The Dogs: A Modern Bestiary

Using this medieval form, Brown tells the story of a contemporary American woman who lives in her studio apartment with a pack of Doberman pinschers. The dogs alternate between being brutal attack animals and loyal companions, and between being real and being otherworldy, seemingly able to disappear or talk or multiply at will. The nameless narrator whose home the dogs invade first tries to accommodate and please them, then grows to hate them, her efforts thwarted by the head of the pack, a cruel and charismatic bitch named Miss Dog.As in a bestiary, each chapter has a one-word title and claims to give the reader a moral or spiritual lesson. Some chapters draw upon the ecstatic and horrifying visions and language of Christian mystics, other chapters take place in the realm of the ordinary: a grocery, a late-night pick-up bar, a family barbecue. The narrator uneasily inhabits both of these worlds, with the dogs tormenting her until she is forced to leave one of these worlds forever.