Published by Doubleday on October 15, 2024

Mark Haddon has to be my favorite living writer of short non-genre fiction. The eight stories gathered in this collection are nearly all gems.

Haddon often grounds stories in ancient history or mythology, finding new ways to make them relevant to a modern reader. The longest and — to me — the most interesting story is “The Quiet Limit of the World.” This story follows Tithonus who has been granted eternal life but not eternal youth by Eos. He ages slowly and discovers the curse of immortality; “what might have begun as grounds for envy or congratulations is tipping into something more sinister.” He leaves home because he does not want to endure the guilt of living when he will eventually bury his wives and children. Tithonus fights wars in the ancient world, survives the plague in the Middle Ages, is astonished by the destructive power of the twentieth century. Only Eos keeps him tethered to the world after he can no longer read or hear. The story is sad and touching.

Another favorite, “The Mother’s Story,” is the oddest entry, if only because it contains the sentence “My wife has given birth to a mooncalf.” Haddon explains that the story is “a reworking of the myth of Pasiphaë and her son Asterion, otherwise known as the Minotaur.” The woman must pretend to have been made pregnant by a bull to spare her husband the shame of fathering a repellant child. A scheme to use the child to terrorize (and thus control) the kingdom depends on a simple truth: “There is nothing more terrifying than the monster that squats behind the door you dare not open.” Followed years later by another truth that explains why people allow themselves to be ruled by leaders who hold power by making them afraid of others: “I sometimes think people get a great deal of unaccountable pleasure from being absolute fools.”

“D.O.G.Z.” retells Ovid’s version of the ancient myth of Actaeon. To punish him for viewing her mysteries as she was frolicking with other naked women in the woods, Diana turns Actaeon into a stag. The scene in which Actaeon is ripped apart by his hunting dogs is fittingly gruesome. The story has barely ended before the narrator begins to dissect it, comparing it to Acusilaus’s version and asking whether the story isn’t really about the dogs before exploring other dogs of literary fame as well as offering a poignant salute to Russian doggy astronauts. This is the only story in which it seemed to me that Haddon lost the plot.

“The Wilderness” is a tense story with the feel of a thriller. A woman is bicycling around the world to avoid coping with the loss of her brother. She has an accident while riding her bike in a remote area. Her rescuer saves her from death but brings her to a fenced-in place where she stumbles upon scientists experimenting with genetic editing. After a time, she wonders whether the scientists are turning her into an animal or whether she has she always been one. A daring escape leads to an encounter with other escaped women who are primed for revenge.

“The Bunker” might be an allegorical story. The protagonist is a nurse who finds herself from time to time transported to a bunker (a repurposed Cold War fallout shelter) in a postapocalyptic world. Is she losing her mind? The answer is unclear, although an exorcist who promises to lead her home apparently leads her to a terrifying new reality.

Also high on the strangeness scale is “The Temptation of St. Anthony.” The saint resists all the usual temptations that the devil puts in front of him before abandoning his solitary life to preach, only to realize that the devil is tempting him with a new trap.

“My Old School” is a boarding school story. The protagonist saves himself from bullying by betraying a school chum’s secret. Years later, the protagonist realizes how the betrayal affected the other student’s life.

Haddon explains that the shortest entry, “St. Brides Bay,” is written to accompany Virginia Woolf’s story, “The Mark on the Wall.” I probably should have read Woolf’s story to get more out of this one, which consists of an aging woman’s rambling thoughts as she attends a lesbian wedding. She contemplates progress and her mother and a woman named Lucy with whom she had a three-month fling when same-sex love was forbidden.

Haddon is a gifted storyteller and a prose master. Readers who love a carefully constructed sentence that is driven by original thought are a good audience for Haddon’s short stories.

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I like Mark Haddon's writing. A Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime is one of my favorites. I just couldn't finish this one. These are a series of stories that have a connection to Greek myths. I'm not a big fan of short stories.

