mat_tobin's review
5.0
Set in England in the year 1381, Branford's novel takes place during the uprising of the peasants against the taxtations which were driving them to poverty. Yet this historical has an unusual twist in which we almost have an observer-narrator of sorts in the guise of a hunting dog whose thoughts and are as human as yours or mine.
As a form for looking afar (emotionally) yet physically close, the narrator offers an almost detached view of the atrocities which befell thousands during these oppressive times and she can be seen as a true moral compass in times where morality seems to have evaded much of the country. I soon found myself caring for and placing the deepest trust in her.
What struck me most though was not the excellent storyline or sense that the landscape which she lives in is so well evoked, it is the masterful prose. Each sentence is a treat, each reflection and observation meaningful and deeply touching. Although I state that this could be shared with KS2, I only mean Year 6 and even then the most mature and reflective of readers.
As a form for looking afar (emotionally) yet physically close, the narrator offers an almost detached view of the atrocities which befell thousands during these oppressive times and she can be seen as a true moral compass in times where morality seems to have evaded much of the country. I soon found myself caring for and placing the deepest trust in her.
What struck me most though was not the excellent storyline or sense that the landscape which she lives in is so well evoked, it is the masterful prose. Each sentence is a treat, each reflection and observation meaningful and deeply touching. Although I state that this could be shared with KS2, I only mean Year 6 and even then the most mature and reflective of readers.
wafer's review against another edition
4.0
A small novella written from the perspective of a hunting dog during a 14th century peasant revolt.
Can I just say that this is one of my favorite titles? It rolls off the tongue so well, and what a perfect summation of what makes a dog different from a wolf, that experience of knowing fire, bed, and bone.
Branford’s prose is such a treat, so uniquely lyrical and succinct. She sells the perspective quite well, though I do think it might have been more interesting had she not taken the approach of having the unnamed protagonist able to comprehend human speech. It’s very War Horse in that regard.
Can I just say that this is one of my favorite titles? It rolls off the tongue so well, and what a perfect summation of what makes a dog different from a wolf, that experience of knowing fire, bed, and bone.
Branford’s prose is such a treat, so uniquely lyrical and succinct. She sells the perspective quite well, though I do think it might have been more interesting had she not taken the approach of having the unnamed protagonist able to comprehend human speech. It’s very War Horse in that regard.
grubstlodger's review against another edition
3.0
I needed something light between ‘Middlemarch’ and ‘Humphrey Clinker’ and settled on ‘Fire, Bed & Bone’ by Henrietta Branford. Expecting a dog’s-eye view of the peasant’s revolt, I got something a little different.
Again, my choice for a little light reading was rather skew-whiff. This book includes torture, murder, disease, animal-cruelty and lots of domestic abuse. With just over 100 pages in a large print, it may be a children’s book and physical light, but it’s not light reading.
While the book is told from the point of view of an un-named dog, it is more about the tenacity of life rather than history. Her masters are swept up in the periphery of the revolt, she hears some talk of King and Barons and they meet John Ball briefly - but in many ways the human lives aren’t important except how they impinge on the dog’s story. We start with her giving birth to three pups and ends with her reflecting on the pups that made it and those that didn’t, concluding that ‘it takes a lot of puppies to make one dog’. The peculiarly bleak take-away from the book being that it’s worth throwing life after life at the wall, in the hope that some survive. (What a mixed metaphor).
The dogs were suitably doggish, lots of attention to body language and smell and a different way of structuring their own society, but they did overhear (and understand) a lot of on-the-nose dialogue about things they couldn’t possibly know or understand. Though there was a doggishness to them, they didn’t quite embody the other-natured quality of animals the way the rabbits in ‘Watership Down’ did but I suppose the dog did live in and around humans.
There was a particularly unnerving chapter where the dogs and humans hang out at an abandoned house and the dogs see peculiar shadow-people with very faint scents that live out some gory period of history. A dog’s-eye view of ghosts in an interesting idea - especially when she then sees her master hover and the air and we know the premonition of hanging only has so long to take place.
Overall, this book was strange and hinted at something stranger still, which its brevity and audience of children meant it couldn’t fully deliver.
noodles01's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
bookthia's review against another edition
4.0
This was lent to me by a good friend who is, like me, a literacy coach at her school. She insisted I must read it. I'm so glad she did. This simple (but not simplistic) story is told from the dog's point of view, yet it is historical fiction from 14th century England. It is written for a youth audience, so it doesn't delve into the 'why's' of history, only the what-was-happening info about "serfs" and how their work wasn't paid or valued. Still, its the dog's relationship with his owner that forms the crux of the tale and the soul of the story. Very worthy read.
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