Rating: 3/5 stars

I picked up Dogs while visiting the library this past week and was able to read it in an afternoon. That’s a bit unusual for me; while I’m a fast reader, I often take at least three or four days to get through one of Kress’ novels. They’re usually quite dense in terms of plot and I have to stop and “take a break” in order to keep the novel straight in my mind.

Not so this novel, even though there were points where I wasn’t certain. Although the narrative stays in the third person this time (one of my past complaints about Kress has been overuse/misuse of the first-person viewpoint), the focus still jumps back and forth. I don’t recall a single point in the book where the focus stayed on the same character in two consecutive chapters.

While the narrative is well-structured and tight, the frequent focus shifts meant I wasn’t able to drum up any empathy or emotional response as a reader. Just as I would get comfortable with Tessa, the focus would shift to Cami or Ed and their particular take on the events as they unfolded. Kress never stayed long enough with a single character to allow for the in-depth development she has shown herself capable of in other books such as those in the Beggars series.

This detracted from the book, because it meant that Tessa’s misadventures in London were, frankly, uninteresting; and the relationship with her sister is so poorly explored that it leaves me wondering why Kress even put the sister in there if not for the oh-so-convenient way it allowed for a passport substitute. It also meant that the developing relationship between Tessa and Jess came across as utterly false. Never once did we see any anger, caring or worry on either of their parts except for two scenes where it felt very artificial.

Had Kress made more room in her books for the main characters by spending less time with the secondary characters, it might have been easier to “get lost in” the plot. As it was, the setup felt more like a collection of news articles than a true novel. I’m not convinced this wasn’t intentional, as Kress clearly is trying to make a comment about modern society’s relationship with national and international events.

As a concept, the plot and setup are well-executed; and the subject matter is certainly very timely. But as a novel, just like some of Kress’ other work, the structure is so weak that it becomes an actual detractor. I’d love to see this revised to be a little more like a novel and less like a loose collection of anecdotes or news articles. In this format, though, it’s best for an afternoon of quick reading without much digestion or reflection.