Those who have read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" will be familiar with Haddon's ability to fully embody a unique, singular voice. This talent is on display in "Dogs and Monsters", a collection of eight short stories either directly or tangentially related to Greek Mythology. Despite the wide range of themes, each story in the collection deals in some way with themes of grief, loss, or transition. I wasn't surprised to learn that Haddon is also a poet, as his spare, wintery prose is elegant and artful. My two favorite stories in the collection were "The Mother's Story" - a sorrowful retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of the Minotaur's mother, Pasiphäe, and "The Quiet Limit of the World", a heartbreaking take on the Greek myth of Tithonus and Eos that deals with the unfathomable sadness of immorality. As bleak as this collection was, I was impressed by the powerful depth of emotion communicated by Haddon's writing. His author's note acknowledges the triple heart bypass surgery that her underwent halfway through writing the collection, a detail which illuminates Haddon's likely personal connection to many of the latter themes. While this collection certainly isn't one to uplift, it is nonetheless an achievement of thematic complexity and emotional density.

I am so thankful to Doubleday Books, Mark Haddon, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

this was an incredible collection of stories... i will certainly seek out this author's work in the future

I am hardly alone in my enjoyment of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time but I have had a tough time finding joy in Haddon's subsequent outings. This collection of short stories was uneven, in my opinion.

I really enjoyed this collection, particularly "The Mother's Story". I think it was marketed as the stories all being based on mythology, which was slightly misleading.

Mark Haddon's Dogs and Monsters is an outstanding story collection that breathes fresh life into both ancient myths and modern dystopias. Each story is a powerful blend of humanity and mythology, from the haunting portrayal of Tithonus' eternal aging in "The Quiet Limit of the World" to the deeply emotional reimagining of the Minotaur myth in "The Mother's Story" (which I found parallels in the story found in Netflix's Greek god show KAOS). Haddon masterfully explores themes of love, mortality, and moral choices with his sharp, evocative prose, making these stories both thought-provoking and profoundly empathetic. This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction that challenges the boundaries of genre and storytelling.

First, I loved Haddon's book, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." I looked forward to reading his latest, but short stories usually aren't my cup of tea. But Haddon is a gifted writer, and I applaud him for tackling the idea of adapting Greek mythology and works by H.G. Wells and Virginia Woolf to stories dealing with more modern day issues of love, mortality and despair. The first entry, "The Mother's Story," made me cry. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I did not care for "DOGZ" at all. I really enjoyed "The Bunker," "The Wilderness" and "St. Brides Bay."

This is a collection that I will think about and re-read.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC, and the opportunity to review this book.

I think this was a really solid collection of short stories. I particularly loved the re-imagining of different Greek myths. There wasn't a weak story in the collection, they were all fantastic.

Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Mark Haddon is an exceptional, very highly recommended collection of eight stories that utilize Greek myths, dystopian concepts, and human and animal behavior in the narratives. This is the best short story collection I've read in years. The writing is superb in every single story included in the imaginative collection. The keen insight and empathy into the circumstances and spirit of the human condition presented make every story mesmerizing and compelling.

The stories include:
The Mother's Story: a narrative following the myth of Pasiphae and Asterion, or the Minotaur; briefly touches on Icarus too.
The Bunker: a short post-apocalyptic tale.
My Old School: a contemporary narrative featuring the bullying and cruelty that can be found among adolescents, and the aftermath.
D.O.G.Z.: a recounting of the myth of Acteon, who was turned into a stag after glimpsing the naked goddess Diana.
The Wilderness: a science fiction someone is doing extreme cycling through the wilderness and crashes; genetic engineering
The Temptation of St. Anthony: a hermit who has dedicated his life to God.
The Quiet Limit of the World: a re-imagining of the immortal love story of Tithonus and Eos, the goddess of Dawn.
St. Brides Bay: written to accompany Virginia Woolf's short story, "The Mark on the Wall." (This was the only story that I didn't love.)

Those who appreciate literary short stories (or literary stories period), should absolutely read Dogs and Monsters. It was a pleasure to read this extraordinary collection. Thanks to Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for the DRC.

I've been a fan of Mark Haddon but this collection of short stories left me feeling a little cold. His writing is as evocative and provoking as ever which is a plus. However, I found the actual stories he told to vary wildly in terms of interest with some being quite dark which was a bit of a surprise. Also, only a handful of the stories told were inspired by Greek myths (unless I'm mistaken) so anyone coming in expecting all of these to be inspired by mythology should be aware.

