The Voice Review

         Daniel Trask has written a short novel entitled “My Dog The meat Eater.” I’ll try to make some points about the book, but there are so many surprises in it from beginning to end that I have to tread lightly to not give away any crucial plot points. Let me start with one point about the book that I don’t want to be lost in the shuffle. That is the fact that I truly enjoyed this book. Let me slightly rephrase that- I truly enjoy this book. I’m technically finished with it, but I keep going back to check on a little point or two. The book is extremely clear, but things are left open-ended and my own interpretation of an event may change from day to day, or even mood to mood.

   Five men work together on a farm and the events that occur and the bonds they form are the central themes of the novel. Johnnie, Louie, and Enridgio are the characters I found sparking my interest. Bag and Bear are two others. The interesting thing is that you may find yourself relating more to these two, depending on who you are.

   I’m actually not going to go into detail beyond the first few pages so that I don’t take any of the surprise elements away from potential readers. Things change rapidly early on though. In this novel animals speak and have a separate life. They speak to each other and to people. Dan writes this in a way that is incredibly realistic. We don’t shake our heads and say “What?” He somehow slides us into things and has us believing these events. And make no mistake, these are serious events.

   The farm itself is a character with emotions. I really don’t know how Dan accomplishes the easy slides from reality as we know it to this fantastic place where inanimate objects live and breathe, but it works in a way I can’t explain here.

   A great thing is that as we read we sometimes find that we’ve entered a dream. We continue, but I often found myself checking back to see if I could find the splice between reality and dreams. You may find a dog speaking to a character. If you search back you may find the character getting tired or laying down a few pages earlier. There’s your clue that we’ve entered a dream (well, that and the talking dog.)