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A review by literarylucie
Wild Dog by Serge Joncour
4.0
Wild Dog alternates between 1914, where a small village was struggling to cope with the effects of WW1, and 2017, where Lise and Franck take a three week holiday to a cottage in the French hills, the Mont d'Orcières, with no WiFi connection and signal. These are the same hills that many years ago a German lion tamer took refuge with his big cats, and hundreds of sheep mysteriously fell off the cliff. Their stories interweave and echoes of the past haunt the present, putting the couple under the brutal power of nature.
In 1914 the war broke out and all the healthy men and animals were requisitioned, leaving only the women, children and elderly to fend for themselves. This was except for the German lion tamer whose presence, along with his cats, haunted the villagers below. Up on the hills the German and Joséphine, a recently widowed woman, discovered and indulged in their primal attraction to each other, however, danger wasn’t far away. In 2017 Lise chooses this location so she can focus on herself and reconnect with nature. All she wants to do is meditate, paint, and take in the beauty she sees in her surroundings. Franck however is a film producer and feels like he should be reachable at all times, so immediately struggles at the thought of complete isolation. He is so reliant on his technology that he goes to the next town in search for signal, or any form of communication with the modern world. To Lise the isolation was perfect; to Franck it was hell. This is until Franck gets chosen by a wild dog he names Alpha, who is half dog, half wolf. Alpha obeys his every word and seems to know what Franck wants him to do. It is Alpha who reconnects him with nature and introduces him to its sinister and savage side.
Nature, as I’ve mentioned before, is one of my favourite themes, especially when it has such an immersive and domineering quality as it does in this book. The landscape is described as being so picturesque and that you can see for miles; no connection to the modern world in sight. Some characters, like Lise, are escaping to the solitude of nature; some are escaping from the brutality of nature. Nature appears to have contagious animalist qualities that infect those who are in it, which consequently makes them wild, for example Franck rediscovering his love of meat, and his savage revenge plot. Along with nature comes both an abundance of sound and silence. Sounds come from the big cats roaring through the night, or the circle of life happening in the darkness of the shadows. Silence comes from the lack of industrialisation, and human connection. The silence to the villagers was a constant reminder of the men they have lost to the war, to Lise it was perfect for her mediation; to Franck it meant complete isolation.
Wild Dog immerses us deep within nature, a beautiful vastness of space but with hidden oppressive danger. The writing is rich and beautiful, albeit slightly repetitive, with long descriptions of the French hills and of human nature. The main take away from the book however is the duality within us; there is a thin line between man and beast.
In 1914 the war broke out and all the healthy men and animals were requisitioned, leaving only the women, children and elderly to fend for themselves. This was except for the German lion tamer whose presence, along with his cats, haunted the villagers below. Up on the hills the German and Joséphine, a recently widowed woman, discovered and indulged in their primal attraction to each other, however, danger wasn’t far away. In 2017 Lise chooses this location so she can focus on herself and reconnect with nature. All she wants to do is meditate, paint, and take in the beauty she sees in her surroundings. Franck however is a film producer and feels like he should be reachable at all times, so immediately struggles at the thought of complete isolation. He is so reliant on his technology that he goes to the next town in search for signal, or any form of communication with the modern world. To Lise the isolation was perfect; to Franck it was hell. This is until Franck gets chosen by a wild dog he names Alpha, who is half dog, half wolf. Alpha obeys his every word and seems to know what Franck wants him to do. It is Alpha who reconnects him with nature and introduces him to its sinister and savage side.
Nature, as I’ve mentioned before, is one of my favourite themes, especially when it has such an immersive and domineering quality as it does in this book. The landscape is described as being so picturesque and that you can see for miles; no connection to the modern world in sight. Some characters, like Lise, are escaping to the solitude of nature; some are escaping from the brutality of nature. Nature appears to have contagious animalist qualities that infect those who are in it, which consequently makes them wild, for example Franck rediscovering his love of meat, and his savage revenge plot. Along with nature comes both an abundance of sound and silence. Sounds come from the big cats roaring through the night, or the circle of life happening in the darkness of the shadows. Silence comes from the lack of industrialisation, and human connection. The silence to the villagers was a constant reminder of the men they have lost to the war, to Lise it was perfect for her mediation; to Franck it meant complete isolation.
Wild Dog immerses us deep within nature, a beautiful vastness of space but with hidden oppressive danger. The writing is rich and beautiful, albeit slightly repetitive, with long descriptions of the French hills and of human nature. The main take away from the book however is the duality within us; there is a thin line between man and beast.