It is said that a dog is man's best friend. But what if that dog was given a human pituitary gland and suddenly turned human, the pituitary gland of a miscreant and a human of coarse behavior, a slightly grotesque human?

I'm still not sure why the doctor even bothered giving the dog the testicles of a man unless the doctor already figured out that most thinking stems from the lower regions. The dog did try to use his new testicles but Bulgakov left out the details.

I did like the narrative of the dog in the early chapter. Whoo-hoo-oo-hoo-oo-oo! The later shift to third-person narrative was subtle and well handled. And at the end we are brought back to the dog's point-of-view.

Bulgakov created a funny tale that was a metaphor, an analogy, a trope tale of Russia in the 1920's. Written in 1925 the book was immediately banned and only published in 1987. And in 1987 the book was still relevant because little had changed in Russia.

A fun little read. Now I'm off to lick myself. ( )

I read The Master and Margarita last year and liked it a lot, so I thought I'd try this earlier novel by Bulgakov. It's not as good, but it also features anthropomorphic animals and a dubious professor, and it also satirizes the Russian Revolution and communism, although that's not something I care much about. The plot is sort of Frankenstein crossed with Flowers for Algernon with an injection of Bulgakov's own brand of bizarreness, wherein a scientist replaces a dog's pituitary gland with a human's and discovers that the pituitary is the source of the hormones that dictate appearance, or something. The biology is ridiculous, but I guess that's not the point. There's a character named Poligraph Poligraphovich, and I think that sums things up nicely.

"You belong to the lowest possible stage of development," Philip Philipovich shouted him down. "You are still in the formative stage. You are intellectually weak, all your actions are purely bestial. Yet you allow yourself in the presence of two university-educated men to offer advice, with quite intolerable familiarity, on a cosmic scale and of quite cosmic stupidity, on the redistribution of wealth...and at the same time you eat toothpaste..." ( )

"Heart of a Dog" is a much less ambitious book than "The Master and Margarita." It satirizes a smaller swathe of Russian society and seems a prisoner of its own circular plot structure. It also has a less multi-dimensional cast and a more single-themed, malicious humor.

When Dr. Phillipovich defends himself against the housing committee that seeks to distribute his seven room apartment to various working class citizens, the book is at its comical best. Shvonder and his earnest and uneducated comrades make an excellent target for Bulgakov's wit; but, the balance of the novella (after the rather slow fifty page warm up) pits the Dog/Man against the refined doctors and their easily scandalized domestic help, which is repetitive and unrewarding. The humor value of the Dr. turning different colors in fits of apopleptic rage diminishes almost page by page. It would be worth reading this book if you intend to compare it to other stories of animal-human metamorphosis or promothean/homunculus narratives. I can't recommend it for a stand alone reading. Bulgakov's "Margarita" is more worth a reader's time. ( )

Bulgakov entirely destroys the concept of Russian literature most of us got from college - dull, grey, plodding and intense. Instead, Bulgakov is witty, irreverent, fantastical and intensely colorful. The political implications of his works are so well intertwined with the stories that you can pay them intense attention or ignore them entirely as you choose. His plotlines are hilarious and just twisted enough to keep you guessing and surprised.

While ‘Master and Margarita’ is clearly his greatest work, and one of my all time favourite books, ‘Heart of a Dog’ is a brilliant short novel that provides a great introduction to not just Bulgakov, but to Soviet era Russian literature in general.

When you start reading ‘Heart of a Dog’ be sure you have five or fix straight hours free ahead because once you start you cannot stop till the end. The translation is not the best, but the strength of the story transcends any niggles about the language.

This book was published in 1925 when the Bolshevik revolution was at its prime and talking against the authorities almost meant certain death. While is it specifically a satire on the USSR under communism, it also is a satire on human nature. The satire is built on an interplay of the distinctions (or similarities?) between men and dogs - and the dangers of being so self-confident as to blur that line.

Sharik, a stray dog, is picked up by a famous scientist (modeled on Pavlov, he of the salivating dog experiments) and given human organs in an experimental operation. Sharik takes on a semi-human appearance and learns to speak; he becomes a party member and even manages to get the scientist in trouble with the Communist Party house committee and the authorities.

This is a far better analysis of 'climbing the ladder' than many modern specialised management books.

Bulgakov is one of those unique writers who can write about social issues without being condescending, satire without being elitist and boring. He has the ability to keep the reader’s attention and write books like this that, in spite of their short size, will make you want to read again and again. He lived in one of the most turbulent times of the 20th century and in one of the most turbulent nations of that era, yet wrote with such humour and style that it gives faith that the human spirit can never be broken. ( )

Very disturbing, but extremely well-written. Bulgakov makes the reader question animal and human natures, and which is more brutal. ( )