She Treads Softly: Dogs and Monsters

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Dogs and Monsters

Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Mark Haddon
10/15/24; 288 pages
Doubleday

Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Mark Haddon is an exceptional, very highly recommended collection of eight stories that utilize Greek myths, dystopian concepts, and human and animal behavior in the narratives. This is the best short story collection I've read in years. The writing is superb in every single story included in the imaginative collection. The keen insight and empathy into the circumstances and spirit of the human condition presented make every story mesmerizing and compelling.

The stories include:
The Mother's Story: a narrative following the myth of Pasiphae and Asterion, or the Minotaur; briefly touches on Icarus too.
The Bunker: a short post-apocalyptic tale.
My Old School: a contemporary narrative featuring the bullying and cruelty that can be found among adolescents, and the aftermath.
D.O.G.Z.: a recounting of the myth of Acteon, who was turned into a stag after glimpsing the naked goddess Diana.
The Wilderness: a science fiction someone is doing extreme cycling through the wilderness and crashes; genetic engineering
The Temptation of St. Anthony: a hermit who has dedicated his life to God.
The Quiet Limit of the World: a re-imagining of the immortal love story of Tithonus and Eos, the goddess of Dawn.
St. Brides Bay: written to accompany Virginia Woolf's short story, "The Mark on the Wall." (This was the only story that I didn't love.)

Those who appreciate literary short stories (or literary stories period), should absolutely read Dogs and Monsters. It was a pleasure to read this extraordinary collection. Thanks to Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.