There Is No Dog

I won "There is No Dog" unexpectedly in a raffle, and while it seemed like a hilarious idea, I was a bit unsure of what I would find in its pages. As an evangelical Christian presently attending a Pentacostal, Assemblies of God church, I wasn't sure whether or not I would be offended by the overall premise. I like to claim an open mind, however, so I plunged into the read anyway. Thankfully, within the first few pages, it was clear that the author was handling her chosen topic very well. I was already laughing out loud by the end of the first chapter. Though the author claimed that the book was highly blasphemous in an interview, I didn't feel that way. It was clear that, although she used details of the Christian God, she combined it with details from other religions as well - most notably including the sexual exploits of Zeus at one point in the book.

I thought the book overall was very clever, to the point that when I spotted flaws I could not be sure if they were intentional or not. For example, the biggest problem I saw in the book was that the author frequently shifted from present to past tense seemingly with no reason. Sometimes it was between chapters, but sometimes it was between paragraphs. I tend to notice these things in books, so it was a bit distracting for me every time I saw that the tense had changed again. The cast of characters was wonderful, though. Only one character ever made me roll my eyes, and that was Lucy - God's love interest. She was much like a Mary Sue in the beginning, though she did mature a bit through the book. My favorite character, however, was the girl that constantly spoke in the interrogative. I forget her name at the moment, but I loved reading her dialogue because her voice was so brilliantly captured.

The last criticism I have of the book is that the world of deities that Rosoff created was a bit vague in the details. I wasn't sure who these gods were, where they lived, why they played poker, and why they ate human food. They were entertaining characters, but it didn't quite make sense how they would go from drinking vodka one minute to skipping galaxies the next. It wasn't very congruent.

Despite the flaws I have mentioned, I did enjoy the book a lot. I was pleasantly surprised with it, in fact. It wasn't the most perfectly written book, but what it lacked in world detail and construction it made up for in character and sheer, witty humor. Every few pages I found myself reading a hilarious perspective on the creation of the world out loud to my family. I definitely recommend this book to readers.