The Dogs: A Modern Bestiary

The nameless narrator of The Dogs: A Modern Bestiary lives in her studio apartment with a pack of Doberman pinchers. The dogs, led by the cruel, charismatic bitch named Miss Dog, alternate between being brutal attack animals and loyal companions, being real and otherworldly. Some chapters draw upon the ecstatic and horrifying visions of Christian mystics; others take place in the landscapes of familiar fairytales; others in the banal settings of the late-night pick-up bars or suburban picnics. The narrator uneasily inhabits these worlds until the dogs force her to take irrevocable action. Rebecca Brown is the author of other fictions, including The Terrible Girls, Annie Oakley’s Girl, and The Gifts of the Body. She lives in Seattle.

Publishers Weekly

Brown (Annie Oakley's Girl) never contents herself, or reassures her readers, by resorting to realist conventions. In her latest effort, a snarling attack on the fairy-tale form, a good girl's fears of inadequacy materialize as a pack of vicious dogs. In 25 brief chapters with titles like "Body," "Home" and "Bone," each claiming to illustrate a medieval virtue ("Constancy," "Steadfastness," "Charity," etc.), Brown reveals the harrowing plight of the first-person narrator, who is compared to an unsuspecting, lesbian Little Red Riding Hood. Brown's protagonist is at first amused and touched by the attentions of a strange and beautiful dog that appears in her apartment, then annoyed and increasingly horrified. "It became as if my house was hers and I the grateful guest," she laments, as the merciless alpha dog, Miss Dog, multiplies a hundredfold. "She disappeared me bit by bit." The narrator wants to leave but can't; she tries to destroy the dogs but recognizes their power over her. The work often reads like sadomasochistic fantasy, and, while Brown does allow the narrator to find solace and regain a state of childlike grace, her ferocious polemic is strong meat in the meantime, not for the faint of heart. Agent, Harold Schmidt. (Oct.)

Rebecca Brown is the author of a dozen books of prose including THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU, THE END OF YOUTH, THE DOGS, THE TERRIBLE GIRLS (City Lights) and THE GIFTS OF THE BODY (HarperCollins). She recently co-edited, with Mary Jane Knecht, an anthology of writers' responses to work at the Frye Art Museum.