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The Labrador Pact A Novel Matt Haig 9780670018529 Books

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The Labrador Pact A Novel Matt Haig 9780670018529 Books

Labrador Pact starts with the ending but you SO WANT the book to end differently. All along you are hoping something will change.
Prince is the family dog doing his best to uphold the "Labrador Pact". You really want Prince to succeed in his mission.......which as you learn is not an easy task. I can usually figure out some "stuff" in books but this one really throws some zingers in there.
Enjoyable book overall (but I don't know ANYONE who liked the ending). I almost wish authors would give readers multiple choices of how the book ends..... It's my first book by Matt Haig & it won't be my last.


Tags : The Labrador Pact: A Novel [Matt Haig] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>The story of a family in crisis and the loyal dog that holds them together, from the witty and imaginative author of The Dead Fathers Club</i></b>,Matt Haig,The Labrador Pact: A Novel,Viking,067001852X,Dogs;Fiction.,Duty;Fiction.,Labrador retriever;Fiction.,Dogs,Duty,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,Labrador retriever,Literary,Popular English Fiction

The Labrador Pact A Novel Matt Haig 9780670018529 Books Reviews

Crises of faith are not new subjects for fiction. But what's surprising about Matt Haig's novel, THE LABRADOR PACT, is the protagonist undergoing that crisis a dog. Not just any dog, but Prince, the eternally faithful companion of the Hunters, a family in crisis. Prince knows that it's his job to preserve the integrity of his Family at all costs, thereby helping to maintain the integrity of all human families everywhere.

Prince's family, however, seems bound and determined to test the abilities of their Labrador. Adam and Kate, the father and mother of the Hunter clan, have been married for years but find themselves drawn by desire to new neighbors, figures from the past who suddenly turn up in their relatively comfortable lives and wreak havoc with the sanctity of marriage. Then there's Charlotte, a 13-year-old Goth girl whose desire for freedom clashes tragically with her father's fears for the safety of his little girl. And there's Hal, whose plans to ace his A levels and go on to university might be permanently derailed by his tendency to experiment with drugs.

What's a lowly Labrador to do? In Prince's case, every new, perplexing turn of events in his human family raises more questions. Why do humans behave as they do? Is it really possible for a family dog to preserve the sanctity of the nuclear family? Prince and his fellow Labs certainly think so --- at least at first. Prince's mentor, a golden Lab named Henry, introduces Prince to the finer points of the so-called Labrador Pact --- a solemn vow that places Duty foremost and offers its adherents their Eternal Reward "If we protect human Families on earth, we will be united with our own in the afterlife." But as Prince grows increasingly entwined with his humans' fates, he begins to question everything, not only his Family's peculiar behavior but also Henry's motives and his own unflinching belief in the Pact. Again, what's a lowly Labrador to do?

Haig's previous adult novel published in the United States, THE DEAD FATHERS CLUB, was a clever, insightful retelling of the story of Hamlet from the point of view of a contemporary child. Astute readers will recognize Haig's affinity for Shakespeare in THE LABRADOR PACT as well, but they will also observe the author's nearly uncanny ability to use a naïve narrator to shed surprisingly sophisticated light on adult concerns and relationships.

Fiction about animals can tread an uneasy line between fantasy and sentimentality. Matt Haig toes that line brilliantly, resulting in a novel about animals that not only sheds light on that most sacred of all relationships --- the one between man and dog --- but that also offers a keen, clear-eyed outsider's insight on human foibles, good and bad. Readers fortunate enough to inhabit Prince's point of view for a while will walk away from THE LABRADOR PACT humbled, thoughtful and deeply affected --- and with a whole new perspective on their own relationships with man's best friend.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
I read this book simply because I like animal point of view stories.
Although I didn't really like it, I also didn't hate it. This was more of a good but not my type kind of story. When I got this book I didn't know it was an adult novel which is where most of my problems were with it.
From my viewpoint it is a well written and realistic story as reality often does not have a happy end especially when it comes to dogs who make mistakes as Prince does. Though the end is sad and predictable as the story starts off with Prince about to die, I thought this part was well done. It's true, being an animal lover, I would have loved if there was a surprise in the end and the dog had lived, but if he had I don't think the story would have felt real enough.
Typically I like reading children's and YA fiction so it's rare when I read adult novels as oftentimes I just can't fully get into them. Although there have been exceptions, this one wasn't one of them.
No lie, I was initially drawn to this book simply because I have a black Lab myself. But I guess the reason why you pick up a book isn't so important, as long as you're picking one up at all, right? -)

