Fifteen Dogs
Registered by gypsysmom of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on 7/1/2020
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this book in a Little Free Library while I was dropping off a book. I enjoyed this Giller Prize winner very much when I read it. Here is what I said then:
"Seldom have I been so impressed by a Giller Prize winner as I have with this book. Perhaps Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden comes the closest as I certainly thought about that book for a long time after I read it. But Fifteen Dogs seems to me to be in a class by itself. Well done Andre Alexis.
The story is pretty simple or at least it seems simple on first encounter. The gods Hermes and Apollo are drinking in a tavern in Toronto and wonder what it would be like if animals had human intelligence. Apollo wagers a year's servitude that animals with human intelligence would be even more unhappy than humans. Hermes accepts the bet with the condition that if even one animal is happy at the end of its life then he wins the bet. They go to a veterinary clinic that is close and give the dogs that are there human intelligence. With this intelligence it is easy for the dogs to escape the clinic but three of the dogs stay close by so only twelve actually go out in a pack. From then on the dogs struggle with what the intelligence adds to their life as a dog. Some want their life to continue much as before but others want to take their intelligence and do something different. Prince, a mutt originally from Alberta, starts to compose and recite poetry. Majnoun, a black Standard Poodle, wants to use their new thoughts to explore. Atticus, the de facto pack leader who is a Neapolitan Mastiff, decides with his lieutenants Frick and Frack, Labrador Retrievers from the same litter, to get rid of all the dogs that don't want to return to their canine roots. Several dogs are killed and Majnoun is left for dead but he is found by a kind couple, Nira and Miguel, who nurse him back to health. Prince is spirited away by Hermes before he can be assaulted. Throughout the rest of the book all the dogs die and it looks like Apollo may win the bet. Prince, the poet, is the last of the fifteen dogs to die. Read the book to find out which of the gods wins!
Interactions between the dogs are interesting but, at least to me as a person who has had a number of dogs as close companions, it is in the interactions between the dogs and humans that Alexis really shines. Nira and Majnoun have a relationship that is so close they know how the other feels without having to speak a word. At one point another of the dogs from the pack, Benjy, comes to live with Nira, Miguel and Majnoun. Benjy, a Beagle, is a manipulative schemer and he soon has Miguel devoted to him. His personality will have you wondering whether your dog really likes you or is only pretending to in order to get the finer things in life. Prince is a loner but he is willing to spend some time with humans providing they don't hinder his activities. None of the dogs I have known have ever been so independent but this book gives me something to ponder about strays. I always thought they must have difficult lives but maybe they are happy going their own way.
The unexpected bonus in this book is the poetry. Small poems composed by the dogs are sprinkled throughout the book. Here is one:
Longing to be sprayed (the green snake
writhing in his master's hand),
back and forth into that stream--
jump, rinse: coat slick with soap.
All the poems are short and it is not hard to believe that they were composed by dogs as they have a point of view that is like a canine's. Of course, since this is fiction the poems have actually been written by humans. Only when I read the note at the back of the book did I realize that each poem, when read aloud, would have the name of one of the dogs within it. This is a genre of poetry invented by Francois Caradec, a French poet who lived from 1924 to 2008. For me, this discovery pushed the book from the good category into the truly great."
"Seldom have I been so impressed by a Giller Prize winner as I have with this book. Perhaps Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden comes the closest as I certainly thought about that book for a long time after I read it. But Fifteen Dogs seems to me to be in a class by itself. Well done Andre Alexis.
The story is pretty simple or at least it seems simple on first encounter. The gods Hermes and Apollo are drinking in a tavern in Toronto and wonder what it would be like if animals had human intelligence. Apollo wagers a year's servitude that animals with human intelligence would be even more unhappy than humans. Hermes accepts the bet with the condition that if even one animal is happy at the end of its life then he wins the bet. They go to a veterinary clinic that is close and give the dogs that are there human intelligence. With this intelligence it is easy for the dogs to escape the clinic but three of the dogs stay close by so only twelve actually go out in a pack. From then on the dogs struggle with what the intelligence adds to their life as a dog. Some want their life to continue much as before but others want to take their intelligence and do something different. Prince, a mutt originally from Alberta, starts to compose and recite poetry. Majnoun, a black Standard Poodle, wants to use their new thoughts to explore. Atticus, the de facto pack leader who is a Neapolitan Mastiff, decides with his lieutenants Frick and Frack, Labrador Retrievers from the same litter, to get rid of all the dogs that don't want to return to their canine roots. Several dogs are killed and Majnoun is left for dead but he is found by a kind couple, Nira and Miguel, who nurse him back to health. Prince is spirited away by Hermes before he can be assaulted. Throughout the rest of the book all the dogs die and it looks like Apollo may win the bet. Prince, the poet, is the last of the fifteen dogs to die. Read the book to find out which of the gods wins!
Interactions between the dogs are interesting but, at least to me as a person who has had a number of dogs as close companions, it is in the interactions between the dogs and humans that Alexis really shines. Nira and Majnoun have a relationship that is so close they know how the other feels without having to speak a word. At one point another of the dogs from the pack, Benjy, comes to live with Nira, Miguel and Majnoun. Benjy, a Beagle, is a manipulative schemer and he soon has Miguel devoted to him. His personality will have you wondering whether your dog really likes you or is only pretending to in order to get the finer things in life. Prince is a loner but he is willing to spend some time with humans providing they don't hinder his activities. None of the dogs I have known have ever been so independent but this book gives me something to ponder about strays. I always thought they must have difficult lives but maybe they are happy going their own way.
The unexpected bonus in this book is the poetry. Small poems composed by the dogs are sprinkled throughout the book. Here is one:
Longing to be sprayed (the green snake
writhing in his master's hand),
back and forth into that stream--
jump, rinse: coat slick with soap.
All the poems are short and it is not hard to believe that they were composed by dogs as they have a point of view that is like a canine's. Of course, since this is fiction the poems have actually been written by humans. Only when I read the note at the back of the book did I realize that each poem, when read aloud, would have the name of one of the dogs within it. This is a genre of poetry invented by Francois Caradec, a French poet who lived from 1924 to 2008. For me, this discovery pushed the book from the good category into the truly great."
Journal Entry 2 by gypsysmom at Little Free Library in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Released 3 yrs ago (7/1/2020 UTC) at Little Free Library in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
HAPPY CANADA DAY! I left this book in a free library which is at 528 Manchester Blvd. S. This release is for the 2020 Canada Days Release Challenge. The special theme for this year's challenge is books by authors who were not born in Canada but make (or made) their home here. Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Ottawa ON and now lives in Toronto ON (where this book is set).
This release also works for hyphen8's Seeking Septads Release Challenge for the 7 letter word "Fifteen".
When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.
