Dog lovers have always known that dogs are smart, loving animals that are deeply dedicated to "their humans." Author W. Bruce Cameron has taken this data and added a singular twist that builds thereon - a completely unique that imagines one dog, who lives several dog lives, and remembers each life, and therefore the lessons learned therein life.
A Dog's Purpose opens with a puppy describing his life. It soon becomes clear that the puppy, along side his three siblings and his mother, are feral. Eventually the puppy, along side his mother and one brother, are captured by a dog rescue. they're placed during a backyard with many other dogs and while the puppy, who is soon named Toby, adjusts well, his mother can't handle the human interaction and manages to flee . Toby grows, makes friends and is eventually reunited together with his sister. But trouble comes when the rescue is shutdown by the authorities for having too many dogs. Toby soon finds himself during a bad situation...
When Toby's life involves an end, he's reincarnated as a gorgeous retriever . Now the puppy is a component of a healthy litter, kept with a breeder. When he sees other puppies, from other litters, being adopted and disappearing into the good beyond outside the yard, he wants to travel . He remembers watching his mother from his first life open the door handle, and he's employed to repeat her. It works and he escapes from the breeder and wanders around until he's scooped up by a kindly man who takes him for a ride in his car. Unfortunately, the person stops at a bar and leaves the puppy in his hot car. once more the puppy is rescued, this point by a lady who breaks the window just in time before heat stroke kills the dog. She takes the puppy home to her young son, and this is often where the majority of the story is - between "Bailey" the dog and "Boy."
After "Boy," Bailey comes back a couple of more times - once as a K-9 Search and Rescue German shepherd and again as a black Lab. His final reincarnation because the Lab brings him full circle with a really satisfying conclusion to the story.
Told from the dog's point of view, A Dog's Purpose may be a delightful story that immediately drew me in and kept me reading until the last page was turned. The author features a true gift of capturing the thoughts of a dog and it truly felt as if the dog was sharing his life with me. Toby/Bailey/Ellie/Buddy was a loving dog who knew that his purpose was to try to to what his human wanted/needed him to try to to , whether that was save a toddler from drowning, or choose a car ride to form a boy happy. Like every dog, this dog picked up words - "kennel," "bed," "sleep," etc. and basic concepts like "Merry Christmas" that to him meant people coming to the house. He would be sitting at the feet of his owner and devour a word from the humans talking - for instance , his name - and obtain all excited, not knowing what the remainder of the conversation was about. The author did include a minimum amount of dialogue from the humans to offer readers a touch of what was happening, but even without that assistance, it wasn't hard to follow. Much of what the dog did was devour on emotions of these people around him - sensing joy, fear, pain - and reacting accordingly. The literary genre definitely worked quite well, and that i anticipate to diving into the sequel, A Dog's Journey.
Quill says: there is a reason Hollywood came calling and made a movie supported this book! If you're keen on dogs, do yourself a favor and skim A Dog's Purpose.
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