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Book Review of Dogsbody

Dogsbody
Dogsbody
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genres: Children's Books, Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
althea avatar reviewed on + 774 more book reviews


I liked the last Diana Wynne Jones books I read so much that I was eager to pick this one up, especially since it had won some award or other (checking) OK, it was an ALA Notable Book and Commended by the Carnegie Medal. Fine. However, unlike many of Wynne Jones stories, I felt that this was definitely a kids book.. I would recommend that any small child who has a dog read it for the insights into how a pet dog thinks. But I didnt really get into it that much.
The story is that Sirius, the Dog Star, is condemned by a court of his fellow luminaries for an alleged crime, and is sentenced to live out his life in the body of a dog, here on earth. Hes born into the form of a puppy which gets adopted by a young Irish girl, Kathleen, and becomes torn between helping her in her bad home situation and remembering/trying to accomplish the quest that has been assigned to him on earth, to find a lost object of power and redeem himself in the view of his peers.
As I said, its very effective in recreating the thought processes of a dog, but the story wasnt really complex or sophisticated enough to find satisfying, for me.