Inspired Read: Fifteen Dogs

” 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.” – Fifteen Dogs

Fifteen Dogs is a story about…well…fifteen dogs, who are given human consciousness and language, after the gods Hermes & Apollo make a drunken bet. For Hermes to win the bet, a dog must die happy. And so, on an ordinary night at a veterinary clinic in Toronto, fifteen dogs are changed forever, suddenly capable of complex thought. Almost immediately, the pack is divided between those much happier to remain a ‘dog’, and those who completely embrace the change. Through each of their journeys, we catch a glimpse of the beauty and peril of having human consciousness. Andre Alexis successfully weaves a very strange, yet compelling story that provides a new way to look at the ability to find happiness.

At first, there’s a lot of dogs to keep straight but eventually, the story focuses on just a few: Majnoun, a black poodle…Benjy the Beagle…and most compellingly, Prince, a friendly mutt turned poet. Fifteen Dogs is, to put it quite simply, remarkable. The premise is quirky but in the end extremely charming and philosophical. The questions at the heart of the book are some of the most important we could ask like: What does it mean to be truly alive – to love, to hurt, to think, to feel, to communicate, to resist, to lead?
I thought this was a wonderful book. And you don’t have to be a dog-lover to enjoy it but if you are…grab a tissue box because, as you can imagine, you will have to endure fifteen deaths before the book’s end.

Happy Reading Everyone xo