It's a novella- quite short. That would have been okay, except the writing style and some of the content just didn’t work for me. It’s the story of a dog’s life, a boxer. He’s born into a family in D.C., plays with his siblings, learns human language from the people around him and watching television. So from the very beginning in the book, the dog was discussing human concerns and what they did as if he easily understood everything. (Far beyond what I think even a very intelligent dog would grasp). It reminded me a lot of Black Beauty, albeit a lot briefer, rough-around-the-edges and of course, a modern setting- as the dog goes through so many different hands, before finally ending up in a loving home. His first home, where his mother lives, is with a poor family. The mother can barely feed all the kids well, let alone the dogs. A man who comes to the apartment to do some work sees the dogs and immediately cajoles the owner into giving him a puppy. So Buster goes to a new home. Here he’s purportedly the son’s pet, but really there as a status symbol for the owner, and because he hopes to make money breeding him. The dog is beaten for wrongdoing, corrected with a pinch collar, and often left tied out in the yard. Eventually the owner gets reported and Buster is taken by animal control officers, but he busts loose and runs free before they reach the shelter. He knows and fears what that is, from having heard people (and his mother) mentioning it. Runs around on the streets for several days, hungry and getting sick from eating garbage. Then he’s taken in by an old man who just lost his beloved elderly dog. Soon it’s apparent the old man can’t take care of him properly, and gives him to his grown son. This man treats him decently, but makes his living as a drug dealer. When he’s caught by law enforcement, the dog ends up in a shelter for real this time. His owner eventually gets freed from jail and comes for the dog, who thinks that life is good again. But that man’s mode of living isn’t stable, more bad things happen, the dog finds himself at loose ends and runs on the streets again. This time he’s picked up by someone who finds him wandering in a park. He’s taken him by a very nice family, and all is good at last. The end. ( )

I enjoyed reading about Buster, the dog, and the people in his life. It was an up and down life, but I loved Buster's spirit of loyalty (when it was earned) and independence (when it was needed). I appreciate Early Reviewers making this book available and George Pelecanos for writing it. ( )

4.5 stars I really liked reading from the dog’s point of view. I work with dogs who are bounced from one owner to the next, many times over. Well done! ( )

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I intend to read more.

Buster is the star of the book, of course, but the residents of Southeast Washington DC and their struggles. Buster tells his story as well as theirs. I fell in love with Buster. I wanted to reach into the book and give him a big hug. I was there with him thru the good and the bad. This is the kind of book I’d like to last forever. ( )

I'm a huge fan of Pelecanos' work, have lived in the DC area for many years, and am a dog lover, so this book immediately drew me in. It's a remarkable work that is distinct from his other work but will seem very familiar to Pelecanos' long-time readers. This is a novella told from a dog's perspective. That could have been silly or twee, but because Pelecanos is such a strong writer, it's not. This is a vibrant, suspenseful, and, yes, poignant, story about a dog named Buster (a boxer) who grows up in a loving family but then over the course of his life gets passed from owner to owner and ends up in the pound for a time. Buster has agency--it wouldn't be much of a story if he didn't--but he's also just a dog who is often at the mercy of the humans around him. Pelecanos is able to help the reader experience what that mixture of agency and powerlessness must be like. Pelecanos' use of time in the story, since it is told from Buster's perspective, was especially interesting, and rang true to me. In a dog's life, there must surely be some key vignettes and experiences that stand out, interspersed between long periods of routine where nothing much happens out of the ordinary. Here, we're able to follow Buster from puppyhood through to old age, all in what feels like a fairly short book.

This novella is not, of course, just about the life of a dog. It is also about the people of Southeast DC and their struggles to survive in an area stricken with crime and poverty. Buster's life shares a number of parallels with those of many young black men in DC who grow up without fathers, without a lot of hope, having regular brushes with the law and violence. Pelecanos has told similar stories for many years but this story of Buster allows him to come at those all-too-familiar problems from a new angle.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and recommend it to anyone who loves dogs and is interested in stories about life on the street. ( )