Fifteen Dogs

I am trying to read books by Canadian authors instead of American authors, so I found this, by André Alexis, on a list of award-winning books.

This book was weird and amusing and depressing and very creative. This is the story of 15 dogs who receive the gifts of consciousness and language from the two gods, Apollo and Hermes. These two gods want to know if consciousness and language would allow the dogs to live happily.

The 15 dogs are thus able to run away from the veterinary clinic and start a new life on their own, first as a pack, and then in the different contexts they encounter and choose. For example, some decide to live with other dogs, in a pack, while others decide to find humans who could take care of them. Every dog has a different character, a different way of understanding life, and different desires for freedom or hierarchy. There’s even a dog who discovers poetry! Some dogs are thoughtful, others are violent, some love their freedom, and a few just follow the crowd. The book follows these 15 dogs until their death, as well as the reactions of the two gods and their father, Zeus, who learns of their experiment and is not happy!

This book is fascinating and some people absolutely hate it because they say the author must not know anything about dogs. Other people loved it because it’s a really interesting reflection on language, happiness, consciousness, and free will. I liked it. I was shocked by some of the violence and some of the gods’ decisions, but I really enjoyed the poetic language of the book, some of the dogs’ thoughts about humans and life and death, and the author/narrator’s skills.