With a title like Dog Island, I didn't know what to expect going in to this one. I am so happy I went in on this one blind. I had no idea what to expect and I was led to be shocked, over and over again.

These character are twisted, you will not connect nor love any of them and I absolutely loved it! These are all people you will love to hate. Ethics are called into question and this novel is full of twists and turns. Dog Island, is extremely dark. You will be left with that jaw on the floor feeling, and the "what the heck did I just read" .

This is a book that you will want to chat with all your friends about. The plot is completely original and like nothing you will have ever read before.

I highly recommend Dog Island.

The publisher's blurb sets us up thinking that this is an ordinary story. It is not. It is an allegory in which the island is a microcosm of group isolation and the (basically) kharmic debt we must all pay for out Not In My Back Yard actions. The volcano with it's presence and growing stench are the indicators. Or maybe it's the *Superintendent* with his attitude that "everybody lies and life is a farce*. If you're looking for a little escapist reading, this isn't it. But if you want to be real, it is.
I appreciated it very much.
I requested and received a free ebook copy (translated to English from the French by Euan Cameron) from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley. Thank you.

Published in France in 2018; published in translation by Little, Brown and Company on August 10, 2021

The narrator of Dog Island tells us that the story “is as real as you might be. It takes place here, just as it could have happened anywhere.” The “here” to which the narrator refers is one of the Dog Islands, an imagined Mediterranean archipelago. Two of the islands form the jaw of a dog while others form its tongue and teeth, but only if you squint at a map and use your imagination. The particular Dog Island where the story takes place is sparsely inhabited, having little to recommend it to tourists, although a character known as The Mayor is negotiating with the Consortium to develop a Thermal Baths project from the island’s hot springs. He views the project as the “last opportunity for families to remain here, and their children, and their children’s children.”

A character known as The Old Woman is taking her daily stroll on a rocky beach when her dog begins to howl at the sight (or smell) of three dead bodies. The howl attracts the attention of Swordy (named for his proficiency at catching swordfish) and America (“a bachelor who produced a little wine and was something of an odd-job man”). They summon The Mayor who brings along The Doctor. The Teacher and The Priest round out the characters who know about the bodies. The Mayor assumes that the dead men, all black, were boat people who fled from a nearby African country and drowned on their journey to Europe. The Teacher is skeptical of that theory and in any event wants to summon the police from the mainland. The Mayor, fearing that adverse publicity will doom the Thermal Baths project, bullies the other characters into disposing of the bodies quietly.

The story takes an even stranger turn when The Teacher takes it upon himself to experiment by acquiring a boat and tossing dummies into the ocean at various points to see where the currents will take them. The Mayor, unhappy with the results of the experiment, devises a scheme to silence The Teacher. The scheme coincides with the arrival on the island of The Superintendent, who might want to investigate the bodies or The Teacher if he isn't pursuing some toher agenda. We eventually learn why the dead men died and how they are connected to the island.

Dog Island is a modern prose version of a morality play. The characters represent virtues or vices. They are identified by title rather than names because their individuality is less important than what they represent — greed, weakness, indifference, or (in the case of The Teacher) rectitude. The characters are presented with a choice between good and evil and, when they make the wrong choice, the island as a whole is punished, almost as if it has become cursed. A foul odor covers the island, growing worse by the day, while the inhabitants begin to live a strained life, losing “not so much the will to live, as their love and hope in life. All this was like a stain on a piece of clothing, on clothing that one had enjoyed wearing.”

Some of the characters are amusingly quirky (the Priest has befriended bees that follow him everywhere), as is much of the dialog. The story becomes increasingly dark but a dark ending is needed to teach the novel’s lesson. Like a morality play, the lesson is superficially simple, although in this postmodern world, it is also a bit ambiguous. I think it has something to do with women high jumpers who “attempt, in graceful and sensuous arched movements, to topple over death in order to enjoy life.” Readers who can figure out what that means, and those who appreciate the sentiment if not the meaning (I’m in that group), might find Dog Island to be a book worth reading.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you for NetGalley for the ARC of Dog Island.

When a few locals of a small island discover three dead bodies and conspire to dispose of the problem, the ensuing guilt and anxiety causes more trouble than the bodies themselves.

I found Dog Island very difficult to read; the writing was good, but the style and tone is distracting, heavy, purposely ambiguous; the characters are prone to rambling monologuing and the descriptions are copious, laden with long paragraphs that feel wordy unnecessarily.

I didn't like any of the characters, and though I could understand their desire to hide the bodies and not alert the authorities, the pacing and style of the narrative made it difficult for me to get through the story.

Many thanks to Little, Brown, and Company and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this!

Unfortunately, I could not get into the story and this was a DNF for me.

Dog Island by Philippe Claudel is a splendid example of a terrific drama on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. Inhabitants of the island run across three dead bodies that have washed onshore. The tension develops quickly as the villagers decide what to do about their discovery. Tell the outside world and risk disturbing their way of life, or pretend that nothing has happened? Matters worsen when a policeman arrives and begins investigating. Loyalties are challenged, and friends become enemies in this eye-opening tour de force that asks what should be done and what consequences will their actions engender.