Haddon’s (The Porpoise, 2019) newest short-fiction collection contains eight varied tales which reach from the ancient past to a dystopian present and share a loosely unifying theme of people’s monstrousness to one another and to animals and the consequences, if any. The volume starts strong with a royal mother’s account of her efforts to rescue her beloved disabled child from her despotic husband in a brilliant re-envisioning of the Greek minotaur myth in an Elizabethan-like setting. In 1976, cliquishness and bullying reach tragic heights at a British boys’ boarding school. The nature of dogs, both trusting and vicious, takes center stage in a creative yet emotionally distressing story that metamorphoses while moving across centuries, beginning with the myth about the hunter Actaeon and the goddess Diana. Haddon’s variation on the story of Tithonus, who is granted immortality but not agelessness by his divine lover, is an expansive, thought-provoking journey of adventure and continual loss, concluding in modern times. Some tales confuse more than enlighten, and the overall effect is somber, while the best stories offer elegant prose and astute insights into humanity. (Published in Booklist, 9/15/24)

Mark Haddon is an incredibly talented storyteller. Throughout this collection there were several stories that completely engrossed me. I particularly enjoyed “The Mother’s Story,” “D.O.G.Z.” and “The Wilderness.” While “D.O.G.Z.” was on the shorter end, I found the bent interesting and creatively refreshing. Haddon has a gift for creating sympathetic characters – both human and animal.

This being said, there were several stories that I found lackluster and believe could have been omitted from the collection. I would personally not recommend this book without significant trigger warnings for child abuse, suicide, and animal abuse. The amount of dark content honestly took me for surprise.

My biggest issue with this collection is the marketing. I found myself confused repeatedly trying to understand which Greek myths were being represented, only to learn that the majority of tales are actually inspired by popular texts like The Island of Dr. Moreau, or purely from the author’s imagination. Where only three stories reference Greek mythology, I feel like the description of the book is misrepresentative. I likely would not have picked it up if I had done more research. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed many aspects of Dogs and Monsters, and could have easily enjoyed some of the stories therewithin if they had been standalone novels.

I like Mark Haddon's writing. A Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime is one of my favorites. This one, however, is a big departure. The writing is excellent, but I just could not finish it. These are a series of stories that have a connection to Greek myths. I'm not a big fan of short stories, and (for me) these were just weird. I read the first two and decided that this is not the book for me. I'm sure others will love it, but I could not keep reading.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

It was fine. Some of the stories were interesting, some seemed pointless to me. Like "My Old School"- that just felt depressing and anticlimactic. "The Quiet Limit of the World" was interesting, but dragged on too long. Just overall, this wasn't all that exciting to read.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Mark Haddon's previous works - from Costa Novel winner ,The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time to an earlier unusual and prizewinning short story collection, The Pier Falls. Dogs and Monsters contains eight mesmerizingly imaginative, deeply-humane stories that use Greek myths and contemporary dystopian narratives to examine mortality, moral choices and the many variants of love. If you read and loved Curious Incident, catch up with Haddon and continue to enjoy the ride.

Dogs and Monsters is a short story collection that has a great deal of depth.

Many of the stories are reimaginings of other tales- some from mythology, some from other writers, but all the retelling show truths about what it is to be human.

Some of the stories were pretty grim, and DOGZ was fairly graphic, but I did enjoy the main messaging in all the stories in this collection. I especially enjoyed the first two stories.

Overall this was an interesting, thought-provoking read that kept my attention.

I love Greek mythology, and I love this book's cover, but I did not love this book.

This collection of short stories delves into the many shortcomings of both gods and humans alike, examining their fallibilities, hubris, and desperate desires across various timelines and settings.
Although I appreciated the range of characters and stories that Haddon examined, the only story that truly resonated with me was "The Mother's Story," which was the very first in the collection.
Though the seven following stories were interesting, they lacked urgency and depth, and failed to grip me in any life-altering way.

This might be because the story of Pasiphae and the Minotaur was the only Greek myth that I recognized from the collection, but Haddon's twist was so entirely unique that it kept me intrigued until the very end. The rest of the stories fell short of this high expectation, though they were interesting enough to keep me reading.

Thank you to the publisher for this e-arc.