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A review by carysistrying
Alpha Dog by Jennifer Ziegler
5.0
I don’t usually write reviews for books, but this book came to me at a perfect time in my life. For many reasons.
I’m sat here writing this review in the middle of the night because mental health is fun, sleep doesn’t seem to want to happen tonight so here we are. It is such a good job I have a day off tomorrow.
Before I write this review I just want to warnpeople, this book should contain a trigger warning, as there is a specific word that is used frequently throughout the book to describe the dog, I won’t write it here, that is completely inappropriate and upsetting. However I am aware that this book was written well over 10 years ago and back then the word wasn’t as problematic. That aside this book is insanely incredible.
The last few books I have been reading were incredibly dark, disturbing and quite frankly scary. Tonight I just couldn’t sleep, and I needed to read something, but wasn’t in the right state of mind to pick something up that was quite dark. So I decided to pick up this book, I am such an animal lover, especially dogs and I had heard that this, unlike a lot of dog books wasn’t a sad one. Whilst there are moments of deep emotion and somewhat sadness, it’s such an uplifting book.
If you’re in quite a low mood, this book is a perfect one to pick up. Easy to read, I demolished it in about five or so hours, and regardless of if you love dogs or animals, it’s just such an empowering piece of work.
I don’t want to put any spoilers here, so this is why this review is pretty much a stream of consciousness in terms of my brain right now. As I said earlier, got to love mental health.
However, I fear that my flatmates may be very angry with me tomorrow, as I was full belly laughing at many moments within this book. I don’t think I have laughed out loud so much in such a long time, and by laughing I mean pretty much on the floor clutching my stomach. (No exaggeration here)
Seamus, the dog is so so endearing, you have got to love him. And I absolutely adore all of the characters within this book, I don’t necessarily like them all, the parents, without spoiling anything, however every character has personality, is three-dimensional. They are all so well developed.
Katie‘s growth, so so empowering especially for young people, I absolutely adore her as a character because she is so flawed, so real, not like the typical two-dimensional girls you get in a lot of YA novels.
Not only the characters though, the Author has such a way with words, her descriptions are incredibly vivid, and I felt like I was Katie at many moments. Cringing with secondhand embarrassment, whilst also chuckling.
To end this very very rambly and long review... This book came to me at a perfect moment, not just because of my low mood this evening, but for a more amusing one. As a student, studying in a shared environment. This has very much put me off from ever owning a dog whilst trying to study a degree. It’s quite scary really, I have honestly been pondering how my life would change if I had a dog in it, mostly for the positive reasons, and this book has definitely put me off. People don’t realise how much work a dog really is, and I think we would all love to come to the rescue of a dog in need. But maybe sometimes, we choose a dog for selfish reasons. On a serious note, whilst I would so so love one, I will never get one irresponsibly.
Maybe one day, when my life is a bit more stable, I will have my own forever friend... hopefully nowhere near as chaotic as Seamus.
I’m sat here writing this review in the middle of the night because mental health is fun, sleep doesn’t seem to want to happen tonight so here we are. It is such a good job I have a day off tomorrow.
Before I write this review I just want to warnpeople, this book should contain a trigger warning, as there is a specific word that is used frequently throughout the book to describe the dog, I won’t write it here, that is completely inappropriate and upsetting. However I am aware that this book was written well over 10 years ago and back then the word wasn’t as problematic. That aside this book is insanely incredible.
The last few books I have been reading were incredibly dark, disturbing and quite frankly scary. Tonight I just couldn’t sleep, and I needed to read something, but wasn’t in the right state of mind to pick something up that was quite dark. So I decided to pick up this book, I am such an animal lover, especially dogs and I had heard that this, unlike a lot of dog books wasn’t a sad one. Whilst there are moments of deep emotion and somewhat sadness, it’s such an uplifting book.
If you’re in quite a low mood, this book is a perfect one to pick up. Easy to read, I demolished it in about five or so hours, and regardless of if you love dogs or animals, it’s just such an empowering piece of work.
I don’t want to put any spoilers here, so this is why this review is pretty much a stream of consciousness in terms of my brain right now. As I said earlier, got to love mental health.
However, I fear that my flatmates may be very angry with me tomorrow, as I was full belly laughing at many moments within this book. I don’t think I have laughed out loud so much in such a long time, and by laughing I mean pretty much on the floor clutching my stomach. (No exaggeration here)
Seamus, the dog is so so endearing, you have got to love him. And I absolutely adore all of the characters within this book, I don’t necessarily like them all, the parents, without spoiling anything, however every character has personality, is three-dimensional. They are all so well developed.
Katie‘s growth, so so empowering especially for young people, I absolutely adore her as a character because she is so flawed, so real, not like the typical two-dimensional girls you get in a lot of YA novels.
Not only the characters though, the Author has such a way with words, her descriptions are incredibly vivid, and I felt like I was Katie at many moments. Cringing with secondhand embarrassment, whilst also chuckling.
To end this very very rambly and long review... This book came to me at a perfect moment, not just because of my low mood this evening, but for a more amusing one. As a student, studying in a shared environment. This has very much put me off from ever owning a dog whilst trying to study a degree. It’s quite scary really, I have honestly been pondering how my life would change if I had a dog in it, mostly for the positive reasons, and this book has definitely put me off. People don’t realise how much work a dog really is, and I think we would all love to come to the rescue of a dog in need. But maybe sometimes, we choose a dog for selfish reasons. On a serious note, whilst I would so so love one, I will never get one irresponsibly.
Maybe one day, when my life is a bit more stable, I will have my own forever friend... hopefully nowhere near as chaotic as Seamus.