Fifteen Dogs

Book Synopsis

WINNER OF THE 2015 GILLER PRIZE

WINNER OF THE 2015 WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE

A special edition celebrating the tenth anniversary of André Alexis's modern masterpiece, with a foreword by Eileen Myles and an afterword by André Alexis.

-- I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.

-- I'll wager a year's servitude, answered Apollo, that animals - any animal you like - would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they were given human intelligence.

A bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto veterinary clinic. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old 'dog' ways, and those who embrace the change. The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their transformed world, as they become divided, as each struggles with their new existence.

First published in 2015, now slightly revised and including an after-word by the author, this contemporary take on the apologue offers an utterly compelling and affecting look at the beauty and perils of human consciousness. By turns meditative and devastating, charming and strange, Fifteen Dogs shows you can teach an old genre new tricks.

Review Quotes

WINNER OF THE 2015 GILLER PRIZE

WINNER OF THE 2015 WRITER'S TRUST FICTION PRIZE

WINNER OF CBC CANADA READS

'Alexis manages to encapsulate an astonishing range of metaphysical questions in a simple tale about dogs that came to know too much. The result is a delightful juxtaposition of the human and canine conditions, and a narrative that, like just one of the dogs, delights in the twists and turns of the gods' linguistic gift.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review

'An elegant cross-breed of magical realism, moral fable, owner's manual and philosophical treatise ... This is a wonderfully weird and spare reflection on the nature of dogs and poetry.' - Times Literary Supplement

'André Alexis's work displays a mastery of literature's history and a startling power of invention, balancing intellectual sophistication with a sense of humor, pathos and beauty ... But while his work deals in paradoxes and tropes borrowed from long-dead thinkers, Alexis has time and again proven himself to be a provocative and modern thinker; his work feels ever current, even as it delivers all the humour and warmth of a well-told tale.' - Windham-Campbell Prize citation

'Over the course of this novel, slim yet epic in scope, Alexis chronicles the fates of these strangely afflicted beasts, shifting from thought experiment to comic parable to something more delicate, laden with detail, discovery and emotional nuance.' - The Globe and Mail

'[Alexis] devises an inventive romp through the nature of humanity in this beautiful, entertaining read ... A clever exploration of our essence, communication and how our societies are organized.' - Kirkus Reviews

'The novel is a tender and elegant exploration of the perpetual problem of human consciousness ... What unites us in consciousness is also what divides us, our sense of our own separateness from everyone, and everything, else.' - National Post

'Here is a beautifully written allegory for our times: one in which man's best friend shows us the benefits of higher consciousness - the favoured bone of fact buried where we might all find it. Fifteen Dogs is an original and vital work written by a master craftsman: philosophy given a perfect form.' - Writers' Trust Fiction Prize jury citation

'In the same vein as George Orwell's Animal Farm, Fifteen Dogs reveals universal truths about human nature by transferring consciousness and conscience to animals. Alexis masterfully dissects the discrepancies in the way humans think and feel, by posing large questions, such as: What is happiness? And what makes a life truly fulfilled?' - The Toronto Star

'Alexis's detailed and nuanced understanding of dog culture will make animal lovers nod with recognition (and wipe away the occasional tear) and all readers will be gripped by the fluid prose and the deep philosophical questions embedded in this slim yet ambitious work.' - Toronto Book Awards jury citation

'What does it mean to be alive? To think, to feel, to love and to envy? André Alexis explores all of this and more in the extraordinary Fifteen Dogs, an insightful and philosophical meditation on the nature of consciousness. It's a novel filled with balancing acts: humour juxtaposed with savagery, solitude with the desperate need to be part of a pack, perceptive prose interspersed with playful poetry. A wonderful and original piece of writing that challenges the reader to examine their own existence and recall the age old question, what's the meaning of life?' - Giller Prize jury citation

'Fifteen Dogs is a book possessed of both intelligence and deep feeling, and this surely is a rare thing; but it is also a book that makes claims about the purpose of art and the curious nature of human existence, and that, perhaps, is the rarest thing about it.' - Winnipeg Review

'A wildly intelligent, philosophical novel.' - Off the Shelf

'Alexis excels at sparking drama from collisions between the canine and the human. He is also well versed in Greek myth and legend, yet where Fifteen Dogs really succeeds is on an allegorical level ... [A]s thought-provoking as it is enjoyable. In sum, this is the dog's bollocks.' - Peter Carty, The Independent

'A novel about a pack of talking dogs, you say? The very idea will most likely breed thoughts of insufferable whimsy, like those paintings of mutts playing poker, or of more or less effective satire, in the vein of Animal Farm. It's a grand thing, then, that this spry novel by Canadian André Alexis spends its 160 pages repeatedly defying expectations ... I'm far from being a dog person, but as a book person I loved this smart, exuberant fantasy from start to finish.' - Jonathan Gibbs, The Guardian

'[A] hilarious and heartbreaking meditation on love, power, and the nature of consciousness.' - cbc Radio Q

'In posing the question of whether animals would die happier with the capacity of human consciousness, Alexis provides a bleak yet revitalizing tale of human mortality and the gift, or curse, of superior intelligence ... Fifteen Dogs proves its brilliance as the dogs encounter much more than conflicts imposed by conscious awareness but individual, emotional, and uniquely human experiences ... Alexis leaves readers with a glimpse of our better nature.' - Ryann Gordon, World Literature Today

'A clever and beguiling study of human nature through the eyes of dogs.' - Largehearted Boy

'Alexis takes up notions of language and consciousness on a fundamental level, and what it means to have both or one without the other.' - Full Stop

'This is a gripping, wildly intelligent, philosophical novel that can remind you who and what you are.' - nuvo Magazine

'Fifteen Dogs is the best written, cleverest, and most involving book I've read in a long time.' - LitReactor

'A brilliant and deeply moving novel.' - Michael Ondaatje

'A remarkable book. Insightful, wildly original, and beautiful. Buy it.' - Mark Medley, Books Editor at The Globe and Mail

About the Author

André Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. He is the author of the Quincunx, comprised of five novels: Fifteen Dogs, winner of the Giller Prize, CBC Canada Reads, and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; Days by Moonlight, winner of the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; Pastoral; The Hidden Keys; and Ring. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel and the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Asylum, The Night Piece, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa, and most recently Other Worlds, longlisted for the Toronto Book Award. He is the recipient of a Windham Campbell Prize. He lives in Toronto.