Book Discussion: 15 dogs by Andre Alexis

Fifteen Whitevalians got together on Saturday, April 16, 7 PM around a bowl of chili, bread cheese and delicious desserts (thank you Judy and Danielle) to discuss Fifteen Dogs, a book by Andre Alexis where 15 dogs are given human intelligence and understanding of language by two bored Greek gods, Hermes and Appolo.

We discussed what the book brought to our knowledge of our pets, how well the hierarchical dog society was described, as well as the dogs's way to relate to their environment, all about smells and food, and we agreed that this was just a superficial aspect of a book which really looks into human behaviour and what constitutes happiness.

The premise that one of the god would win if the dogs died happy seemed wrong to us, as happiness is not a state but fleeting moment, and happiness at the time of death does not mean automatically that the life as a whole has been happy. Before receiving human intelligence, the dogs were maybe not happy with the status quo but they felt secure, whether they were with a master or in a pack. The dogs did not become happier when they received "understanding" and became aware of the unfairness of their condition. Some tried to go back to the old ways, some tried to adapt, other became rebels, and one became an artist.

Atticus, the leader, wanted the pack to become independent from humans and they survived by hiding and scavenging in a park by Lake Ontario. Atticus did not like the changes brought by the gods and he eliminated one by one the dissidents. Benny, the cunning beagle, survived by manipulating humans and dogs alike, until he met a horrible fate, abandoned in a locked house and dying of starvation. However, two of the dogs might have died happy, Prince by remembering one last time the boy who owned him, Kim, and Majnoun (a name which means in Persan "Crazy for love"), by finding a true soulmate in Nira, the human who treated him as an equal. Is happiness loving someone and being loved, as it is suggested in the last sentence of the book?

Is it a book about dogs, is it a book about humans, is it a book about gods? We all found it a clever and humorous book, with some difficult passages as most of the 15 dogs meet a violent death.  Is it a book about the arrogance of humans, who think themselves superior to all the other species. Are we that different from dogs?

A new dog poem: Abby

Written by Alison Kahn

Running, Master and I
Through trees, down hills
to water - I splash
Others, like me, run free.
So much to do, what bliss this is...
Leaving so soon?
Wait, I must tell the Lab
before I go,
that I'll be back tomorrow.