Pierre

“Our Pierre wasn’t born. He begat himself in a garbage can in Ramat Gan. My daughter found him. He was about a month old. A grey-black puppy shivering in the garbage can, sitting in the stench and looking out, from the despair that he was born into, through eyes that opened in her honor. My daughter was the first person who not only looked at him but also saw him. She picked him up, stroked him and cried; and her tears—large and hot—washed him for the first time in his life. She took pity on him and immediately fell in love with him. He was wretched but funny, with the face of a clown.”

Kaniuk wrote this moving novella about his beloved dog Pierre, who enjoyed twenty good years of life. It is a love story—the tale of his love for his best friend who was like a family member, and who knew how to return love as only a dog can. Pierre was no thoroughbred, not the kind of dog you buy in a pet store, yet children loved him and even people who hated dogs loved him. He was wise and amusing, without a single drop of nastiness. But he was also adventurous and didn’t like playing up to people. Kaniuk draws a portrait of his dead dog with humor and sadness, with endless compassion and sensitivity.

Pierre is a literary gem, suitable for adults and youngsters.