War Dog

By: Martin Booth / Narrated By: Christian Rodska

Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins

Heart-stirring; a heroine to want the best for amidst the inhumanity of war

Going into War Dog, I guess I thought I’d be hearing something more akin to a kids’ book rather than to a good and solid Military History/Fiction effort. Don’t let that, however, make you think that I was in any way disappointed as I do so love some hard-hitting prose that brings war, with all that is chaotic and brutal, with all that is touchingly human, searingly to life.

The book starts innocently enough. Jet, a black Labrador mix, is Fred Parry’s dog, and she has joined him on one of his nighttime poaching raids. Caught in the very act of that poaching, Fred is arrested and separated from his beloved Jet. As they are parted, Fred begs the Sergeant to take care of Jet, see that she finds a home and is not destroyed.

Though the good Sergeant tries hard, nobody wants Jet, knowing that she’s a poaching dog and most likely has a plethora of wily ways. She will NOT make a good house dog, but a visiting military man sees that she miiiiight make a good Infantry dog. He takes her on just in the knick of time, saving her from being euthanized.

That she’s a poaching dog turns out to serve her well, used as she is to loud gunshots (Fred’s gun used during their hunts), used as she is to stealth. That she’s sweet-natured and loyal to those that are kind is a definite plus. And the story follows her from her enlistment in the WWII programs which took in family dogs and trained them for battle, through to deployments, and all the way to being a search and rescue dog for bombed out cities after horrific air raids.

What I really liked was how unstinting author Martin Booth was with his depiction of war. Tho’ I’ve always had a massive interest in Dunkirk, put a dog in that horror show of a situation, with hunger and thirst, fear and ever-increasing hopelessness, with perpetual strafing runs by the Nazis, and suddenly I’ve got something new to mull over. Soldiers spoken to turn to bloodied corpses in the water, gently floating away in a sea of pink blood. Helplessness to move as one tries to stay in line for a boat, even as one suffers shrapnel wounds and watches others die.

Terrific!

Add to that stellar narration by Christian Rodska, and I experienced a marvelous book. He really throws himself into voicing different people caught up in the time of war, be they drill sergeants, be they terrified or even bored fighting men. Have Rodska turn Fred Parry into a truly wonderful human who will do anything to try to find his dog or will die because there’s nothing left to live for? I’m sold! What a great performance by this narrator I’ve not had the pleasure of listening to before.

At less than 4 hours, Booth manages to pack a whole lot of WWII’s major turning points, major iconic imagery into one neat little package of Jet as she goes to Bess, then to Jess, working doggedly ( >Pun intended< ) alongside men and civilians caught during fraught times. I was happy to hear of something of the newer things I’d learned when I’d listened to The Splendid and the Vile (Well, new to me…!), and air raids and Blitzkrieg were given a precious face in a fearfully trapped and lonely boy at one point.

Highly recommended, and I’m tickled to death that I went in with lower expectations (Kids’ book) and found depth and emotion, action and trauma and drama instead. Well worth your time.

The only thing Kid-ish about it? Maybe, just maaaybe, there’s a Happily Ever After?

Dunno, as in war: Is there really such a thing?