Book Summary and Reviews of Dogs and Monsters by Mark Haddon

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Cloggie Downunder

Insightful and thought-provoking
Dogs and Monsters is a collection of eight stories by prize-winning, bestselling British author, Mark Haddon.

The Mother’s Story: when a woman gives birth to a child that doesn’t look normal, her nobleman husband rejects the boy and summons her to witness his consultation with a clever engineer. He charges the man with devising a solution to the problem that doesn’t damage his noble reputation. The engineer’s guileless, well-meaning son disagrees with the cruel plan put forth by his weasely father, reminiscent of the mythological Minotaur’s situation, but is powerless to stop it. What suits the nobleman breaks his wife’s heart, but she never gives up, and the engineer’s son secretly aids her. Insightful and very moving. 5/5

The Bunker: nurse Nadine Pullman experiences a strange episode that might be due to contagious insanity, or an echo of the past, or a premonition of events to come: a transfer from this world to another where it seems war is being waged. This has taken others, including her uncle, but her husband says he has a solution. Will it work? Disturbing. 4/5

My Old School: from forty years on, a student of Frobisher House looks back on the time he was in boarding school when a new student arrived. A tale that demonstrates the almost limitless capacity of boarding school boys for breathtakingly vicious and inventive cruelty. Again, disturbing. 5/5
D.O.G.Z.: Ovid’s Actaeon tale is revisited, from the perspective of Actaeon himself – but Haddon then turns his attention to the hunting dogs – and includes famous dogs from fiction and history. 4/5

The Wilderness: after losing her brother to an aggressive cancer, Tegan is cycling the world when, on an isolated logging road, her wheel catches a rut and she vaults into the ravine. Broken, she lies with little chance of rescue until a dog and a potential monster come along. When she wakes in a remote compound bounded by razor wire, she wonders if it really is rescue. But Tegan is resourceful and determined. 4/5

The Temptation of Saint Anthony: the man lives in a ruin of a fort, clad in rags and depending on the charity of a nearby village for food. There are occasional oglers whom he discourages, and the Devil is relentless with his temptations – food, coin, women – he resists them all. But the Devil is getting quite inventive and, twice, he is almost fooled. It does cause him to reconsider this way of life. 5/5

The Quiet Limit of the World: when the goddess of dawn becomes enamoured with the young man, she asks her father to make him immortal – only she hasn’t really thought through the implications. Her gift is not appreciated, and there’s another catch. 4/5
St Brides Bay: at the wedding of her daughter, Carol thinks about life and friends and family. 4/5
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK.

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