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The Dust of 100 Dogs AS King Books

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The Dust of 100 Dogs AS King Books

I just can't like this book. The more I think about it the more irritated I am. This is not a YA novel, it's a semi-literary adult novel. I gather from the author's statements that she didn't write it as YA, her agent or editor(s) had the clever idea to market it this way. Fail, guys.

In the back of the book is an interview with the author. The interviewer asks about reincarnation, and which characters moved forward alongside Emer/Saffron. King says, "Must reincarnation be literal?" Well, you just wrote 300+ pages in which it was, so, yeah. The universe of the book must have rules, and I would like to know them.

Like other reviewers, I feel mislead about what this book was going to be like. I was looking forward to swashbuckling and a strong, dangerous heroine. I was looking forward to the effects of trapping someone in the form of a dog for 100 lifetimes. I expected some fun. Instead I got a depressing, meandering story that told way more than it showed.

Emer and Saffron are the same soul (or whathaveyou), the same person, but they're very different women. And no explanation is given for how or why. She spends 300 years incarnated as dogs, and there's no growth. Emer, at least, has some fire in her belly. Saffron is detached. It's as though Saffron inherited this mission from Emer, has put all her resources into it, but doesn't actually care about the outcome, let alone what she'll do after that. The emotional beats just aren't there. And Saffron doesn't grow as a character during the course of the novel--crucial to the YA category.

Saffron's family situation is also bizarre. The family has no money, but her brother is spoiled. His being spoiled is the reason he becomes a drug addict. Her parents both become substance abusers as well. None of this is dealt with. Saffron just wants to GTFO (understandably). None of that is a spoiler because it has no impact on the plot. These things happen alongside Saffron, in another aisle. They don't really touch her. The end result is that Saffron comes off as extremely detached, unfeeling, and... bland. Maybe a little sociopathic, because how could she live with the terrible things in her life and not react to them?

Emer's life is better, but still flat. If you read only her parts you'd get a choppy telling of a female pirate's youth and life on the high seas. It might move you a little but it would never really stir you. The only reason it stirred me was because she was the only character I liked--if she disappeared, what would be the point of continuing?

Then there's the matter of of Fred (who "may or may not" "be" the Frenchman). About a third of the way through we get a lengthy chapter all about Fred and his lifestyle of leisure, but there's no reason to care about him so you're left wondering why, why am I reading about this bizarre man? He also shows absolutely no growth. The Frenchman is given no motivation beyond wanting to possess and bed Emer. There's no sign that he's as mentally fractured as Fred is--and we have no idea how he got to be that way. So, we're left with two unsavory characters serving as flat antagonists, one of whom is a rapist, and one of whom abuses his dog, leers after young women, and is otherwise equally detestable. The Fred character is not a YA character. He's certainly not a throwaway antagonist for a YA book. He belongs in a psychological thriller where his twisted little mind can be picked open.

A good concept, with no emotional resonance.


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The Dust of 100 Dogs AS King Books Reviews

Emer Morrissey, pirate captain and scourge of the Caribbean, was on the brink of true happiness when she died on a Jamaican beach. After a short, difficult life filled with violence, cruelty and deprivation, Emer had been reunited with her one and only true love, Seanie. Just as Emer prepared to leave piracy behind and begin a life with Seanie, the French bastard who had been obsessed with her since the day she crossed the Atlantic caught up with the young couple and suddenly everything slipped through Emer's grasp. Seanie killed and Emer dying in the sand, but not before being cursed to live 100 lives as a dog. One hundred lives in the bodies of dogs before returning to a human form. One hundred lives with all of her memories intact.

A little more than three hundred years later, Emer is reborn in 1972 as Saffron Adams, the youngest of five children and the last great hope of her parents. Alfred and Sadie Adams are not the most successful of people and they certainly aren't the best of parents. Emotionally scarred by their pasts and resigned to living on the edge of poverty, Saffron's parents float from one addiction to another, content in their miserable lives. To them, young Saffron seems like a gift from heaven. Her incredible genius (gained through one hundred and one lifetimes of memories) seems to Saffron's parents a guarantee of her future success. Alfred and Sadie long for the day when she can become a practicing physician and take on the burden of the family finances, But Saffron has other plans. As soon as she graduates from high school she means to head to Jamaica and dig up the treasure of jewels she and Seanie buried there long ago. With Seanie dead for more than three centuries, wealth is a cold consolation, but it IS a consolation. It seems, however, that even after 300 years, fate still has a few twists to throw her way.

