Customer Reviews

The Last Family in England

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This is story told from the perspective of Prince, a Labrador living with a "typical" family of a husband, wife and two teenage children. While I love animals, I'm not usually a fan of animal stories. (I think the only story told from the perspective of an animal that I have ever really enjoyed was White Bone by Barbara Gowdy.) Most animal stories are cute at best, something best left to Disney's next cartoon feature film. I have visions of dancing horses and talking fish, which are all well and good in their on-screen genre, but rarely translate into good reading. Thankfully, this book not only successfully captures an adult perspective of animal life, it truly honours the intelligence that we often suspect and sometimes fear that our dogs have.

Haig's presentation of the canine intelligence and communciation puts those of us from the human race to shame. Haig's dogs can read, understand and even speak to humans, but they choose not to. Labradors choose keep this secret to protect the Family they live with; other breeds are secretive so they can pursue a life of hedonism.

The main character and Labrador, Prince, is no bystander in the world of humans. Rather, he is an active participant who believes he can shape and save his Family from the temptations and trials that the world holds for them. By virtue of the "Labrador Pact," Prince seeks to rescue a marriage on the rocks, a suicidal adolescent and a wayward teenager. But this isn't some "dog-saves-the-day" story. It is far deeper and more intelligent than that. Prince is seeking the truth in the canine world he lives in. When his mentor, Henry, can no longer give him all the answers, Prince risks stepping outside the confines of the Labrador Pact to find his own way in the world. In the most human-like manner, Prince resists desires, makes judgements of character, sees consequences for his actions and carefully weighs decisions.

Truly, if you read this book you will never look at your dog the same way again.

If you go with the flow you'll find the explanations as to why dogs act in certain ways amusing and will be able to relate to them.
The plot however was easy to predict so the enjoyment for me was more about the characters.
Haig has cracked onto the idea that life can be laid bare by using a simplistic approach and viewpoint....in this case it is a dog. Through the eyes and mouth of Prince the Labrador we see his loyalty and devotion to his family as well as the interesting goings on down at the park.
I loved the dog characters; Lear the Rottweiler, Joyce the Irish Wolfhound, Henry the elderly Labrador and Falstaff the Springer Spaniel who tries to lead 'Madwag' astray. Lear's dialogue in particular had me laughing out loud. :) :)

The underlying message I took from this 'tail' [sorry ;-)] is that animals are more interesting and much misunderstood by the adults who care for them.