Review – A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

I watched the movie and thought I should read the book. You would think after crying at the movie I would have prepared myself to cry at the book. Nope. I surprised myself by balling my eyes out not once, not twice, but five times. Yep, that is right, I had to put A Dogs Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron down FIVE times so my sobbing and river of tears didn’t damage the pages. See, I am a dog person. I like dogs more than humans and almost as much as books. Hurt a dog and I instantly hate you. I am more likely to cry at your dog’s death than yours (unless I really like you). If you have read the description of this book, you will know that the dog is reborn a few times. This means the dog dies a few times. Tears. Each and even time, tears.

Okay so WARNING, I will be including spoilers. The book will still be a great read, but I will be giving away a lot of the highlights.

Title: A Dog’s Purpose

Author: W.Bruce Cameron

Genre: General Fiction

Age Classification: Adult

Publisher: Forge Books

Format: paperback

Release: July 1, 2010

We have 4 dogs that are actually the same dog but in different lives (if that makes sense). Their names are Toby, Bailey, Ellie and Buddy.

Toby is the first of the dog’s lives and he is on of 4 pups in the litter of a stray dog. He is captured and taken to the Yard (a pound/animal shelter I am guessing) but the Yard is shut down (I am assuming by the local council) for having too many dogs. These people put him to sleep because his leg has been broken and he is considered unadoptable. I cried.

Then he is reborn as the dog eventually known as Bailey. Bailey loves the boy, Ethan, and believes the boy is his purpose. He lives a long and fulfilling life with the boy and his family both at Ethan’s house and his grandparents’ place, the Farm. Bailey also grows an attachment to a girl named Hannah that smells like cookies. He eventually dies of old age. I cried.

He is then reborn and she named Ellie. In this life, thanks to some of the things the boy taught him, he becomes a police dog specialising in search and rescue. He works with lonely man Jakob who teaches him Find but doesn’t give Ellie the love she is used to getting from the boy. Then Jakob is shot while on duty. I got teary.

Still Ellie, he now lives with Maya who wants to do search and rescue with her but also loves her in a way Jakob didn’t. Ellie’s sense of smell deteriorated after she got some sort of acid on her nose during a rescue, but she and Maya continue to work together by doing talks about why police dogs are important. Eventually, Ellie also dies of old age. I cried.

The final life we read in the book the dog is a boy again. He is the undesirable pup in the litter and eventually gets picked up by someone getting a dog for their girlfriend. The dog does not have a great life here so when he is eventually dumped, he uses his past life memories and finds his way to the Farm. He finds a sad older man but realises it is the boy, Ethan. Eventually, Ethan takes him in and names him Buddy. Once he had Ethan back, he went searching out the girl who had once made the boy happy.

Now, the book actually surprised me with the ending. I was expecting a happyish ending, something similar to the one in the movie. Why? Because although some of the details were different, the movie seemed to be somewhat true to the book. But no. It hit me right in the feels! Just a dog and his human, but gosh it broke me. Poor Bailey, Bailey, Bailey was finally back with his boy and BAM, cue emotions that make you want to tear your heart out! If you hadn’t already guessed, I cried.

After all that crying there is no way I could love this book, right? Wrong!

It is one of the best books I have read. Ever. I absolutely loved it! The story was heartwarming and heartbreaking, but the characters were mostly wonderful. I wish I had had this book when I was 14 and I lost my beautiful puppy dog. My beautiful golden fluff ball who had been my best friend for years, sat with me as I read or did my homework, cuddled with me when cried, hid out with me when dad was angry, she was gone. It is the type of book that makes it a little easier to deal with loss as well as opening up your mind to the possibility of there being more to life.

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

It was a solid 5 out of 5 on Goodreads for me and it has been added to the favourites lists. I honestly hope I haven’t put anyone off. It is an amazing book, it just also has the ability to make you ball your eyes out.

So who has read A Dog’s Purpose?
What did you think of the book?
Did you cry as much as I did?
If you haven’t read it, do you plan to?

Until next time bibliophiles!

Amy x