My Name is Gucci: A Dog’s Story

>LOL I am in the doghouse with Amber. I should have celebrated International Dog Day on 26th August with celebratory posts about dogs in fiction, and she is only partially mollified because I am writing this review of a book featuring a canine narrator...

I am usually not keen on animal or non-human narrators. As a device to render a third person limited perspective, it's often just a gimmick, confining the perspective to the short life span of an animal and/or the capacity of the device to move about and 'see' what's going on. However, when it's done well, it can be clever, amusing and insightful.

Exceptions that have worked for me include

• 
  Night Blue (2021) by Angela O'Keeffe, narrated by a painting (see here)


• 
  Watership Down (1972) by

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• Richard Adams, narrated by rabbits, see here,
  


• Virginia Woolf's Flush (1933), a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog, seen through the eyes of the dog (see here), and


• 
  Family Skeleton (2016)by Carmel Bird, narrated by the 'skeleton in the cupboard), see here.
  

My Name Is Gucci by Sun Jung solves the problem of a companion animal's limited life span with reincarnation. Gucci is a rescue dog, who narrates the back story of his companion owner through his past lives which have connected with hers.

Gucci's past lives take place in Korea, and these aspects of the novel were especially interesting because I've read only a few books from that part of the world. (The Spouse has been there on business, but I haven't.) Sun Jung deftly solves the problem of needing to educate readers like me about Korean life, with the (unnamed) girl's Irish boyfriend. She inverts the stereotypical Irish reputation for superstitions and beliefs about fey folklore, by portraying him as often amused and gently sceptical about the girl's explanations of Korean superstitions and spiritual beliefs.

Through Gucci's memories of those past lives, Sun Jung unpacks the sorry story of the girl's family relationships in Korea, but also recounts heroic adventures they have had together. They don't always turn out as hoped, but these adventures expose the cruelty of animal exploitation in Korea and in Australia: puppy farms, greyhound racing and dog fights.

Generally, the mood is not sombre, and sometimes, is laugh-out-loud funny. In a Korean monastery is search of a ritual to banish the girl's distressing dreams, Gucci also shares his opinion of cats...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/09/22/my-name-is-gucci-a-dogs-story-2024-by-sun-ju... show less