Review: Puppy Love by Frauke Scheunemann

17:19 Cilla 1 Comments

Review:

My sister was the one to pick this up in the bookshop. She loves daschunds, so that was the first selling point. I was also really curious about having the story told through a dog's point of view. I've only read such books twice before, and enjoyed both immensely. So I went into this book expecting cuteness and funny observations of human behaviours. While I wasn't entirely disappointed, I came away wishing there had been more to the story than fluff.

There was definitely cuteness. Hercules is adorable in his insistence to be something grander than what he seems from the outside, and I enjoyed his growth as a character. The romance is also fairly sweet, and not as predictable as I expected it to be!

Now here's my main problem with this. My parents have a beagle puppy that, at the time of my reading this book, is incredibly energetic and naughty. She chews through everything, jumps up on us, defiant of orders (I know she knows not to climb on things, and she does anyway), and other puppy behaviours. I could not reconcile that with Hercules, who is so smart he understands everything said to him. I know really smart dogs exist, but Hercules is too human-like. I feel that he belongs in a Disney animated movie or a children's book more than as a narrator of a romance.

Also, I didn't connect with any of the humans. Understandably, we see only what Hercules sees of them. Still, I think there could have been more nuances to the characters. I've seen it done in The Art of Racing in the Rain. As it stood, I never rooted for Caroline, which took away from my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, this is a good book for any dog-lover who's looking for a quick read, but don't expect anything more than fluff.

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Would you read a book narrated by an animal?