Hey guys! I'm Brittany, today I'm reviewing this book right here, A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
This is currently the number one bestselling paperback, it is at the very top of the New York Times bestsellers list
So I'm really excited to be reviewing it today
The first part of this review is going to be spoiler free so you are in a safe space if you have not read the book yet
And then I'll get into some spoilers, but I'll give you plenty of warning when that comes.
This book is told from the first person perspective of a dog. The dog lives several different lives.
He's reincarnated, and in each life he learns a different lesson that helps him fulfill this ultimate purpose.
I have to say when I was going into this book I was a little nervous because the whole premise of a story
of a reincarnated dog seemed a little silly to me. It sounded like it might not be up my alley
And as I was reading about the dog's first life where he's a feral mutt who gets picked up by this dog hoarder
And he gets named Toby, I was like, you know what? Yeah... I don't get it. Like I didn't hate it
But I didn't get why everyone went out and bought this book.
Once I started reading about the dog's second life, which takes up actually the largest portion of the story
It takes up about half of the story
And he's a Golden Retriever named Bailey. He's a family pet.
And that's when I was like "You know what? I totally get it" 180. I love this book.
The writing from the first person perspective of the dog completely captures all of the noble and endearing
traits that humans love about dogs.
Dogs just really want to make people happy and the great thing about dogs is that they don't judge you
Bailey's whole life goal is basically to be called a good dog and to be loved
And there's no ulterior motive, except maybe to get biscuits.
Bailey is so innocent and yet he has such a strong sense of human emotion.
And I keep referring to him as Bailey but really he has several names and both genders but
We'll just go with Bailey since that takes up the most time in the book
And while Bailey can't speak he knows humans so well that he can instinctively pick up
when something isn't right, and more than that he tries to fix it the best that he knows how
The best that he can.
And seeing all of these really noble traits about dogs captured so perfectly
in writing from a dog's perspective was just so endearing
And I'll talk about this in my spoiler section in detail, but the ending is not cliche
It's not a cliched dog and his boy book ending, which I really liked
My only complaint about the story is that during the dog's final life
I was getting pulled out of the story a bit because I was like "Man, this is really insightful rumination and quite
the vocabulary for a dog." And I get that he's on several lives no and has learned quite a bit, but
that kind of pulled me out of the story
That is my nonspoiler review, and now I have a few kind of booktalk things that I'll get into
If you have read the book, or if you're not going to read the book and just wanna know more about what I think
Then you;re welcome to say too -- swish!
Okay guys, if you're still here that means you're okay with hearing some spoilers. So I'm going to jumo in RIGHT-NOW
TODD IS THE WORST MAN. COME ON TODD
Seriously Todd? I hated Todd.
Victor sucked too. And Wendi. And the worst guy was probably the guy who shot Jakob.
Even more than the guy who shot Jakob, because we only encountered him for like five pages
So much Todd. I was like why is Todd still here?!
I loved when major human events were happening and getting the dog's take on it
Like when Ethan's whole family is crowded around the television set late at night
And they all start crying and hugging each other and cheering
Because humans landed on the moon and dog's looking around like what is going on?
Humans are so complicated!
I loved when the dog walks the wedding rings down the aisle
And he's assuming everyone is gathered there so they can applaud him
and the wonderful trick that the's doing
Also, I loved the dog's relationship with Tinkerbell and Smokey
I loved when Smokey starts batting things off the counter knowing that Bailey will rip them
up and get into even more trouble
I also love when the dog is reincarnated as Buddy and reflecting on his life as Ellie
"I guess Tinkerbell did eventually win me over."
Something that I think is special about this book and sets it apart from other typical
dog and his boy kind of books
Is that it flips the typical ending of "the dog dies" on its head
And the human dies. And even though the dog dies,
The dog keeps being reincarnated and it kind of weakens any emotional punch
that comes with the dog dying
It's so sweet that the dog just wanted to be there
to support his owner as he dies
And see Ethan through that, and it flips that on its head because usually the boy is there to like
hold the dog as the dog's dying, and that happens, but that's not the climax- that wasn't the
whole point of the book
And the dog knows even before the stroke starts that
something is terribly wrong with Ethan
And I loved that they allowed Ethan that moment where he gets confused and he starts calling
Buddy Bailey, and Buddy's like "Something wonderful has happened. Something has allowed Ethan to know
that it is truly me" and then he goes and gets the flip.
And I was like "aww!"
Maybe it was a moment of insight. Probably just confusion from the stroke- but who knows
One thing I didn't totally love is that when Buddy is trying to bring Hannah and Ethan together- which was
super cute - but it's presented in a way that's like "the only way for humans to be happy is to
be married and have a family surrounding them"
And I felt like, well, that's not the only way to happiness.
It was still cute and I loved that it happened
But I kind of wish they hadn't presented that as the only way to be happy
That last thought I wanted to share with you is that the version that I have of A Dog's Purpose
Also has the very first chapter of the sequel "A Dog's Journey"
And I wish I had not gone on to read that first chapter because it just made me mad
And ruined the closure that I had with the last chapter, which was perfectly wonderful closure.
So I would say if you go out and buy a copy of A Dog's Purpose
Just read it and don'y read the tantalizing first chapter until you actually have "A Dog's Journey"
And you're setup and read to read it.
Gloria just made me really mad - Hannah's daughter in law
Not as mad as Todd. I mean, on a scale from one to Todd, Gloria's like I don't- a Wendi.
That is my book review of A Dog's Purpose. If you have read this book please let me know what you
thought down below. I would love to hear what you thought
Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in my next video. Bye!