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The Plaque Dogs A Novel by Richard Adams
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The Plaque Dogs A Novel (edition 2007)

by Richard Adams

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,188417,185 (3.72)102
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:

Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, creates a lyrical and engrossing tale, a remarkable journey into the hearts and minds of two canine heroes, Snitter and Rowf.

After being horribly mistreated at a government animal-research facility, Snitter and Rowf escape into the isolationâ??and terrorâ??of the wilderness. Aided only by a fox they call "the tod," the two dogs must struggle to survive in their new environment. When the starving dogs attack some sheep, they are labeled ferocious man-eating monsters, setting off a great dog hunt that is later intensified by the fear that the dogs could be carriers of the bubonic plague… (more)

Member:Zurpel
Title:The Plaque Dogs A Novel
Authors:Richard Adams
Info:New York: Ballantine Books, (2007), Broschiert
Collections:Wishlist, Audiobooks
Rating:
Tags:wishlist, audible, audiobook

Work Information

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

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    Shardik by Richard Adams (Booksloth)
  2. 11
    Felidae by Akif Pirinçci (bidavi)
  3. 00
    Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (themulhern)
    themulhern: Animals interpreting as best they can the actions of the humans. Sometimes the effect is humorous.
  4. 01
    Pincher Martin by William Golding (Calantir)
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» See also 102 mentions

English (39)  Swedish (1)  All languages (40)
Showing 1-5 of 39 (next | show all)
This is a hard book to review because it is so painful to read. Overall it was well-written, though some of the middle sections could have used tighter editing, and the tagged-on ending, welcome as it was, just felt weird and a little too tongue-in-cheek for the tone of the rest of the book (though in an England where the bad guys are named things like Boycott and they run a research lab called ARSE, I suppose it fit better than it might have otherwise). But the fact is that a book that starts with descriptions of animal abuse, and proceeds with animal suffering for a few hundred pages, can be important and well-executed, but will never be the ideal for comforting evening reading by the fire. ( )
  rachel.gorham | Dec 20, 2023 |
An allegorical tale of love and the struggle of good against evil. Two dogs escape from a laboratory using animals in their experiments. I know I read it when it first came out and I know I enjoyed it, but I don't really remember much about it, so can't give it more than 3*. ( )
  BookConcierge | Jul 17, 2023 |
What a disappointment compared to Watership Down! 2 stars is generous. There is an extensive review on my shelf, but this book commits the cardinal sin of being boring . . .and 480 pages of boring is not good! ( )
  Anita_Pomerantz | Mar 23, 2023 |
Adams writes a book about two dogs who escape from an animal experimentation station. They are physically and mentally traumatized by the torture done to them, but they have no idea what is in store for them, trying to live as wild animals in the Scotland Highlands in winter.

This is a lovely tale and it's written with lovely language, and worth every one of its five stars. ( )
  burritapal | Oct 23, 2022 |
What do I begin with reviewing this book? It is more than just a book about two dogs who escape their cages in an animal research facility. It is about humanity, and the bond between domesticated dogs and humanity, and thoughtlessness and politics, and really just everything.

**Trigger Warning - animal experimentation**

The book begins with the larger of the two dogs, a large black Lab mix named Rowf, almost ready to finish his time in the tank. This is an experiment that documents how long he is able to maintain consciousness in a large metal tank full of water, until he finally sinks from exhaustion. When he is revived, he returns to his pen where his neighbor, Snitter, is finding a possible way out. And Snitter has undergone brain surgery to test who knows what. While humans can't see it, he has now a gift of the Sight without fully understanding how or why.

The two dogs make their way through the animal experimentation building till they are able to escape into the Lake District fells and thence away. Snitter, a fox terrier who had been a good man's pet until a horrible traffic accident, can't understand where all the houses and roads and men are. Rowf, who has never known anything but trouble from humans, is a little less confused but equally savvy that they have to learn to hunt. They are helped in this endeavor by a canny tod (fox for us Yanks) who teaches them how to kill sheep and raid a chicken coop. Naturally, these activities don't make them popular with the inhabitants of Coniston and Dunnerdale.

The storyline moves simultaneously between the dogs and tod, the sheep farmers, the men who run the animal research station (acronym A.R.S.E.), newspaperman Digby Driver, and various supporting characters. Richard Adams makes it clear in his preface that all the good people are real (though not necessarily alive at the same time) and all the bad people are made up. As an added bonus, this edition has marvelous drawings and maps of the extraordinary Lake District, and the local dialects are written as they would have been spoken.

Not an easy book to get through (see "Triggers" above), but definitely worth the effort. ( )
  threadnsong | Oct 22, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 39 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Adams, Richardprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Butler, JohnCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Piet EggenCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wainwright, A.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
QUEEN: I will try the forces
Of these thy compounds on such creatures as
We count not worth the hanging, but none human . . .
CORNELIUS: Your Highness
Shall from this practice but make hard your heart.

—Shakespeare, Cymbeline
There is in this passage nothing that much requires a note, yet I cannot forbear to push it forward into observation. The thought would probably have been more amplified, had our author lived to be shocked with such experiments as have been published in later times, by a race of men that have practised tortures without pity, and related them without shame, and are yet suffered to erect their heads among human beings.

—Dr. Johnson
Dedication
To Elizabeth, with whom I first discovered the Lake District.
First words
The water in the metal tank slopped sideways and a treacly ripple ran along the edge, reached the corner and died away.
Quotations
For we are free—free to suffer every anguish of deliberation, of decisions which must be made upon suspect information and half-knowledge, every anguish of hindsight and regret, of failure, shame, and responsibility for all that we have brought upon ourselves and others: free to struggle, to starve, to demand from all one last, supreme effort to reach where we long to be and, once there, to conclude that it is not, after all, the right place.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:

Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, creates a lyrical and engrossing tale, a remarkable journey into the hearts and minds of two canine heroes, Snitter and Rowf.

After being horribly mistreated at a government animal-research facility, Snitter and Rowf escape into the isolationâ??and terrorâ??of the wilderness. Aided only by a fox they call "the tod," the two dogs must struggle to survive in their new environment. When the starving dogs attack some sheep, they are labeled ferocious man-eating monsters, setting off a great dog hunt that is later intensified by the fear that the dogs could be carriers of the bubonic plague

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Book description
With the same warm sensitivity that made a bestseller of Watership Down, Richard Adams creates a lyrical and engrossing tale, a remarkable journey into the hearts and minds of two canine heroes, Snitter and Rowf, fugitives from the horrors of the animal research center.

The escape from man's cruelty is only the beginning of their chilling experiences as the flee to the isolation - and terror - of the wilderness.

First, they strike an unlikely bargain with a fox who will teach them to live by instinct alone if they agree to hunt with him. Then they find enemies springing up all around them - excitement seekers of all kinds - incited by an ambitious young reporter who calls the dogs carriers of a deadly plague.
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