"Dog Boy" by Eva Hurnung - A "Kirkus" Style Review

Settle in for a tale so bizarre and fantastic, you will not be able to stop thinking about it long after you’ve finished it.  It’s about a boy.  And his dog family.  And their struggle for survival on the frozen streets of Moscow. 

Romochka is a four-year-old boy who has been abandoned by his mother and uncle, left to die in an empty apartment building in the middle of Russia’s arctic winter.  In desperation, he follows a stray dog back to her den in the basement of an abandoned church and becomes part of her family, her pack of six sons and daughters.  There, in the coziness and warmth of the nest, Romochka grows up as a dog, hunting and killing prey, marking his territory with urine and slow-licking his brothers and sisters to sleep at night.  We see the gritty, poverty-stricken streets from his point of view, which has become a dog’s point of view.  He thinks, acts and moves like a dog.  His loyalty is to his dog family and his love for his dog mother is undying.  Although it’s a hard life, a struggle for survival every day, we see the beauty of family and togetherness in the pack’s world, the joy of a home to return to and the rewards of successful hunts.  It seems like such a sweet, if tough life.  But as Romochka begins to attract the attention of concerned humans, we see his world in a very different light.  The humans’ reactions to the cozy den are visceral – revulsion, disbelief, horror.  The stench of death and rot and the overwhelming filth make some of them physically ill.  We suddenly see that this is not a place for a human being to be living.  As the concerned humans try to bring Romochka back into the world, it becomes obvious that the definition of being “human” is a slippery thing indeed. 

This is a compelling and enjoyable read.  Eva Hornung did her research well and successfully transports readers into the world of animals from the animals’ perspectives.