I’ll wager a year’s servitude, said Apollo, that animals - any animal you choose - would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they had human intelligence. The idea is that intelligence does not make humans any more superior or happier than other animals. So, what’s so weird about it, I hear you ask? Well, it takes the form of a fable in which the Greek gods Hermes and Apollo give a group of dogs the gift of consciousness. (You can read more about how the Shadow Giller came about on Kevin’s blog here.) And because I’m taking part in the process once again for 2015, I felt that I had to finish the book - even when every bone (pun not intended) in my body told me to put it aside and read something else instead! Between the four of us, we then choose a winner in advance of the real Giller. Under normal circumstances, I’m sure I would have abandoned this strange and unusual novella. But as some of you will no doubt know, every year since 2011 I have taken part in the Shadow Giller - chaired by KevinfromCanada - in which a group of us read and review all the books on the Giller Prize longlist for that year. Indeed, to say I didn’t much like it might be an understatement. It’s by far the oddest, and possibly most absurd, book I’ve read in a long while. Review copy courtesy of the publisher.Īndré Alexis’s Fifteen Dogs has been longlisted for this year’s Giller Prize. Fiction – paperback Serpent’s Tail 159 pages 2015.

Andre alexis books