Pit's Letter [Hardcover]

Sue Coe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Like a latter-day Goya, Sue Coe is driven to create moral works, from stark renditions of slaughterhouse brutality to accounts of abused domestic animals and laboratory testing. In Pit's Letter, a hapless canine describes her desolate life to her only surviving sister. She recounts her puppyhood and upbringing in her human family, her heartless banishment, and finally her suffering and death at the hands of the experimenting scientists at Eden Biotechnology. Ironically, her former master winds up in the same situation: an accidental scratching infects him with a pathogen - and man and beast share the same fate.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568581637
• ISBN-13: 978-1568581637
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary literary and aesthetic achievement, July 10, 2000

By 

Black Beauty (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pit's Letter (Hardcover)

Sue Coe has no competition. One of the most brilliant artists of our time has given us a book that will make you weep--and think. This is the story of one dog's life, told through a series of letters and illustrations. Pages of detailed, chilling drawings take us through various subcultures that Pit Bulls have come to know best. The reader travels in Pit's mind through brutal streets where rape and dog fighting go hand in hand. Pit ends up in a Dickensian shelter, which eventually leads to a laboratory where the unimaginable is routine. Don't be scared--following Pit's journey is worth the agony. This little book is like a stick of dynamite. You will never look at another Pit Bull again without a tug of compassion. I just kept reading it over and over.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pay attention to the message, December 16, 2004

By 

Morla E. Black (Jenks, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pit's Letter (Hardcover)

I have read some reviews on this site, and have to say that many are missing the point of this work.The work was based on Hogarth's Four Stages of Cruelty. The topics that are covered are not just about pit bulls or their reputation, or about human to animal cruelty. While those are the the main reasons many buy this book, pay attention to the other messages that are being sent here. This book discusses vivisection, spousal abuse, gang rape, and the downfall of a human being. It shows the results of an abusive childhood on one particular boy, who in turn learned that torturing the weak was acceptable. His father (an abusive and angry person) separates him from his dog because the dog couldn't prove herself in the hunting sport, and leaves her behind. The boy has now lost his only source of comfort and morals, and grows up with out them. He goes on to rape a mentally disabled girl "because she'll never tell" and then become a scientist who's colleagues tortures the very animal that he found his only solace in as a child. The irony is in the fact that he contracts a deadly virus from an animal that he tortures and dies in very much the same fashion as his beloved dog. There are many places online where you can research this artists work. It's not just about the Pit bull, or animal cruelty, or any one subject at all. It covers a plethera of difficult topics that are meant to invoke emotions and make people think. I am a proud owner of two pit bulls and I am glad that I checked out this book, as it covers so much more than I ever expected.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Empathy..., April 28, 2004

By 

Cindy Sweat (jacksonville, fl United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pit's Letter (Hardcover)

This book was not just a story about the pit bulls "misconception" but of human "misconception". I have always believed that man was put on earth to take care of animals, not act like one. This book explores just how far humans will go to attain dominance and superiority over anyone or anything they deem "weaker"...I loved the book and plan to give it as gifts to all I feel "know what empathy might be".