You’ll Weep Following A Dog’s Purpose

You’ll Weep Following A Dog’s PurposeA Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
Published by Pan Australia
Published on July 1st 2010
Pages: 333
Format: eBook
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4 Stars

All dogs go to heaven... unless they have unfinished business here on earth...

Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog.

But this new life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders – will he ever find his purpose?

Touching, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog's Purpose is not only the story of a dog's many lives, but also a dog's-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds that hold us all together, man and man's best friend alike. The story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on Earth is born with a purpose.

Warning: Don’t read this book unless you are prepared for all the feels. I don’t even consider myself a ‘dog’ person and I wept several times through this.

SUMMARY

A dog is born. He lives. He dies. He is reborn. Again. And again. Along the way he learns what his true purpose is.

PLOT

The dog goes by several names in this book, but he spends the longest as Bailey, so we’ll call him Bailey. First he’s a feral puppy who winds up in an illegal shelter. Then he’s a golden retriever and bonds instantly with ‘his boy’, Ethan, who’s about eight at the time and goes through a whole bunch of adventures with Bailey. Then he’s a German Shepherd rescue bitch called Ellie, who works hard and learns to find and save people. Then he’s a black Labrador, and everything he’s learned in his previous lives leads him back to Ethan, now an old man.

Stop crying. I did warn you.

CHARACTERS

Bailey/Toby/Ellie/Buddy is our star, the dog who lives four lives and finds meaning and purpose in all of them. Ethan is Bailey’s first real owner, whose love and affection shines through the pages of the book. If there ever was a man/dog BFF ship, it’s those two. Through Bailey’s eyes and limited understanding of the world (and also his ability to interpret everything to be about him, of course) we see Ethan’s parents divorce, find out a neighbourhood bully killed a neighbourhood dog, see couples get married and start families all without Bailey explicitly telling us so. Reborn as Ellie, she has two owners in her time – a depressed widowed police officer who is wounded on the job and a female cop who wants the challenge of working with Ellie but might not be up to it. And Ellie’s an amazing recue dog. I cried when she jumped into a storm drain to rescue a lost kid because I thought yeah, she’s learned her purpose, she’s gonna die now. And then finally as Buddy, Bailey finds his way back to Ethan and puts everything he’s learned in his life to use to make ‘his boy’ happy.

WRITING

I couldn’t get over how fantastic the dog’s voice was. Narration by a dog! Not entirely original, no, but the voice and style really blew me away. Of course cats are useless, Bailey. Of course when your owners get married everyone’s really there to watch you walk down the aisle with the rings. You’re the star, the centre of their world. Of course you are, you ridiculous doodle dog. I couldn’t get over the narrative voice. Also, Josh Gad is voicing Bailey in the film. JOSH GAD. You know he’s going to be AMAZING.

Some choice quotes:

“Dogs have important jobs, like barking when the doorbell rings, but cats have no function in a house whatsoever.”

“Humans were capable of so many amazing things, but too often they just sat making words, not doing anything.”

“This was, I decided, my purpose as a dog, to comfort the boy whenever he needed me.”

PACING

It was easy to tell when the dog’s life was winding up and at the end of each death I had to put the book down and have a big, chest-heaving, sobbing, ugly cry. Apart from that the pace was good – often in the early times of Bailey’s life, when he was still a puppy and before he had met his new owners, the pace would drop a bit because of the limited interactions, but apart from that, I found the pace easy going, not breakneck or anything, just a pleasant journey with an old friend.

OVERALL

Oh my god just read this book.

I suspect the film will have significant differences because it’s translating a written medium into an audio/visual medium. That being said, the book was wonderful and I suspect the film will be too, based on this beautiful trailer.

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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