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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not sure what I expected. I enjoyed the philosophic thinking and linguistic references and musings in it. I would recommend this as a brief and fulfilling little read, I'm not sure dog-lovers will enjoy it or at least should set expectations first before reading.
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book starts when fifteen dogs are given the 'gift' of human understanding as part of a wager between two Greek gods. The bet is about whether or not even one of the dogs will die happy. So be forewarned: all of the dogs die.
The book is quite philosophical, with some great lines and thoughts about humanity. By contrasting it to the experience of regular dogs and how dogs adapt to newly gotten human understanding, some of the absurdities of the human experience is illuminated. So the book does provide some food for thought.
The experience of the dogs is quite repetitive though. We don't follow all 15 of them extensively, some dogs will only get a few paragraphs. Even though the book is quite short, I think it could still have been a bit more to the point by taking out the repetitions. Some of the words used seem to have been explicitly looked up in a dictionary for being very specific and uncommon. I'm not sure if a native speaker would even know what some of the words mean.
If you like language and poetry, it is worth reading the author's note on Prince's poems. Or read it in the end and revisit the poems if you don't want any spoilers before reading the book.
The book is quite philosophical, with some great lines and thoughts about humanity. By contrasting it to the experience of regular dogs and how dogs adapt to newly gotten human understanding, some of the absurdities of the human experience is illuminated. So the book does provide some food for thought.
The experience of the dogs is quite repetitive though. We don't follow all 15 of them extensively, some dogs will only get a few paragraphs. Even though the book is quite short, I think it could still have been a bit more to the point by taking out the repetitions. Some of the words used seem to have been explicitly looked up in a dictionary for being very specific and uncommon. I'm not sure if a native speaker would even know what some of the words mean.
If you like language and poetry, it is worth reading the author's note on Prince's poems. Or read it in the end and revisit the poems if you don't want any spoilers before reading the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
medium-paced
Con varios detalles que no me convencieron tanto, al final hay buenas cosas que funcionan y por eso no me parece terrible. Es cierto que hay ingenio en la antropomorfización del pensamiento de los perros, pero no fluye adecuadamente cada estrategia para caracterizarla. Se queda corto con algunos personajes y situaciones, muy reduccionista o simplificador. Las partes de los dioses se llegan a sentir así. No obstante, la trama de Majnoun/Majnun destaca y llegar hasta el fin lo vuelve muy emotivo. Lo leí en francés, la traducción de Michel Saint-Germain.
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Animal cruelty
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a really unique book told from the perspective of 15 dogs who have been given human consciousness and language by Greek gods.
I loved the way the author imagined how the dogs would react and compare to their previous existence. It was at times joyful and extremely sad. It will stay with me for a long time and has already altered how I imagine what dogs are thinking.
I loved the way the author imagined how the dogs would react and compare to their previous existence. It was at times joyful and extremely sad. It will stay with me for a long time and has already altered how I imagine what dogs are thinking.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes