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Stargazing Dog (2008)

by Takashi Murakami(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1561636126 (ISBN13: 9781561636129)

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

NBM Publishing

series

星守る犬

review 1: This lovely, melancholy graphic novel about love, abandonment, loyalty, loss and death appears simple at first, but unfolds as a complex story of a man's death, with that of his dog. The story unfolds retrospectively, from the perspective of the dog, and tells of the loss of the man's job, his health, his wife and daughter. Having nothing left to lose, he and his dog set out on a journey along the sea. The dog falls ill, needs surgery, and the man sells his few remaining possessions to pay the vet bill. Having no money, the man drives his car into a field near a campground and dies soon after from his heart condition. The first part of the story is narrated by the dog; the second part, by a social worker responsible for identifying the man's body, which is found more ... morethan a year after his death, with the body of the dog near him, who had been dead about three months. The sweet love of this stargazing dog and its sad death, in parallel with the memory of the social worker's memories of his grandparents' death and the love of a dog in his own childhood are a tender reflection on the sweetness of love and the fragility of life.
review 2: STARGAZING DOG by Takashi Murakami is a slim graphic novel that managed to have me in tears by the time I finished reading it. I can't imagine many animal lovers, let alone dog owners, being unmoved by it either. That being said, I must also admit that STARGAZING DOG is an odd little offering, or at least it was for me, and I love GN's. Maybe it was due to it more "manga" styling or perhaps it was the rather surrealistic story itself, but this was a quirky reading experience. I can't wait to hear what some of my students have to say about it once the school year begins again. less

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