I have a number of Haig's books on my shelves but this is only the second one I've tackled -- the first being The Dead Father's Club (a sort of modern day re-imagining of William Shakespeare's Hamlet). I came across some nods to Shakespeare's King Lear in Labrador Pact, so maybe this is a signature of his writing style? I like it! Fair warning with this book though, it's a bit of a heartbreaker for animal lovers.

The novel is actually told from the point of view of the black Lab, "Prince". Not only that but the reader has the right-off-the-bat gut punch of the story opening with Prince at the vet's office looking at possibly having to be put down for something behavior-related. We don't get all the info at once, Haig is pretty skilled at letting out the facts at a drip-drop pace right up to the very end. Prince tells his story bit by bit ... and it is one craaazy story. All the layers! Like an onion. Or a parfait ;-)

Prince mainly makes all decisions based on The Pact, a code Labradors follow that says Protect the family, above all else, put their needs before your own. Those who follow The Pact receive the "eternal reward" after death. At the beginning of the novel, we learn that Prince has been stigmatized within the dog community for being the dog that broke The Pact after all these years. But like I said, the details of that story are spread out up to the last chapter. Kinda funny though, the other dogs (the non-Labradors) gave up following The Pact generations ago, finding it was much more fun to live for oneself, but they have no problem ripping on Prince for breaking a pact they don't even live by themselves!

When it comes to learning the ways of The Pact, Prince has a mentor in retired cop dog Labrador Henry.Their conversations at the dog park are training sessions as well as an opportunity for Henry to pass on his legacy of wisdom. Henry believes that the human race is in peril because more and more people choose are choosing cats over dogs, so there are fewer dog lovers around to adopt the Labradors, who can in turn keep their humans safe. When things go to pot with humans, the humans blame themselves or each other, but the Labradors take the blame full on themselves, a sign that they failed their humans. The Pact is needed to battle the Springer Uprising, where Springer Spaniels are going around encouraging all dogs to live for themselves and pleasure, abandon the pact. The one exception to this canine turf war are the Rottweilers, the dog equivalent of nihilists (at least within this story).

This was one of those books I ended up having such confused feelings about. I thought I was getting a cute story about a loyal Labrador, which it was... in the beginning... but man, did it get dark. Still funny scenes, even with the dark... but still. Being a Lab owner myself, there were parts that I completely understood and smiled to, other scenes made me so upset and / or angry -- to the point where I was questioning whether I was actually fully enjoying the book. I think in the end I did really enjoy it, I think I was just confusing discomfort for dislike which are not necessarily synonymous feelings. Either way, I can't deny that Haig has a gripping writing style that insists the reader FEEL something or GTFO.

If you want to get extra deep with this one, you could also argue that one could read this as a kind of metaphor for people who choose to live by a certain code or principle system and how, even solid in their convictions, they can feel overrun by the lemming mentality of the mass population, that population's insatiable hunt for consequence-free pleasures. Stuff of myth & legend, a life of choices with no consequences or repercussions! And Prince's struggles broke me, the way he honestly wants to live by what he feels in his soul is right, yet he's still condemned for it. Ugh, this one was SO GOOD but CUT SO BAD!
My first read by this author so probably didn't set myself up for a darker style of ending to a book about the family dog.
great book.
An insightful study of a somewhat dysfunctional family as seen through the eyes of the family's loyal and dutiful labrador retriever. Loved it!
Labrador Pact starts with the ending but you SO WANT the book to end differently. All along you are hoping something will change.
Prince is the family dog doing his best to uphold the "Labrador Pact". You really want Prince to succeed in his mission.......which as you learn is not an easy task. I can usually figure out some "stuff" in books but this one really throws some zingers in there.
Enjoyable book overall (but I don't know ANYONE who liked the ending). I almost wish authors would give readers multiple choices of how the book ends..... It's my first book by Matt Haig & it won't be my last.