Book 9/196: South Korea

The dog who dared to dream is a short novel by South Korean writer Sun-mi Hwang. This book is the 9^th in my quest of reading the world – traveling the world through books.

Genre: Fiction

Summary:

Scraggly is the unfortunate pup in the litter. Not the pretty or cute one like the others, and her mother doesn’t seem to care much for her or her siblings in general. Scraggly’s life unfolds mostly in the yard of an elderly couple, struck by loneliness and on the verge of poverty. The neighbours cat is not the only danger and we follow Scraggly in her dreams for a better life – even for a dog who isn’t pretty enough to breed.

Verdict:

I found this to be a very poetic read, even though it’s about a dog and is written from the dogs perspective. Sun-mi Hwang really knows how to portray the life and emotional life of a dog, yet still keeping it believable and not too much out of the ordinary. It seems down to earth and I was taken by the beauty in the simplicity of the story and the way it was told. I sympathize with Scraggly and her owner and in the end, it had me crying.

I could envision it and as I progressed in the book, the visions became clearer and I could sense the world in which Scraggly finds herself. This is a story of loyalty, love, parenthood, enemies and friendships not to mention dreaming of a better life for oneself. Even dogs have hope, and they should.

I really don’t have much to say about this book, other than I think it’s a South-Korean pearl of literature. It stunned me in a positive way. So refined, poetic and emotion inducing.