- Mass Market Paperback: 105 pages
- Publisher: Speak; Reprint edition (Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0142400718
- ISBN-13: 978-0142400715
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.9 x 0.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,677,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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17 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A very fine read for young adults and those older.
6 Aug 2004
Format:Hardcover
You know, I'm not a big fan of Kathe Koja, despite having read most of her works. Her subject matter and writing style usually rub me the wrong way, like in "Skin" and "Strange Angels," too books I very much disliked. However, "Straydog" is a much stronger and different work.
Koja eschews her usual over-the-top melodrama for a more restrained tale that resonates very strongly in truth. 'Straydog" is about a very cynical high school girl named Rachel who doesn't like much in life besides taking care of animals and writing. She isn't full of self-pity though, she's a sharply sarcastic and biting one, full of life. She meets a dog who animal officials at the shelter she works at declare is a lost cause, much too violent, but she is determined to rehabilitate it and upon the encouragement of her teacher, decides to write about the process through the dog's point of view. She also meets an outsider, a boy named Griffin, who helps her in this task.
The whole "story within a story" aspect of this slim book works very well, and each level is written smartly and with a minimum of flashy, unnecessary pretenses by Koja. There are very smart viewpoint and tone changes from the book Koja is writing to when it becomes the passages that Koja is writing that Rachel is writing through the view of the dog. A very clean transition that makes the whole thing believable.
To sum up my feelings, this book doesn't really hit any of the false notes that many of Koja's other works do, and I think it has something pretty useful to impart to all of its readers, not always the same for each reader. I would definitely recommend this book, it's a quick and smart read.
Koja eschews her usual over-the-top melodrama for a more restrained tale that resonates very strongly in truth. 'Straydog" is about a very cynical high school girl named Rachel who doesn't like much in life besides taking care of animals and writing. She isn't full of self-pity though, she's a sharply sarcastic and biting one, full of life. She meets a dog who animal officials at the shelter she works at declare is a lost cause, much too violent, but she is determined to rehabilitate it and upon the encouragement of her teacher, decides to write about the process through the dog's point of view. She also meets an outsider, a boy named Griffin, who helps her in this task.
The whole "story within a story" aspect of this slim book works very well, and each level is written smartly and with a minimum of flashy, unnecessary pretenses by Koja. There are very smart viewpoint and tone changes from the book Koja is writing to when it becomes the passages that Koja is writing that Rachel is writing through the view of the dog. A very clean transition that makes the whole thing believable.
To sum up my feelings, this book doesn't really hit any of the false notes that many of Koja's other works do, and I think it has something pretty useful to impart to all of its readers, not always the same for each reader. I would definitely recommend this book, it's a quick and smart read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Refreshingly different!
22 July 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is my absolute favorite book. Rachel is most definitely not one of those dry protagonists with no emotions or opinions, and this novel is not the typical animal rescue book, in which a girl finds a distrusting stray, takes it home, and in two weeks has trained it perfectly. It is sad, but has a powerful message and was written skillfully so that the reader goes through all the thoughts and emotions that Rachel has. This a great read for dog lovers, but also people who have yet to learn that special bond that never dies in Rachel.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Stray dog
14 Feb 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is about a girl named Rachel and she volunteers
At an animal shelter. She meets a dog and she calls it Grr. She is sad and she doesn't have many friends so that's when she starts working at the dog pound.
She likes it and she plays with it. The next day she goes down there she helps with what she has to do and when she gets finished she gets to play with the dogs and she picks `grr'
At an animal shelter. She meets a dog and she calls it Grr. She is sad and she doesn't have many friends so that's when she starts working at the dog pound.
She likes it and she plays with it. The next day she goes down there she helps with what she has to do and when she gets finished she gets to play with the dogs and she picks `grr'
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