Fifteen Dogs

Author: André Alexis

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $19.99 AUD
  • : 9781781255582
  • : Serpent's Tail Limited
  • : Serpent's Tail Limited
  • :
  • : 0.2
  • : November 2015
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 13mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : August 2017
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : AndrĂ© Alexis
  • :
  • : Paperback
  • : Main
  • :
  • : English
  • : 813/.54
  • :
  • :
  • : 192
  • : FA
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9781781255582
9781781255582

Description

Winner of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize


Finalist for the 2015 Toronto Book Awards


Winner of the 2015 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize


" Alexis] devises an inventive romp through the nature of humanity in this beautiful, entertaining read ... A clever exploration of our essence, communication, and how our societies are organized." - Kirkus Reviews

"This might be the best set-up of the spring." - The Globe & Mail


 


"Andre Alexis has established himself as one of our preeminent voices." - Toronto Star


-- I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.
-- I'll wager a year's servitude, answered Apollo, that animals - any animal you like - would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they were given human intelligence.


And so it begins: a bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto vet-erinary clinic. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old 'dog' ways, and those who embrace the change. The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their newly unfamiliar world, as they become divided among themselves, as each struggles with new thoughts and feelings. Wily Benjy moves from home to home, Prince becomes a poet, and Majnoun forges a relationship with a kind couple that stops even the Fates in their tracks.


Andre Alexis's contemporary take on the apologue offers an utterly compelling and affecting look at the beauty and perils of human consciousness. By turns meditative and devastating, charming and strange, Fifteen Dogs shows you can teach an old genre new tricks.


Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other previous books include Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf and, most recently, Pastoral, which was also nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and was named a Globe and Mail Top 100 book of 2014.

Promotion info

A pack of dogs are granted the power of human thought - but what will it do to them? A surprising and insightful look at the beauty and perils of consciousness.

Reviews

Spry... Impressive... I loved this smart, exuberant fantasy from start to finish -- Jonathan Gibbs * Guardian * An elegant cross-breed of magical realism, moral fable, owner's handbook and philosophical treatise -- Frances Wilson * New Statesman Books of the Year * 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 -- Peter Carty * Independent * Thought-provoking and moving...a canine version of Lord of the Flies * Good Housekeeping * Intensely moving and heartbreaking in turn...An original idea brilliantly executed * The Lady * A powerful story about what it means to have consciousness, and the good and the bad that comes with it * CBC Books Spring Preview * Andre Alexis has established himself as one of our preeminent voices * Toronto Star * Following his Rogers Writers' Trust-nominated Pastoral, protean novelist Andre Alexis returns to reclaim another almost-forgotten genre, the apologue (defined as an allegory in which animals adopt human consciousness. * Quill & Quire's Spring Preview *

Author description

Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His previous books include Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, and, most recently, Pastoral, which was also nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.