writers, and their style fits me much more. It’s interesting though when he (Christopher) describes the actions and feelings of other “normal” people and how he tries to understand them. The rethinking the author had to do by writing this story must’ve been a big work.   (169)