“The pack had grown very peculiar indeed: an imitation of an imitation of dogs. All that had formerly been natural was now strange. All had been turned to ritual.”
My husband and I went to see Fifteen Dogs at the Crow’s Theatre (an excellent theatre experience, by the way), and by chance we were seated in one of the front rows — right where they posed the figurines that was used to represent the titular dogs. We were riveted. It was an emotional spectacle that felt true to the heart of the book. Immersed in the experience and haunted once again by the story, I knew I had to pick up the book again for a reread.
I first encountered this book back in 2017, back when I was doing my masters in urban planning. Fifteen Dogs is set in the streets and parks and alleys of Toronto, and that sealed it for me. There’s something truly magical about following a story that is set in a city that I know, whose corners I have explored and whose capricious moods I am familiar with. As a person who is recovering from deep trauma concerning organised religion, I also have a fondness for literature that examines what it means when gods and mortals meet from their asymmetrical points of power — this was, of course, made more complex by the fact that the dogs were just dogs prior to being given “human” sentience. Ah, my heart. How do I describe the impact that this book has left on me? It is now 2023 and I have not stopped thinking about it.
My favourite character, the one whose arc I found the most interesting, is Atticus. The worship that defined his relationship with Zeus rang true for me, in that it is how I understand a relationship between a deity and a worshipper to be: an appeal for aid and a response to that appeal, even though Atticus didn’t necessarily know who or what it was that he was making the appeal towards. Majnoun, however, has the most human character arc: his relationship with Nira, the years-long vigil that he held, and ultimately his being brought to an understanding of what the word “love” meant to Nira was what broke me on the subway and made me cry while I was on the train to campus.
It was a beautiful experience to be taken along the journey that fifteen very different dogs took when gifted human sentience. It’s definitely a tale that I have not stopped thinking about since I picked it up five years ago, and I’m sure I’ll still be contemplating what it means to be human until my old age.
Dani Magsumbol 