Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around the final book of a contemporary trilogy told from the perspective of a dog I mostly liked and a YA classic I never read before that I sadly had to DNF.
Title: A Dog’s Promise
(A Dog’s Purpose #3)
Author: W. Bruce Cameron
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
First published: October 9th 2019
Publisher: Forge Books
Finished reading: July 26th 2021
Pages: 384
“Life ends, for humans the same as goats, and when it does, people mourn and a dog must be there for hugs and silence.”
After enjoying the first two A Dog’s Purpose books, I decided to read the final book too; both because I wanted to do so while memories of the first books were still fresh and because it ment I could complete my final series for my yearly goal. I ended up having contrasting feelings for this third story. On one hand, I once again loved the fact that the story is told from the perspective of a dog, and I loved seeing Bailey (and Lacey) appear over and over again. Their story was most definitely the reason I kept reading… Because the fact is: I wasn’t really that much of a fan of the human characters in A Dog’s Promise. The disability and assist dog angle was interesting, as well as the animal rescue angle, but the characters themselves somehow never convinced me completely. The fact that we also have more than one love triangle to deal with on top of a lot of family drama didn’t really help either… That said, the writing makes it easy to keep turning those pages and the dogs really make it still worth reading this story. Make sure to have some tissues at hand though just in case!
Title: The Outsiders
Author: S.E. Hinton
Genre: YA, Fiction, Contemporary
First published: April 24th 1967
Publisher: Puffin Books
Finished reading: July 26th 2021
Pages: 192
DNF at 25% (48 pages)
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
WARNING: it’s unpopular opinion time again!!
So… I definitely didn’t expect this to happen. I confess that I had never read the popular modern classic The Outsiders before, and as so many call it a favorite I decided that it was time to finally discover what this story was all about. The fact that the author wrote this when she was a teenager herself made me even more intrigued, and I’ve been looking forward to dive in. Unfortunately, this story and me clearly weren’t ment to be. Would I have enjoyed it better if I had read it when I was a teenager myself? Probably. But the fact is: as it is I REALLY struggled with this story. From the writing style to the fact that I couldn’t stand any of the characters or the way the story was told; there was just something about it all that really clashed with me and I just couldn’t bring myself to keep reading. I feel sad because I know so many people love this story, but The Outsiders sadly definitely wasn’t my cup of tea. I guess that makes this my third DNF of the year… Oh well, at least I can stop wondering about this classic now.
You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.
I know I read The Outsiders in junior high, but I don’t remember it all that well. I am sorry it wasn’t a good experience for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I might have left it too late to be honest… I think I would probably have enjoyed it a bit better if I had read it as a teenager.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have not read the Outsiders either, it’s never really appealed to me. I would read The Dog’s Promise, just because of the happy dog on the cover!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Be careful with the A Dog’s Purpose books though, as they are not as light and fun as the covers might make them appear! There are plenty of sad moments involved and tissues are probably needed before you finish the story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I read the Outsiders in school as well and don’t think it would appeal to me at all now. I enjoyed The Dog’s Promise for the same reason as you did, the dogs. I really enjoyed his last two books, even more, maybe because the humans were very likable as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think The Outsiders is one of those books where your age really matters; I think I would probably have enjoyed it a lot better if I had read it as a teenager. And I’m definitely going to try and get a copy of that duology!
LikeLiked by 1 person