The Dust of 100 Dogs was A.S. King's first published book and while it has flaws, it also has instances of pure brilliance. The novel is composed of three interwoven story-lines Emer's (human) life history; Saffron's struggle with her parents' expectations and her eventual journey to reclaim Emer's legacy; and the concurrent modern story of Fred Livingstone, a troubled, abusive Englishman living on the Jamaican beach where Emer's treasure is buried. Emer's story is the most compelling and also the most beautifully rendered. Although hers was a life filled with violence and loss, her spirit was indomitable and she proved herself a survivor over and over again. The earliest part of her story - her early Irish childhood through the Cromwell-led invasion and conquest of Ireland - is particularly moving and magnificently told. On the other hand, Saffron didn't really start to exist for me until a little more than halfway through the book, when she arrived in Jamaica. Up until that point, all of her thoughts and her narration, even in the modern story, seemed to be Emer's and I was surprised the first time she referred to Emer as a separate person.

This book is exceedingly violent. Rape, torture, child abuse, animal abuse, drug abuse and the horrors of 17th century warfare are all described fairly graphically. Bearing that in mind, The Dust of 100 Dogs is probably NOT a Y.A. novel in the traditional sense, although mature teens (particularly those 16 or older) should handle it fine. Having mentioned the violence, though, I feel it is important to note that these horrible acts are native to the tale being told. The times, as well as the histories and the psychological make-ups of the characters involved are the root of the violence and it never feels as if it is gratuitous or extraneous. In fact, the only parts of the novel that DID feel false and tacked on were the eight homilies - examples of 'doggie wisdom' - interspersed throughout the book. To me, these "Dog Facts" were disruptive and felt like a mechanical contrivance used solely to remind the reader of where Emer's consciousness has been for the past three hundred plus years.

So now we come to what is always a difficult question. Would you recommend this book to others? For me, the answer is yes, but I wouldn't hand it over to just anyone. Overall I liked it, there were many parts I loved, but I recognize that not everybody would feel the same way. In fact, I am sure there are many people who have read this book and hated it. It's that kind of book - one that will provoke a strong response and have you thinking about it long after you finish reading it. I thought it was wildly original and disturbing and wonderful and (occasionally) disgusting and a whole host of other adjectives I won't bother to list. Perhaps the best part of reading The Dust of 100 Dogs (besides the brilliant slice of Irish history) was the introduction it provided to A.S. King. She is an author of immense talent and passion and I expect her subsequent novels will be brilliant.
I just can't like this book. The more I think about it the more irritated I am. This is not a YA novel, it's a semi-literary adult novel. I gather from the author's statements that she didn't write it as YA, her agent or editor(s) had the clever idea to market it this way. Fail, guys.

In the back of the book is an interview with the author. The interviewer asks about reincarnation, and which characters moved forward alongside Emer/Saffron. King says, "Must reincarnation be literal?" Well, you just wrote 300+ pages in which it was, so, yeah. The universe of the book must have rules, and I would like to know them.

Like other reviewers, I feel mislead about what this book was going to be like. I was looking forward to swashbuckling and a strong, dangerous heroine. I was looking forward to the effects of trapping someone in the form of a dog for 100 lifetimes. I expected some fun. Instead I got a depressing, meandering story that told way more than it showed.

Emer and Saffron are the same soul (or whathaveyou), the same person, but they're very different women. And no explanation is given for how or why. She spends 300 years incarnated as dogs, and there's no growth. Emer, at least, has some fire in her belly. Saffron is detached. It's as though Saffron inherited this mission from Emer, has put all her resources into it, but doesn't actually care about the outcome, let alone what she'll do after that. The emotional beats just aren't there. And Saffron doesn't grow as a character during the course of the novel--crucial to the YA category.

Saffron's family situation is also bizarre. The family has no money, but her brother is spoiled. His being spoiled is the reason he becomes a drug addict. Her parents both become substance abusers as well. None of this is dealt with. Saffron just wants to GTFO (understandably). None of that is a spoiler because it has no impact on the plot. These things happen alongside Saffron, in another aisle. They don't really touch her. The end result is that Saffron comes off as extremely detached, unfeeling, and... bland. Maybe a little sociopathic, because how could she live with the terrible things in her life and not react to them?

Emer's life is better, but still flat. If you read only her parts you'd get a choppy telling of a female pirate's youth and life on the high seas. It might move you a little but it would never really stir you. The only reason it stirred me was because she was the only character I liked--if she disappeared, what would be the point of continuing?

Then there's the matter of of Fred (who "may or may not" "be" the Frenchman). About a third of the way through we get a lengthy chapter all about Fred and his lifestyle of leisure, but there's no reason to care about him so you're left wondering why, why am I reading about this bizarre man? He also shows absolutely no growth. The Frenchman is given no motivation beyond wanting to possess and bed Emer. There's no sign that he's as mentally fractured as Fred is--and we have no idea how he got to be that way. So, we're left with two unsavory characters serving as flat antagonists, one of whom is a rapist, and one of whom abuses his dog, leers after young women, and is otherwise equally detestable. The Fred character is not a YA character. He's certainly not a throwaway antagonist for a YA book. He belongs in a psychological thriller where his twisted little mind can be picked open.

A good concept, with no emotional resonance.