petitepapier 's review for:

The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase, Seishū Hase

3.0

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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During highschool, I had to write an essay about certain texts we read in English. Since every text we read featured some character that died which lead another character to die, I decided to write about what I called 'The circle of death'. 

This book is basically like that. There was a point in which the dog sort of became like a grim reaper figure. I did not care for the first 2 characters, however from there the rest of the book finally began to be more likeable, which made it all the more depressing as the other characters all

died in the end, including the damn dog himself

.

I'm not sure I like this - it's like healing fiction, but

with no happy ending

. The characters are gritty, their stories complex and multi-faceted, but did they all have to

die? Can't someone please let the poor dog live, for heaven's sake.

Not a tear was shed, however a sense of pity was apparent as I read.