A Dog's Journey

A Dog's Journey
by W. Bruce Cameron

A Dog's Journey is apparently book #2 of A Dog's Purpose series.  I did not read book one, but found this could stand alone. 

I've read some animal books (cat or dog) that I have considered very good but I didn't feel this story measured up. 

The story involves the reincarnation of the main dog character over the lifetime of the human he/she is meant to be for.  It's an interesting concept but it didn't quite work for me.  While Molly/Max/Toby is returning to find or be found by his/her human, the other puppies in the litter don't seem to have the same mission or goal. This leaves me to wonder if this dog is unique rather than the norm. 

The story is told by the dog and therefore does not get very deep into the human issues that make up the book. This leaves me a little wanting for a "meatier" story.  

The main human character of the story is a woman named CJ, picking up when she is a teen living with her narcissistic single mother. The dog at this point is Molly.  CJ's mother is not a dog person and makes life miserable for Molly and CJ in her attempts to remove Molly from their lives. 

Molly next comes back as Max and finds CJ as a twenty-something adult living in New York City. CJ's life is still less than enviable.  Although I am not entirely sure how Max's presence influences CJ's life, CJ does begin to recognize what is good in her life and things begin to turn around. 

Another gap in time and Max returns as Toby.  CJ is approaching the twilight of her life and we find more about how CJ's life has turned out. 

Although the story wasn't as flushed out as I would have liked it did make me emotional in the appropriate places and laugh when the story or dialog called for it.  All in all I give A Dog's Journey 3 of 5 shots.