The Last Dogs - The Vanishing (by Christopher Holt)

The Last Dogs - The Vanishing
by Christopher Holt
Release date : September 4th, 2012 

When all the humans in his world disappear, Max, a yellow Labrador Retriever, begins the search for his family. He knows that if he can just find Madame Curie, a wise, old black Lab, she'll be able to help. Madame had a premonition of astonishing events to come -- she might know where Max's family is.

But Max can't make the journey alone. Joined by friends Rocky and Gizmo, Max sets off to find Madame. Along the way, the trio must face a pack of angry wolves, forage for food in a land where kibble is akin to gold, befriend a house full of cats, and outsmart a gang of subway rats. Ultimately, they'll have to escape from the biggest threat of all: the Corporation, a "perfect" society for dogs and by dogs, where nothing is quite as it seems.

The Last Dogs: The Vanishing is a thrilling adventure and a tale of three unlikely friends on an epic quest to find their people -- and bring them home. (from Goodreads)

MY THOUGHTS : This book reminded me of the movie Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey! Well, except for the fact that, in the film, people just went on holiday, they didn't disappear. :)

I have to admit that I had trouble really enjoying this book after having read A DOG'S PURPOSE, which was so well-written! In THE LAST DOGS, dogs talk with barks, which I found unrealistic. Ok, I'm not dumb, I know that dogs bark in real life, don't worry! It's just that, in the book, I would rather have seen them talk in their heads, for instance. The thing I found unrealistic was that, sometimes, the dogs had a chat (so, they barked loudly, I guess), and nobody heard them except themselves...

I was also disappointed by how 'stupid' the dogs sounded. I'm sure it's not what the author defends, but the way their thoughts and speeches were written made them sound silly. Which is too bad, since they're not stupid at all!

I've read a few "dog books" recently, and I demoan the fact that all of them have such a sad, depressing and cruel side. Dogs depend on men, so I guess that's one of the reasons. Violence is harder to bear when it comes to dogs, methinks... I silently realized that it wasn't because the heroes were animals that it made the read less dramatic. I actually estimated the audience to +14, not less.

But I liked the idea of the book: animals left alone in an apocalyptic atmosphere. The journey (both adventurous and initiatory) is rather classical, the events are brought up in an academic-yet-nice way. The way the dogs organized their lives to survive was really interesting, with it being compared with how men would react if such a crisis occured.

All in all, it wasn't a happy read, and I found it interesting on some points and disappointing on others. I didn't enjoy it as much as I would've liked to, in spite of the plot's originality and the beautiful sentiments that come out of the book.