Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good for a first-timer....
Review: Ms.Bakis takes this fable home gracefully... Not that it doesn't have it's weak spots...but not bad at ALL for a first book.... I read she spent lots of years writing this one...hope she gets encouraged by the reviews and gives us more, but faster. :)
Rating: 
Summary: I found it haunting, unforgettable, and touching.
Review: The thing I love about Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is that he convinces me that he is not being whimsical, and that he is not making it up as he goes along. For me, "Lives of the Monster Dogs" has the same quality. I found it convincing. The city of Rankstadt, the dogs' opera, the genuinely horrifying depiction of the young Augustus Rank--I think these will stick in my mind forever. It does not surprise me at all that the book does not work for everybody. And, yes, I thought the ending was weak. Still, I wish Cleo and Lydia the best. I hope that Ludwig will meet "I, Claudius" in some literary Valhalla; I believe they would like each other. And I will certainly look for the ruins of Neuhundstein the next time I find myself in New York City after 2011. Is it just my imagination, or does something about the expression and bearing of the author, as shown on the back flap of the cover, resemble that of the monster dog on the front cover?
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre and fascinating view on the purpose of life
Review: I bought this book because of the NY Times review and in spite of some unfavorable comments by other customers. Glad I did -- it's not perfect, but it ends in a way that is consistent with the life view of its protagonists, the monster dogs. Along the way, it makes one wonder about the motives and attention span of the dogs' creator, and what it takes to keep the creator's spirit alive. By inference, it asks us to ponder the same questions about our own creator.
Rating:
Summary: sad dog story
Review: I read none of the hype on this book and had no expectations. I just saw the title and cover art and had to read it. I found it compelling, yet ultimately unsatisfying. It is a great story idea, with lots of wonderful texture, but no real character development. I want to know more about the dogs and Cleo, and felt that the author wanted to say more, but was overwhelmed by the task of fleshing out too much detail. Like many books in "7" range, it had a great opening and solid middle. The ease of its prose made it enjoyable reading. Perhaps for that reason, the ending failed to satisf .I was at the end before the book was ready to end. Nonetheless, I recommend the book as a challenging view on the way we look at technology and our pets.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: Upon reading this book, you may be disappointed to find it merely an very good work of speculative fiction, rather than a "dazzling, unforgettable meditation", as the NYT Book Review enthuses. Perhaps this letdown may explain the strange bimodal distribution of ratings Lives of the Monster Dogs earned on this page
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: It seems to me there's a lot of nitpicking going on about a tremendous work from an enormously promising author. Everything in this book is hauntingly gripping, like an odd dream you can't shake. Of course, the science of it--transforming dogs into walking, talking, thinking beings--is impossible. However, it isn't any less plausable than stitching together old body parts, and spiking them to life with electricity. It's a stunningly written piece of writing, and it would be a shame to miss out on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfectly Awful
Review: Grossly underdeveloped characters. Ridiculously unresearched scientific ramifications necessary to make the dog-to-near-human transformations even remotely plausible. Never fully realizes the dark, hallucinogenic mood that was apparently being sought after. A story with promise collapses upon itself almost immediately.
Don't waste your money or time.
Rating: 
Summary: A dazzling meditation on what it means to market
Review: I ordered this book express, as soon as it came out. "Haunting, fiercely original...A dazzling, unforgettable meditation on what it means to be human," is what I expected, and sure enough, the story is "fiercely original". Perhaps it's too original because the author in a hurried attempt to tie up loose ends created by talking dogs physiologically incapable of speaking, provides them with "voice boxes" yet ignores the specialized areas of the brain necessary for speech which are absent in canines. I suppose I'm being petty because the story is more than that, it is a "dazzling meditation on what it means to be human"--Puhleez! Flat, cardboard characters apparently animated by the publisher's demands for a set number of pages and inflated with marketing gas do not leave one, eyes to the ozone, marveling about what it means to be human.
There are, to be sure, dazzling passages, e.g.: the excerpt from the mad inventor's journal (pp. 88-95) should be read by everybody who appreciates lyric
Rating:
Summary: Don Imus would like this book.
Review: It's funny and edgy, and warm but not too sweet. It's adreamlike fairy tale without your typical fairy tale ending. Andthere's a photograph of Four-Legged Fred on the cover.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Like so many others, I "bit" the promotional brouhahaabout this book. As a lover of humans, dogs and New York, I expecteda lot more depth, and a lot more tying of loose ends. The ending was horrible, and the events leading up to it were never clearly resolved. It's almost as though Ms. Bakis got tired of writing, and wanted to finish quickly. Unfortunately, the glowing recommendations, and the disappointing reality make it difficult for me to hold great faith in other reviews. I guess I'll have to return to my old standby: The New York Times, and particularly Michiko Kakutani.
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