Lives of the Monster Dogs
Encyclopedia
Lives of the Monster Dogs (1997) is a novel by Kirsten Bakis
first published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It was named a New York Times Notable Book of the year in 1997, and one of the Best Books of the Year by the Village Voice. It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and won the Bram Stoker
Award for Best First Novel. It has been translated into eight languages and made into a stage play.
, and barricade themselves inside, Cleo finds herself one of the few human witnesses to a mad, lavish party that may prove to be the final act in the drama of the lives of the monster dogs.
Kirsten Bakis
-Life:Bakis was raised in Westchester County, New York, and graduated from New York University in 1990. She is a recipient of a Teaching/Writing Fellowship from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, a grant from the Michener/Copernicus Society of America....
first published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It was named a New York Times Notable Book of the year in 1997, and one of the Best Books of the Year by the Village Voice. It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and won the Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
Award for Best First Novel. It has been translated into eight languages and made into a stage play.
Plot summary
A group of elegant monster dogs in top hats, tails, and bustle skirts become instant celebrities when they come to New York in 2008. Refugees from a town whose residents had been utterly isolated for a hundred years, the dogs retain the nineteenth-century Germanic culture of the humans who created them. They are wealthy and glamorous and seem to lead charmed lives - but they find adjusting to the modern world difficult, and when a young woman, Cleo Pira, befriends them, she discovers that a strange, incurable illness threatens them all with extinction. When the dogs construct their dream home, a fantastic castle on the Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, and barricade themselves inside, Cleo finds herself one of the few human witnesses to a mad, lavish party that may prove to be the final act in the drama of the lives of the monster dogs.