Fifteen Dogs, by André Alexis, is probably one of the most intelligent, thought-provoking and quirky books that I have read so far this year. From doing some online research, I can see that opinions about the book are divided, but what is interesting is that everyone has SOMETHING to say about it, and I think that that is the mark of a truly good book!
The premise of the book is that two gods, Hermes and Apollo, are having a discussion over drinks one night, about what would happen if dogs were granted human intelligence, and if they would die happy or unhappy in this way. They decide to bet a wager on it, and grant human intelligence to the lives of fifteen dogs who are spending the night in a particular veterinary clinic. The book then follows the dogs, through the eyes of the gods, to see what they do with this intelligence, and to find out which one of the gods will win the bet.
The dogs, now armed with intelligence of humans, show a whole range of new ideas. There are the leaders and the followers, there are the poets and artists, the sportsmen, the innocent and the bullies. A lot of the confrontation between the dogs, for the entire book, stems from their difficulties and puzzlement over language. With the intelligence has come a new type of language that is only accessible to these fifteen dogs. For the poet, Prince (a mutt), this amazing new language is a gift and he starts creating wonderful poems which he recites (to the grief of some of the other dogs). For others, they only wish to revert back to the simplicity and animal characteristics of real dogs, and want nothing to do with the new language and new way of life. For a couple others - Majnoun (a black poodle) and Benjy (a beagle) - it is extremely important for them to learn the language of humans, in this case, English, as the book is set in Toronto. There are some very comical moments in the book as the dogs reveal to their owners that they can speak!
I do not wish to give any spoilers as to which god won the bet, or what happened in the end, in the life of each dog. However there are a couple of points worth mentioning. Firstly, the poems that occur throughout are a very fascinating aspect of the book, which I didn't realise fully while reading the book, until I got to the end and read the after note. There are fifteen poems in the book - short, only about one stanza long - one written for each dog. The poems are written based on an idea by Francois Caradec; that is that the language in the poems could be understandable for both humans and animals. For this to happen, the name of each dog is heard in each poem, but only when the poem is said aloud - it is not legible. As an example, here is a line taken from the last poem in the book:
'Agha Thanatos' or just plain 'Death?'
When this line is spoken aloud, one can hear the name 'Agatha', which is the name of a Labrador in the book. When I discovered this idea, I was so excited by it and went through all fifteen poems in the book, looking for the name of each dog, which was, at times, very difficult to find without speaking aloud very slowly, every syllable! I find this idea amazing, and wonder how much of our language my dog can actually understand, if I have often inadvertently said her name in my speech...
Secondly, the issue of hierarchy in the book is very stark. There is a 'natural' hierarchy among the pack of dogs in the beginning, but this gets obscured and questioned as the idea of leadership comes into play. It is also interesting that the dogs who make lives with human families pick up on hierarchies that are seemingly unknown to the humans. It is even funny that, to the dog at least, the man of the household is at the top of the pack, just by the way that he acts within the household, with the dog coming second, above the woman! Although, perhaps we humans are kidding ourselves when we imagine that our place in the family falls above the dog - we all know that once a dog enters your life, they are the MOST important!
André Alexis, a native of Trinidad but having grown up in Canada, has created a wonderful novel here. I think it is one that might be especially enjoyed by dog lovers like myself, but not only! His writing is poignant, emotional, personal and intelligent, and he offers us a glimpse into a new world in a very real way. I would highly recommend giving this book a read.
Labels: Culture
