In The Dog's World (Book Review)

Book: Puma - A Soldier's Dog

Author: Richa Kashyap

Publication: Quignog 

Puma - A Soldier's Dog by Richa Kashyap is a heart-rending story of an Indian pariah breed pup who is rescued, adopted by an army officer whom he lovingly calls ‘Dadda’ and trained to become a soldier. Narrated by Puma himself, the story takes us through the twists and turns of Puma's life where he is immensely loved and pampered by his ‘Dadda’, faces hostility from various people and dogs within the cantonment, gets lost searching for his ‘Dadda’, meets new human and doggie friends in the process and eventually re-uniting with his ‘Dadda’. 

Puma takes us through the process of becoming a canine soldier, going through the rigors and discipline that every soldier should imbibe. He tells us, how he overcomes mountain-high challenges and faces a shocking conclusion for no fault of his. But eventually in the end, redeeming himself and proving to be the big star of the entire cantonment and the regiment. The ending has an unexpected, somber twist that no pet lover would want to go through.

The book is well written with no room for errors. You will strongly fall in love with the central character, Puma, and feel his happiness, pain and agony. The narration is very strong and it puts the reader into Puma’s shoes in every scene.

The entire book first reflects upon the neglect that the Indian breed dogs have to face in India. Born in the streets and having to fend for themselves, 99% of them live and die in the streets of India. In the book, Puma is lucky to have been rescued from the streets and given a life of happiness and comfort that many specially bred dogs live with their owners. The message that people should adopt Indie breeds is very strong in this book. They adapt and survive in any condition, have strong senses and stay active throughout their lives.

As a dog-lover, I could strongly empathize with Puma and the entire Indian pariah breed. Richa Kashyap has done a wonderful job here and I wish she comes up with more such books.  

Ratings - I will give 4/5 to the book mainly for the freshness of the story, narration, and good quality writing.  

About The Guest Reviewer:

Varun N Rao is a Senior Content Specialist at a US-based software company in Bengaluru. In his 'strictly me' time, he creates realistic portraits with pencils and paints, paintings and funny caricatures. He also creates digital works and explores new trends in the art world both, digital and fine art. Follow his works at www.facebook.com/vartoonss/
Apart from this, he helps his wife to create delicious, mouth-watering chocolates under the banner Eat More Chocolates (www.facebook.com/eatmorechocolates).

When not creating portraits or preparing chocolates, he indulges in some lazy time to read biographies, fiction and non-fiction books, editing his wife's articles/blogs/short stories or just watch movies, comedy serials etc.

I received a review copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.