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.