deathbedxcv 's review for:

Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov

5.0

dark funny lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

“There is absolutely no necessity to learn how to read; meat smells a mile off, anyway […] Out of the forty thousand or so Moscow dogs, only a total idiot won’t know how to read the word ‘sausage.’”

‘Heart of a Dog’ is the second novel I’ve read by Mikhail Bulgakov. And like ‘The Master and Margarita,’ it did not disappoint. It follows the story of a stray dog who gets his pituitary gland and testes transplanted with a criminal’s by Moscow scientist Dr. Philip Philippovich Preobrazhensky. Over the course of the story, the dog becomes more and more human until he finally becomes a man named Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov. The story is extremely funny and dark at times. It is definitely a satire of the bourgeoisie and how classes are treated differently. At one point Sharikov finds employment disposing of a dog’s worst enemy, and starts expounding Engels.

Trigger warning though, there is a scene involving attempted sexual assault, but it is very short. 

But please read the book it’s very funny.