The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase

“Toru was struck by a thought: maybe Hikaru and Tamon had known each orher in another life. That was how close they seemed to be. They were like old souls who found each other, or a couple falling in love at first sight. Their bond was ironclad, their trust in each other absolute.”

The Boy and the Dog

This book isn’t at all what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have always enjoyed starting my year off reading translated fiction. There was at one point (and maybe there still is) a JanuaryInJapan hashtag making its way around instagram, and I loved seeing it and participating. I can’t remember if I read any translated fiction last January, but I was determined to start this year the same way. I finished this book this morning while it lightly snowed outside which felt very cozy.

The Boy and the Dog is kind of a sad and yet hopeful book. As all books about dogs tend to be. Tamon is a dog who was separated from its owner during a Japanese tsunami. He is constantly trying to make his way back to a particular person, but in the meantime, he runs into a few other people whose lives he touches in unusual ways.

The book is broken up into six shorter stories about Tamon’s journey through Japan as he is temporarily taken care of by a few different individuals of varying backgrounds. All of them have the understanding though that Tamon is not theirs, not truly. But they refer to him as a guardian angel who is there for a short time to watch over them before he gets where it is he truly wants to go.

At its core, this book is about the important connection between humans and dogs. About how dogs can sense much more than we will ever understand and how if treated kindly, they will take care of us too. It also shows how much the presence of a dog in one’s life can truly change a person. And always for the better.

Tamon is such a wonderful dog and I really loved reading about his journey. I have a lot of feelings about this book, but I am purposefully being slightly vague as to not give too much away. I believe this is Seishu Hase’s only novel that has been translated into English, but I would definitely try more of her writing if I could.