Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog's Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog's many lives, but also a dog's-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man's best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.

The book is with me now. I read it eight years ago and I copy and post that review here.

This was an enjoyable read; however I had trouble with the concept of dogs as eager servants. I see them more as friends who become part of our pack, not, as the dog was in this story, seeing its own purpose as to serve humans. Phillip Pullman used this idea too in his stories (Northern Lights, etc) when the souls of people who were servient were dogs, while those who were more independent (rebels, leaders) were more likely to be cats and other animals. The story was a little too syrupy for my tastes also; everyone found their love and lived happily ever after. But I did like when the dog found the boy again, the boy was now an old man, demonstrating the number of years that had passed. Why did the dog have such disregard for cats? We had a cat who grew up with the neighbours’ dog. They adored each other, they slept together, played together, were always in each others company, they would seek out the other.
I would have liked to see the dog reborn as more different breeds of dogs. The dogs s/he was reborn as were very similar breeds. For example, why not a Chihuahua? I don’t like the distortion, but it could have been fun. On that comment, I would have enjoyed more humour, such as in “Dog on It” by Spencer Quinn, another story from the dog’s perspective. That story was so funny and I gave that a ten.
I did like that the dog was reborn as both male and female. The story was a sad indictment against puppy farms.
A comment about the scene where the boy is riding the horse and they come upon a snake. From this scene (so overdone by Hollywood) it seems to me that the author is more familiar with the Hollywood version of horse comes upon snake than what usually happens in real life. Having on several occasions come across a snake while out riding, I can say that not once did my horse rear or even shy at the snake. It ignored it, even the one coming towards us, raised up striking, after another horse in front had trodden on it. If fact the person who ran the riding stable where I rode once commented that horses don’t see snakes as threats. And I have read that horses are likely to be bitten on the nose because they reach down to examine it. Hardly a sign of terror.
An enjoyable read and I can understand why others might score it higher than me. Perhaps it’s just because I don’t have a dog that I didn’t.

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