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breeisreading_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What an odd little gem of a book.
My mum got me this for Christmas, and although I know of Matt Haig mainly for The Midnight Library, I’d never heard of this novel, which is one of his early ones.
This was not what I expected - the title and front cover of my edition fooled me into thinking this would be an easy, happy read about a dog - don’t be fooled!! This broke my heart; deals with lots of serious events and trigger warnings, and a lot of adult and mature themes.
The perspective being told through the dog’s (Prince the Labrador) point of view was genius and I loved the childlike perspective that gave us as we didn’t have all the information, and found things out as the book progressed in real time with Prince. He was truly a captivating character and this book really was beautiful with the way it handled grief, love, family, relationships and the love between a dog and their Family.
The end has completely ended me though and I will likely never recover.
My mum got me this for Christmas, and although I know of Matt Haig mainly for The Midnight Library, I’d never heard of this novel, which is one of his early ones.
This was not what I expected - the title and front cover of my edition fooled me into thinking this would be an easy, happy read about a dog - don’t be fooled!! This broke my heart; deals with lots of serious events and trigger warnings, and a lot of adult and mature themes.
The perspective being told through the dog’s (Prince the Labrador) point of view was genius and I loved the childlike perspective that gave us as we didn’t have all the information, and found things out as the book progressed in real time with Prince. He was truly a captivating character and this book really was beautiful with the way it handled grief, love, family, relationships and the love between a dog and their Family.
The end has completely ended me though and I will likely never recover.
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit
readingwithkelsey's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
3.5
I absolutely was loving this book until the very end. Firstly, if you are an animal lover and are sensitive to animal deaths, I would not pick up this book. The story of Prince caring for and loving his family was so beautiful to read. The story is told from Prince's point of view, and I absolutely loved watching him try to save his family in the best way possible. He was devoted and loyal and it was wonderful to read. The pain that this family is going through broke my heart because their problems felt very real to me and Prince works so hard to fix things! While reading, I was interested to see how the novel would be resolved and the last 40 pages of the novel were ... really weird? To put it lightly? Based on the tone of the rest of the novel? It is a reimagining of Shakespeare's Henry plays so I guess I should have somehow seen it coming but still - it felt super off from the rest of the novel. I can still see people really enjoying this, but the ending was just not for me. Like I was expecting to cry and when I finished it, I was just baffled instead.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
philiwb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Body shaming
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