In Terry Lee Caruthers’s historical fiction novel THE FAITHFUL DOG, a man named Louis joins the Fifty-Eight Illinois Infantry Regiment in 1862 to help Lincoln win the Civil War. As he leaves his family home, his dog, Bärchen, begs to come with him. Thinking the war will be easily won, Louis brings Bärchen along with him, but when soldiers begin deserting, Louis and the Fifty-Eight regiment are called to the front lines to fight in dangerous territory. Amidst cannons firing and bayonets clanging, tragedy befalls the regiment, and Bärchen becomes an unlikely hero, remaining by his master’s side until the very end. Based on a true story, the book is thoroughly researched and includes myriad authoritative sources at the end of the novel.
Unlike children’s stories that anthropomorphize animals or show their exact thoughts, THE FAITHFUL DOG conveys Bärchen’s canine behaviors, such as following Louis’s scent and overindulging in food, as a way to build his character and to move along the book’s plot. When the narrative follows the dog’s perspective, it stays on the outskirts of his mind and avoids overly personifying him, focusing instead on his actions and what drives him forward. This has the effect of retaining his dog identity while still endearing the audience to him and making him an empathetic character. His ears flick, he shakes his fur, he slinks and crouches and whines—direct and specific verbs and descriptors evoke distinct imagery of Bärchen’s movements, as well as the settings of scenes in which he participates or observes. Heightened canine senses expand the imagery, too, as Bärchen smells the “fetid odor of raw sewage, stagnant swamp waters, and rotting food and vegetation” or bacon and squirrel cooked over an open campfire. The book portrays the landscape of 1860s America in its historical and natural context—from the icy decks of a riverboat on the Ohio River to the “blinding undergrowth or thicket-filled ravines”—with similarly expressive language. The dialogue among human characters, as well, brings scenes to life.
Although Bärchen is an interesting and appealing protagonist, without a child as a main character, the book may lose the attention of its intended audience. Louis and the other soldiers often discuss military endeavors—albeit in approachable language that is easy for children to understand—that may be of little interest to youths. The book, too, does not shy away from violence, though the sometimes brutal and gory scenes of battle and Bärchen hunting evoke lasting powerful emotions. Sophisticated words like “bivouacked” are used with understandable context. Movement from Louis’s home to the front lines is slow, and it takes a while for the more captivating action to get going. Those who become immersed in the story’s impressively vivid narrative style, though, will be rewarded with the emotional pull of a dog-man relationship akin to that of Call of the Wild or Where the Red Fern Grows, with a heartbreaking climax and cathartic conclusion to match.
Captivating sensory imagery elevates Terry Lee Caruthers’ well-researched historical story, THE FAITHFUL DOG, featuring a lovable canine protagonist, whose minimal anthropomorphization endears and intrigues and will appeal to children and adult readers alike.
~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader