Judging from the cover, I thought, The Dogs of Winter, was going to be a feel good dog book. Boy, was I wrong. Now, there are some heart-warming parts, but there are just as many heart-wrenching aspects. We follow a boy, Ivan, who through a series of deaths and run-ins with horrible people becomes an orphan and has to find a way to scrape by on the streets. The presence of thugs and lack of welfare from organizations that aren't wanting to yank the kids into sub-par orphanages is bad enough, but the added element of the severe winters in Russia make survival especially difficult.
Ivan faces all of these tribulations at the early age of five and develops some advanced insights for such a young age from the exposure to the extreme harshness that the world has to offer. When he finds himself running out of options for survival, it is a pack of dogs that renew hope and the possibility of life in this young boy. He provides for them as best he can by begging for money and food, while they offer him protection, shelter, and companionship that is otherwise unavailable.
He is soon part of the pack and is so close with the dogs that they are able to communicate without words. For a few years, they spend their Springs and Summers in the forrest and make their way back to the city at the first sign of snow. Life is never easy for them. There is never certainty where their next meal will come from and Ivan is constantly in fear of being taken to an orphanage by the less than honest nuns.
While this book is full of sad moments, it is also brimming with one example after another of the strength of the human spirit and the love of a good dog. Though, this book doesn't have the happiest of endings it reflects the harsh reality that many children endured during the 1990s in Russia, as the number of orphans exploded and the country did little to aid the situation. Definitely read, but keep tissues and funny book to switch between close by.
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