Fifteen Dogs

By turns meditative and devastating, charming and strange, Fifteen Dogs shows you can teach an old genre new tricks.. "I wonder," said Hermes, "what it would be like if animals had human intelligence." "I'll wager a year's servitude," answered Apollo, "that animals - any animal you like - would be even more unhappy than humans are if they were given human intelligence." And so it begins: a bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto veterinary clinic. Wily Benjy moves from home to home, Prince becomes a poet, and Majnoun forges a relationship with a kind couple that stops even the Fates in their tracks. The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their newly unfamiliar world, as they become divided among themselves, as each struggles with new thoughts and feelings. André Alexis' contemporary take on the apologue offers an utterly compelling and affecting look at the beauty and perils of human consciousness. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old dog ways, and those who embrace the change

""many here among us who think life is but a joke" - Bob Dylan" according to dennis wentraub. Spoiler alert: You will have a tear in your eye by the end of this metaphysical fantasy- more questions than answers, and pets bewildered by your renewed affection. Warning: this book is guaranteed to detonate arguments in book clubs and college dorms. Decades my have past since you read Greek mythology, but recall that their gods were capricious, whimsical, often meddling with the fates of earthly creatures, but also occasionally beneficentso don't be surprised when you next drop into your favorite watering hole - here, The Wheat Sheaf Tavern at King and Bathurst (Toronto) - if your bearded bar mate downing the suds is really on a . "Of Dogs and Poetry" according to Guillaume Boisset. When reviewing a book such as this one, in which dogs are given human-like powers and intellect, I find it interesting to compare 15 Dogs to Jack London's books, in which dogs, also Canadian ones to boot, are given or at least attributed similar capabilities. Of course for Alexis' Dogs the powers are divinely granted whereas for London's the powers are more primeval, more Mother-Natural if we will, but the comparison is still of value. Which dogs come out ahead? Survival in winter: London's would seem to do better than Alexis', although ultimately both would need humans. Ability to deal with an aggressive man: Alexis' can dodge a do. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in a few days First amazon book review but felt compelled after reading this book in just a few days. It is not a heavy book and the plot is clear, humorous, and deeply contemplative. There was something captivating about taking such a unique, fresh perspective as dogs with minds fable. What happens when dogs gain human intelligence one sudden moment in their lives? What transgresses is a philosophical awakening. I appreciated that each animal "gifted" with intelligence responds to their new consciousness so differently each living threads of life through the streets of Toronto.Also, this book is printed BEAUTIFULLY. The paper is thick, the Alber