Reviews

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

firstbornofgwyn's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

oli_chip's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

chaydata's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Incredible. I don't think I've ever cried so much - for a variety of reasons. I have so much to say... I'm sorry but this is a long review, with a lot of personal aspects involved.

First, some personal context points. I listened to the audiobook. I have been vegan about a year and a half. And in the last three days I lost and found a beloved pet cat. All of this has some influence on how I took in the story. 

About audiobook vs reading the book: There were some parts where I suspect things like paragraph breaks and page layout would have made things clearer. But I've also read reviews that this book has a confusing narrative. It switches perspective quickly, and there's randomly poetry commentary about what is happening. It's strange, but I enjoyed it. There are also a variety of strongly accented characters, and I wonder if it is easier to understand via audiobook or reading off the page. It was enjoyable to hear them read in what I assume is an accurate accent. 

About my cat: Dolly snuck outside three days ago without us noticing, and it was not until yesterday evening that I was able to find her. There was a lot of emotion and it was hard to focus on work. I posted to about five different online systems, put up posters, delivered flyers, talked with neighbours, and searched over and over (and coordinated friends who helped). Sorry, I should get on with the book review. But all this to say, I guess, that I felt from my experience and this book that our relationships with animals are surprisingly significant - we put a lot of time and energy into them, and they can really cause a kerfuffle when things happen. 

Before I get to my long vegan ramble... I wanted to reiterate my thoughts that this book is a lot about perspectives, in a cold kind of mathematical interest way. Snitter sees the natural world as unnatural (thinking humans replaced natural houses and streets with wild vegetation). They thought the butcher staff were animal experimenters because of their white coats. Snitter thought he had some superpower when they were able to steal chickens - when it was really a ridiculous coincidence that caused it. I guess the moral in a general sense is to consider the assumptions of ourselves and others, and broaden our knowledge and understanding.

Of course there's also a lot of commentary about politics and sensationalist news stories. It feels cliche but it never gets old, and I think it's a message still relevant today. What if we all had a better understanding of bias and perspectives in news and media? I'm glad I was taught about this in high school. Through these flawed systems we still need to be able to think critically and come to the truth and positive solutions.

About a vegan perspective of this book: I don't think it's a "vegan" book per-se, and I could find no evidence of Richard Adams being vegan. But he does seem to be revered by vegans and vegan organizations online as an "animal rights activist", which seems fair. Of course this book deals with experiments on animals, and it takes a critical look at this practice specifically, particularly frivolous testing. It's more about how these systems work, and it inspired me to do at least a little more research about it. It seems there is a lot of frivolous testing that is done frankly for producers to cover their asses from a legal perspective. And perhaps animal testing is still prevalent because "we've always done it this way" - it's expected and done without question, to some extent, and that is a problem. But luckily cosmetics testing on animals is being reduced (I think it was recently banned in Canada?), and I think there's increasing demand for products not tested on animals. There are a lot of materials known to be safe, so no need for additional testing, and newer technologies offering alternatives to testing on animals. Medical testing is another whole thing, and I think it also should have more transparency and critical evaluation. "The Beagle Alliance" is one organization involved with this, I would like to learn more and. But overall I must admit I'm fairly ignorant in this area and still interested in learning more about what we can do for positive change. I look for products that are not tested on animals (like from The Body Shop). But I'm sure medications I'm on were tested on animals at some point - to which I cite the "as far as practical" part of the vegan society's definition:

"Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

Besides animal testing, there are no vegan characters as far as I can tell, and there are brutal scenes of hunting and eating all kinds of meat. But overall there are often philosophical considerations about animal rights, and it's really refreshing to read, as someone who cares. I think most of us do care, but haven't found ways to change our lifestyles to match our beliefs. Going vegan was a majorly fulfilling thing to do, with that in mind. From my perspective, not a sacrifice, but such a relief and a joy to learn that I can live my life in a way that rejects unnecessary suffering and killing, and helps shift the world in a better direction (supply and demand).

“It’s time people started thinking of Man as one of a number of species inhabiting the planet; and if he’s the cleverest, that merely gives him more responsibility for seeing that the rest can lead proper, natural lives.”

There are a lot of great quotes... If you'll indulge me one more, this one section hit me: 

Rowlf: I hate all humans, I hate them!
 Snitter: Perhaps they don't really know any more than we do. Perhaps even humans have their troubles.
 R: Don't be so damn silly!
 S: I am silly. But they never look happy, do they? Not like, well, not like a chaffinch or a puppy. Perhaps they don't know what they're doing any more than we do. Perhaps they do bad things to each other, not just us.
 R: What I'm saying is, that they run the world for themselves. They don't care what they do to us. They just make use of us for their own convenience. It's a bad - [world for animals]
 S: I wish you'd stop saying that!. 

You can't help but agree with both of them, too some degree! The book is a great achievement of characters to be able to convey these two perspectives and have them side by side. 

Spoilers for the whole rest of this review. Please stop now if you haven't read the book.

I loved, at the end, the reunion between Snitter and his master. I was totally surprised since I was only familiar with hearing about the ending in the animated film version. Of course I had my own reunion with my lost cat in mind, and I ugly cried in that moment! Around the same time in the story, pur hearts are warmed to see that Rowlf was learning to love and be loved, to see that not all humans are evil, and he learned to trust. It was all really beautiful for the Finale, and like I said, totally unexpected for what was so far an incredibly bleak read (listen).

Digby Driver really went from being a loathsome villain to a better person in the end. I think the book showed that many people are driven by their own selfish perspectives, but it is possible to redeem yourself. He was still driven by the story in the end, but there was a little more. He did seem to actually care about the dogs and Snitter's master. He said so himself. Journalism CAN be for good.

Snitter is accepted in the end as-is. He and his master are broken, but still good. They will never physically be the same, but they can go on living a great life. I love this. It makes me think about how we should work to understand and improve rights for disabled / differently-abled people. In a way it seemed that Snitter's disability was also a strength. He had those visions and was able to see the world in a different way.

The lab doctor who is fired in the end - it was so satisfying to have him save that poor monkey. You have to wonder what the benefit was to the world, to carry out that experiment. At one point in the book, I think the question is asked generally to the lab, and they have some evasive general response. But then we learn the doctor's daughter is sick with some unknown illness, and we understand why he worked there in the first place. So this is a great thing: to have a complex character. We recognize there aren't easy answers. But at the same time we feel justified that the monkey was saved. Earlier when he starts to tear up about the experiments, and we see his superior's response of feeling awkward and wanting to ignore it... I think this is a critique of the philosophy of living by logic and disregarding our emotions. I think the book is saying, to some extent, that we should listen to and consider emotions. Because they may be showing us things that logic or science alone did not consider. At least that was my understanding.

Thanks so much for reading my review. I live for appreciating and discussing books like this, and to have others read and take in perspectives as well ❤ 

sledge_hm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

larbytheworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

cocainebear's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

richard adams is so silly for name dropping himself,

but I’m more than delighted that they got a happy ending

book_concierge's review

3.0

An allegorical tale of love and the struggle of good against evil. Two dogs escape from a laboratory using animals in their experiments. I know I read it when it first came out and I know I enjoyed it, but I don't really remember much about it, so can't give it more than 3*.

dromwald's review

4.0

I originally read this book way back in 1979 whilst I was at school and on the back of reading the better known Watership Down. This is much darker but unmistakably Adams. Well worth reading.

coinchantal's review

3.0

At times I got really lost in this book and that was mainly because of the accents of some people and animals. I could not read them well. The story was not easy to read because of the subject matter. A sad story overall. 

amaranthanicholson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0