Miranda Reads's Reviews > A Dog's Purpose

Prepare your heartstrings...

I had never bothered to consider that there might be such a thing as a boy, but now that I had found one, I thought it was just about the most wonderful concept in the world.

Ahhh, snap goes one heartstring right away.

The more I read this book, the fewer heartstrings I had - completely touching and absolutely wonderful throughout.

Cleaning the dishes was where the boy would put a plate of food down and I would lick it. It was one of my jobs, but only when Mom wasn’t watching.

If you haven't guessed already, our narrator is a dog but he isn't a typical dog - he keeps getting reincarnated.

Whether it be as Toby, Bailey, Ellie or Buddy, he always finds a way back.

He's lived as a stray, as a treasured pet, as a service animal and so much more but what he hasn't found was why he has so many lives.

Why does he keep coming back? Could it be that...somehow, someway, he has a very important purpose?

Sweet and heartbreaking in his innocence - Bailey just wants to find his purpose.

If you can't already tell, I absolutely adored this book.

I was really impressed with the way the dog's consciousness was handled.

In the perspective-from-a-dog books I've read, there's always been plot holes where the dog would understand a difficult or abstract concept but not be able to communicate back to the humans (because of...reasons).

Within this novel, there was a marked difference between what was told to the audience and what Bailey understood. For example:

“Bailey’s a hero, now. Todd’s leg took eight stitches.” At the mention of my name, both Duchess and I froze. Dog biscuits, maybe?

The only thing that kept this from being a 5-star book was the ending.

It wasn't a terrible ending (in fact, it ended better than I thought it would) but it just missed its mark for me.

So much build only for things to quit like that.

The job of a good dog was ultimately to be with them, remaining by their sides no matter what course their lives might take. All I could do now was offer him comfort, the assurance that as he left this life he was not alone but rather was tended by the dog who loved him more than anything in the whole world.

SNAP! there goes my last heartstring.

The Finer Books Club - 2018 Reading Challenge: A book from an unusual perspective

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