Review: The Yes of the Dogs by Juan Vilá

Review of the book “The Yes of Dogs” by Juan Vilá.

“The Yes of the Dogs” is a novel by the Spanish writer Juan Vilá, published in 2017. It is a work that delves into human psychology and the complexity of family relationships, through the history of a family and the secrets that they hide.

What if dogs could talk? What would they tell us about their life, their feelings, their desires? These are some of the questions that Juan Vilá poses in his book El Sí de los Perros, a work that combines science, philosophy and literature to explore the minds and hearts of our best friends.

The author, who is a veterinarian and writer, offers us a tour of the history of the relationship between humans and dogs, from the origins of domestication to the present day, passing through the different cultures and civilizations that have coexisted with these animals. Through personal anecdotes, curious facts and deep reflections, Vilá shows us how dogs have influenced our evolution, our culture and our society, and how we have shaped their behavior, personality and intelligence.

But the book does not stay only in the past and present, it also ventures to imagine the future of dogs and our coexistence with them. What challenges and opportunities await us in an increasingly technological, globalized and changing world? What role will dogs play in environmental conservation, human health and animal welfare? What rights and duties will dogs and their owners have? What can we do to improve the quality of life of dogs and promote their happiness?

The Yes of Dogs is a book that invites us to look into the eyes of our canine companions and listen to what they tell us with their gestures, their barks and their silences. It is a book that makes us think about what it means to be a dog and to be human, and what unites us and differentiates us. It is a book that makes us feel the love, respect and gratitude that dogs inspire in us, and that encourages us to say yes to them with all our hearts.

The novel begins with the death of the family patriarch, a man who had been a powerful and imposing figure in the lives of his children and wife. From this fact, the narrative is divided into chapters that jump in time, from the children’s childhood to the present, where each of them must deal with their own past and the wounds that have been left in them.

The work is characterized by careful and poetic prose, which describes in great detail the places where the action takes place and the moods of the characters. Furthermore, the construction of the characters is one of the novel’s strong points, since all of them are well defined and have their own motivations and contradictions.

One of the main themes of “The Yes of Dogs” is the relationship between parents and children, and how these relationships can influence people’s lives in a lasting way. The novel shows how secrets and lies can be a very heavy burden for those who keep them, and how these hidden truths can come to light and radically change people’s lives.

In summary, “The Yes of the Dogs” is a novel that captivates for its poetic narrative and the complexity of the characters. A work that invites us to reflect on family relationships and the secrets that can affect our lives, and how it is possible to find a way out through forgiveness and reconciliation.