There is No Dog - Meg Rosoff

There is No Dog – Meg Rosoff

Pages: 243

Publisher: Puffin (Penguin Books)

Release Date: 4^th August 2011

Other Titles by this Author: How I Live Now, Just in Case, What I Was, The Bride’s Farewell

In the beginning there was Bob.

And Bob created the heavens and the earth,

and the beasts of the field,

and the creatures of the sea,

and twenty-five million other species,

including lots and lots of gorgeous girls.

And all of this he created in six days.

Six days! Congratulations, Bob.

No wonder Earth is such a mess

Imagine that God is a typical teenage boy. He is lazy, careless, self-obsessed, sex-mad – and about to meet Lucy, the most beautiful girl on earth.

Unfortunately, whenever Bob falls in love, disaster follows.

Let us pray that Bob does not fall in love with Lucy.

There is No Dog is unlike any book I’ve ever read or will have the pleasure to read ever again.

I never know what to expect from Meg Rosoff, but I always anticipate something fresh, unique and utterly compelling. And, boy, did she deliver! Right from the epigraph I knew I was in for a book full of humour, charm and wit and I wasn’t disappointed. The idea that our world was created by a God who is a lazy, rude and sex-obsessed teenage boy is absolutely genius and a perfect fit, actually. The weird and clashing creatures on our planet scream the enthusiastic and inventive creations of someone doing whatever they want just because they can and I love it.

One of my favourite things about There is No Dog is how Meg Rosoff twisted the Bible stories and miracles that we’re force-fed throughout primary into jokes, pranks and occasionally punishments. The idea that many of the stories and also natural disasters were often the fault of a love-sick Bob made me laugh aloud to myself because it, like the state of the earth, fits Rosoff’s explanations.

I have to admit that I fell in love during this book. With Eck, Bob’s pet. He’s absolutely adorable and I’d happily swap my cat for him. He’s just too cute. The occasional glimpses into his thoughts that popped up every so often in the continually shifting narration were the icing on the cake, really. The way that the perspectives kept switching, often in the middle of a page, should have been clunky, and may have been under an author without Rosoff’s skill; she pulled it off and made it effortlessly seamless.

There is No Dog is a quirky and unique novel that, while it won’t be for everyone, is very likely to make this year’s list of my favourite books.

Sophie