Haddon, Mark: *1962

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 2003 - Thematic Parallels: Personal Challenges

Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 2003
This novel is about a young boy’s journey to solve a mystery and navigate personal challenges while seeing the world in a unique way.
The following books are thematically similar. They lend themselves well to being read in groups, compared with one another, or used to teach a similar topic over an extended period with a class:
- Hansberry, Lorraine.: A Raisin in the Sun, 1959, ~150pp
  This novel explores family dynamics, truth, aspirations, and navigating adversity.
  - Both works portray characters who must navigate a world that often misunderstands, excludes, or stereotypes them. They follow protagonists who must redefine themselves in response to challenges.
- Kennedy, A.L.: Looking for the Possible Dance, 1993, ~250pp
  This novel focuses on emotional complexity and personal relationships."
  - The two works are quite different in style—Kennedy’s novel leans literary and introspective; Haddon’s is structured around logic and mystery—they both probe how individuals try to understand—and sometimes distance themselves from—their emotional worlds. Each protagonist, in their own way, confronts hidden truths and seeks a place of clarity amid personal complexity.
- O’Neill, Eugene: Long Day’s Journey into Night, 1941, ~150pp
  This novel explores complex family relationships and emotional struggles within a family, which aligns with the family and emotional complexity themes in Curious Incident.
  - In both works, the real drama isn’t the external mystery or plot device, but the exposure of hidden pain within the family unit. Thei characters live in parallel emotional worlds — they share space, but not true connection. The settings act like pressure cookers, intensifying emotions because the characters can’t escape one another’s presence.
- Williams, Tennessee: The Glass Menagerie, 1945, ~130pp
  This play focuses on family dynamics, personal struggles, and isolation, which aligns with the themes of family complexity and emotional challenges.
  - Both works explore characters whose ways of seeing the world set them apart, and how this difference creates both beauty and vulnerability. The audience is not getting an objective truth but a filtered version of events, forcing us to read between the lines. Therefore neither gives a straightforward reality—both immerse us in a subjective mental landscape.
List of general discussion questions on Personal Challenges (pdf)
List of essay prompts on Personal Challenges (pdf)