Review: Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor

Here's the thing. I'm on the fence about how I feel about this book so this review is going to be a bit short and perhaps even a little confused. Even the Dogs is a book about junkies and the harsh realities of their life. The story opens with a very CSI kind of crime scene where the dead body of a man is found in his flat. Cause of death is unknown but as the story progresses we come to learn that he has a history of substance abuse, mostly alcohol. As the novel progresses we come to learn more about him, his death and his acquaintances--homeless drug addicts who were given shelter in his flat in exchange for them going and getting him his food and drink. The narrative shifts between making the reader a distant observer and at other times it breaks into a stream of consciousness of one of the characters. It's almost as if McGregor wants us to look at this from two points of view: as outsiders and also very much from the perspective of an addict. The prose is very jagged and experimental. He opts not to use punctuation at all and sentences tend to be left hanging, even without a full stop or ellipses (Lynn Truss might be inclined to write a petition!). However, this is mostly when the narrative is from the stream of consciousness of one of the addicts, which justifies this style. But on the whole all this doesn't make for easy reading but at its best moments the effect is profound. At its worst, some might find it pretentious. 

But Even the Dogs is an important story and it gives perspective of a community that is very much a part of a City's underbelly, straddling its margins. It does all this without judgement nor justification. It is dark, it is depressing, it is graphic and it most definitely isn't a book you want to start your morning commute with, which I sort of did because I mostly read while commuting. In retrospect, one of the important things the book did for me is make me realize how on a fundamental level we're all living like junkies. Chasing one high after another and doing a lot of waiting in between. Whether that high is a job, a lover or the next must-have  thing. So while it's a book I'm glad to have gotten through, I'm also glad I did pick up. Perhaps had I been in a different frame of mind, read it in a different time and place I would have felt its effect far more. 

Goodreads rating: 2/5

Could appeal to: If you've read Train Spotting this might be of interest, although possibly not as wry or readable. Also anyone into experimental fiction.

Read it with: perseverance

Taster quote:

"All this waiting though. Still. 


Waiting outside the night shelter for them to open the doors. Hanging around for hours to make sure you get your place. Waiting at the walk-in centre to get something sorted, and getting referred on to somewhere else so you can wait a little bit more. Waiting for the chemist to open to get the daily script. Waiting to score when it seems like no cunt can get hold of it, the way it was before Christmas, all of us loading up on jellies and benzos to keep the rattles off. Too much to handle if you score on top of all that and you're not careful. But careful aint really the point."

Published by: Bloomsbury