Fluke

Product Information

A mutt puppy who has flashing memories and dreams of having lived a human life is taken to a pound and eventually escapes. He is raised by an elderly homeless woman named Bella, who gives him the name Fluke, stating that he is a "fluke by nature, Fluke by name." Fluke supports Bella by helping her earn money from passing strangers, who are impressed with Fluke's ability to beat Bella's shell game. Past-Life Memories: Fluke gradually regains memory of his human life, which leads him to go on a search for the wife and son he left behind. Williamson, J.N., ed. (1988). The Best of Masques. New York City: Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-10693-8.

This is a novel that explores reincarnation and poses the question of what would it be like to have a human mind and recollections whilstexisting in a canine body. Fluke is a charming lead, a mixture of human and canine thoughts, driven by thefear that soon his human thoughts will fade away to nothing. It’s about Fluke discovering other dogs who become friends, all the whileseeing humans in a completely new perspective. But what drives the story is Fluke'sfinding his way home to his wife and daughter and uncovering what reason his life ended so suddenly.I feel like we had a bit of a cameo from one of the fiendish rats from Herbert's (probably best known) novel "The Rats". If so, I'm wondering if his other books have any slight connections. I'll look forward to that, as this is only the second book I've read from this author.

Despite my annoyance at the constant food related segments, I adored the overall story. Throughout we have the mystery of what is going on. The ending was wonderful, and I really should have seen the revelation before it was given. I honestly had expected it to play out in a completely different way. Whilst I wasn’t overly happy with the way it ended – I had wanted a lot more action – I found I enjoyed it a lot more than I imagined I would enjoy such an ending. What would be your reaction, if one day you woke up and found yourself trapped inside the body of a dog? What if waves after waves of unexplainable emotions and hazy memories drive your little body towards an unknown goal, only to find that sometimes even your most trusted memories can be warped and distorted beyond truth? Although the handful of adventures that Fluke (and Rumbo) embark upon are mostly light-hearted in their delivery, they still have a desperate and almost life-threatening undertone. This is where Herbert really plays with the reader’s heartstrings, mixing the loving qualities of the storyline with a single-minded and directional plot.Toward the conclusion of the book, Fluke meets a badger who talks philosophically. The badger was a man in a former life himself and understands Fluke’s confusion. The badger advises Fluke to forget his human past: “You accept now. Accept your’re a dog, accept you are a fluke- or perhaps not a fluke. You must live as a dog now.” But Fluke continues in search of the family he remembers from his former life. He eventually finds them, leading to the novel’s near-tragic conclusion.

Written entirely in the first-person-perspective of Fluke, the tale is an endearing and emotive one that initially plays with a very definite coming-of-age theme. For the first half of the novel, the various adventures that Fluke finds himself within are both exciting and heart-warming, as well as enabling Herbert to really build upon the characterisation of Fluke. Meeting Rumbo, their subsequent friendship and time spent together, builds further tight bonds with the reader from early on.I'm glad we got some spiritual/religious reflection on how this extraordinary circumstance came to be and was glad to find it wasn't preachy at all. In fact, I found it quite eye opening and it strengthened some of the points that I think this book was trying to make. I say "think" because I didn't really grasp onto any strong lessons and ultimately I was left feeling like this novel was just okay: a fun read at the time, but something that won't stay with me for too long a time.