Fifteen Dogs

I love the idea of this book and there was a lot in it that was beautiful. I'm torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars because I think it was very moving but it ultimately undermined its own premise so I think I have to give it 3.

I love the central idea of this book. The gods Hermes and Apollo have a bet over whether animals could be happy with human intelligence so they give 15 dogs the same intelligence as humans and if just one of them dies happy Hermes will win.

This idea is so fun to me because it can be used to explore the differences between the ways that humans and non-human animals experience the world and whether it's true that ignorance is bliss, i.e., that not having a sense of mortality or temporality does make animals happier. Unfortunately I feel like this book fails to deliver on those ideas. For one thing, the dogs in the book act on behaviours that have been shown not to be the innate nature of dogs. They follow the model of alpha and beta wolves which has been disavowed by even the first scientist to describe the theory.

This is a problem because the book is trying to make a point about humanity's capacity for happiness by comparing our consciousness to that of dogs so it just doesn't work when you're aware that the mode of behaviour being presented for dogs is not at all how they actually behave. How can we make meaningful conclusions about how the dogs have been affected by their newfound intelligence when their baseline is not at all accurate? There is so much discussion in this book, for example, about dominance and "stronger" dogs mounting "weaker" dogs to prove their place in the hierarchy and that's just not how they do.

Also, there are 15 dogs given human intelligence, a mix of male and female, yet the only dogs whose point of view we see are male. The female dogs are all peripheral and die horribly. It's especially disappointing since we get a lot of discussion from the male dogs perspective of what it's like to chase a bitch in heat and even poetry about it. I would also be interested in the perspective of what it's like to be a bitch in heat but alas.

Overall I think this book is a really good idea with poor execution but some really beautiful passages that elevate it above the average.

If you read this as fantasy or sci-fi, or about dogs, you're doing it wrong. It's about what all serious fiction is about; something we call the human condition, or don't people use that phrase any more?

It's not only on the internet that no one knows you're a dog. We all are plagued with separate dog-selves as we try and negotiate relationships and communicate somehow with others. It's unsafe to show too much of yourself but you have to try or suffer the pain of isolation. I'm already showing too much of myself in this review.

The Gods comport themselves as frat boys. In return for their immortality, they get inconsequentiality. In our own denial of death we lead trivial lives.

Also, it's funny--sometimes too on point, e.g. when Atticus comes up with the ontological proof (though I can see how it would have been a darling I'd have difficulty killing). It's like Lord of the Flies, only humorous. This doesn't mean you won't encounter a lot of cruelty, violence, suffering, and heartbreak--sometimes almost too much.

I read (most of) this book in a single day while others, some started months ago, remain unfinished.