Fifteen Dogs (Paperback)

Spry... Impressive... I loved this smart, exuberant fantasy from start to finish An elegant cross-breed of magical realism, moral fable, owner's handbook and philosophical treatise Intensely moving and heartbreaking in turn...An original idea brilliantly executed Alexis excels at sparking drama from collisions between the canine and the human. He is also well versed in Greek myth and legend, yet where Fifteen Dogs really succeeds is on an allegorical level. There are superficial similarities in approach to Animal Farm, but Alexis's dogs are drawn with greater depth than Orwell's menagerie and he goes beyond politics, using them to look at human issues of fulfilment, happiness, and love. These sensitive explorations help to make this startlingly original novel as thought-provoking as it is enjoyable. In sum, this is the dog's bollocks Thought-provoking and moving...a canine version of Lord of the Flies A powerful story about what it means to have consciousness, and the good and the bad that comes with it André Alexis has established himself as one of our preeminent voices Following his Rogers Writers' Trust-nominated Pastoral, protean novelist André Alexis returns to reclaim another almost-forgotten genre, the apologue (defined as an allegory in which animals adopt human consciousness.