The Night Gate, by Isobelle Carmody

[rachelmanija]

Cover copy: Rage Winnoway’s closest friends have always been her four dogs: Bear, Billy Thunder, Elle, and Mr. Walker. When Rage sets off for the hospital where her mother lies in a coma, the dogs and the neighbor’s goat tag along. On the way, they run into the firecat, who talks them into going through a magical gate. And something wonderful

Comments

[matt_doyle]

She wrote a rather dark YA book back in the 90s called The Gathering, which was one of my favorites as a teenager. I haven't read it in a decade so I have no idea how it would hold up now, but at the time I appreciated that it had damaged heroes and didn't sugarcoat the suffering they went through.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[tool_of_satan]

The part that fascinated me the most was the incipient sexual tension between Rage and Billy Thunder, her beloved dog who is now a boy her own age, who loves her unconditionally and will say so. He's also described in a quite sensual manner. AND HE'S A DOG. None of this is ever explicitly thought of by Rage, but it is written in a way which I am pretty sure is meant to make the reader think it.That could get... messy. If Billy still has the mind of a dog in a human body, I would say that Rage having sex with him is unethical (and possibly squicky). However, it doesn't sound as if that is the case. So, Billy has a human mind but still has his dog memories and emotions, translated into human terms. One could still argue that taking advantage of his feelings is unethical since as a dog he did not have conscious control over them, and it's not clear how much control he has over continuing to feel the same way as a human (particularly if he's only been a human for a short time

[rachelmanija]

So, Billy has a human mind but still has his dog memories and emotions, translated into human terms.

Basically this, and it was quite well-done.

The parts I got stuck on were, "But he is a DOG," and "He loves you because he was your beloved PET," and "the fact that he loves you absolutely unconditionally is proof that his feelings are essentially DOG FEELINGS." (Okay, I'm cynical.)

Actual sex got dodged by both of them being so young - Rage was twelve and Billy Thunder was teenage, but a young teen. Still, there was definitely age-appropriate sexual chemistry.

[tool_of_satan]

The parts I got stuck on were, "But he is a DOG," and "He loves you because he was your beloved PET," and "the fact that he loves you absolutely unconditionally is proof that his feelings are essentially DOG FEELINGS." (Okay, I'm cynical.)

Yeah, I think in the end that would be my take on it.

It would be interesting - in some entirely different novel - to explore this sort of thing further. Regular people might be convinced that the transformed person's feelings are animal holdovers, but what does the transformed person do with themselves then? Would they develop real human emotions and temper their old feelings given enough time, the way (most) people grow out of their childhood emotional states?

[marzipan_pig]

The whole pet/dog thing is an interesting intellectual exercise. There ARE people I've sort of imprinted on though, like, we're mammals too, we're wired to get intense attachments to other mammals even when some of us have more intense wiring than others.

Hmm, would HORSE be creepier or less creepy? RAT? CAT?

[poilass]

Carmody is quite a famous author in Australia, so I read a lot of her books when I was a kid. I completely loved the Obernewytn series at the time though I never finished it (I think there's still one more book forthcoming). I recently started re-reading the first book, but got distracted a few chapters in so I cannot give an adult report. I must admit it does not start very promisingly - there's an Introduction filled with exposition about how the world came to be as it is now - nuclear war leading to mutations, powerful and ultra conservative faction leading the survivors, creation of a horrible new mutant-hating religion etc etc, several hundred years later: story begins! I find this sort of thing very tiresome. It's also unnecessary as it's all perfectly obvious from first few chapters. However I believe this was her first book, and I'm hopeful it will get better.

I also remember reading another of her books, Greylands, which I think was a allegory about depression or grief or something. I did not think much of it at the time.

[glitter_n_gore]

This sounds amazing--I love that premise. (And thanks for answering the "Do any dogs die?" question--that's always very important to me. The way it's handled here sounds like something I could be okay with.)

[asakiyume]

It does sound like a *very* fun premise in terms of the types of people the animals turn into. Too bad that it wasn't quite the story it could have been.