Buster: A Dog

by George P. Pelecanos

Pelecanos breaks new literary ground with the story of a dog's life―from the dog's perspective―on the mean streets of Washington, DC EVER WONDER WHAT GOES ON IN THE MIND OF A DOG? A Dog is the story of one dog's lifelong journey, as told by Buster himself. Buster, a strong and proud boxer, spends his early days with a loving family in a public housing complex in Washington, DC. Abruptly, he is taken away by an abusive, alcoholic man, plunging Buster into a challenging, nightmarish existence. Over the course of his life, he will experience homelessness, tragedy, a harrowing stay in a kill shelter, and acts of kindness, including his adoption by an older gentleman grieving the death of his wife. At his peak, Buster lives with a young marijuana dealer who runs a profitable but dangerous business in the city. Along the way, Buster befriends other dogs and witnesses the best and worst aspects of humanity. As the seasons change, and change again, he begins to understand the finality of existence and in turn learns to appreciate the gift of life

Genres: Fiction, Animals, Dogs

88 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2024

About the author

George Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.

Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."

Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.

Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Reviews

[Željko Erceg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slatka mala novela od koje bi se mogao napraviti i lijepi film. Jednostavna topla priča o par života, gledanost iz kuta psa. Ponekad ovakvi kratki romani, pisani bez pretenzija na velike nagrade ili životna djela naprave puno više od onih drugih.
Uostalom Forrest Gump je najbolji primjer kako se skoro ni od čega može napraviti kultno djelo. Tko zna, možda i Miki rasturi na velikom platnu.

[Sarah (sarahandherbookshelves) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t mind this one, but I think that sometimes the buster would think something that only a human would notice?

It was sad to think about that in a dog or a pets life they can change homes so often and it’s all left to the whims of humans for them.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Beauty was written nearly 150 years ago, the story of a horse who experienced great cruelty as he passed through the hands of various owners. Thriller writer George Pelecanos has updated the story to the present day and made his suffering animal a dog, a Boxer. This is a novella, and gets a lot done pretty economically. We trace Buster’s path from a happy puppyhood with his mother and littermates, living in a crowded apartment in the projects, to a vicious drunk of an owner, to life on the mean streets, then life with a kind and affectionate young man who unfortunately makes his living in a dangerous profession, and so on.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the vein of novels like Black Beauty or movies like Au Hasard Balthazar, and EO, this short new novella by one of my favorite authors chronicles the life of a Boxer dog living in Washington DC as he transitions through different owners.

When I sat down to start this book, I was a little worried that it might turn into trauma porn as we see this innocent dog suffer on the mean streets of DC. But I should have known to trust Pelecanos, who has always shown maturity, taste, and soulful grace when it comes to his crime fiction, and that’s no different here. He doesn’t wallow in the dog’s misery but doesn’t hide Buster’s trials and tribulations either.

The book is told in Buster’s first-person POV and that makes it doubly fascinating to read his childhood memories, and witness him making friends, enemies, and trying to live a good life where he can. If you like crime fiction and Pelecanos’s work and never realized that it would be cool to read it from a canine’s point of view, check this one out!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this very short little novella. It's a touching little slice of character, and Buster is an amazing one. A bit random for one of the masters of crime fiction but it holds up in his catalog nicely.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, mighty little novella told from the perspective of Buster, a strong but sensitive boxer who shares his life story as he moves from one household to the next. There's a frank grittiness to it all-- Pelecanos is usually a writer of crime fiction, and it shows-- but trust me, you will fall in love with this dog. As the parent of a rescue dog who had his share of trouble before finding his forever home, I found Buster's journey incredibly moving.

[taylor grayson · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i could give this zero stars…

[Gabriel Congdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bow-Wow!

Oliver in Company eat your heart out! This novella had everything dog related. It had chew toys, water bowls, collars, long (and short) walks, other dogs. It had fetch. No cats surprisingly. Car rides. Barking. Just like, a lot of dog stuff. It also had an entity enter the system, and when that happens, it’s a dice roll as to how one will be pinballed through these events, through these changes. What cannot root is fodder for the wind.

And the system is not a government agency. The system is life and we’re all dogs.

[Julie Busa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I really liked reading from the dog’s point of view. I work with dogs who are bounced from one owner to the next, many times over. Well done!

[Adele Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Dog’s Life

A short and sweet tribute to dog’s life. Buster is a Boxer and that was one of things that drew to the book. Having had two wonderful Boxers in my life made the book even better. I enjoyed reading the book with Buster as the narrator. Maybe the book was short because sadly Boxer dogs are usually not long lived.

[Amy Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely novella about the life of a boxer dog named Buster. In typical Pelecanos fashion, a very well-rounded story told with great emotion and exquisite detail. Would recommend.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real sweet 🥲

[Danger]

Melancholy animals. I was literally crying the entire time I read this.

[dona ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️

[Andrew Monge · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Buster by #GeorgePelecanos is the story of a dog’s life as he’s hot-potatoed from owner to owner. Told from the animal’s perspective, it details both the good times and the bad times as he grows from a puppy into old age. A quick 88-page novella that’s well worth the read.

[Cierra Buchholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up because I wanted to read more from small presses. I was very pleasantly surprised with this book! It’s a very quick and easy read.

In it, readers follow Buster through DC as he lives in multiple homes, giving us a glimpse into the different lifestyles that coexist. My only problem with this book is I wished sometimes the perspective felt more like how a dog would understand and take in the happenings of the world. He felt very human (sometimes in ways that added to the story, sometimes in ways that didn’t make much sense).

Overall, this story touches on the impermanence of everything in life, and the cycle of what is and will soon not be.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a pup to an aged dog, Buster: A Dog speaks the language of a a gentle, loyal dog. Buster goes from master to master, good and bad, caring and volatile. He 'tells' in no uncertain terms what his feelings are and how he likes living his life.

An imaginative story that has been told many times. Short, easy to read, and full of dogginess.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers, Akashic Books, and George Pelecanos for this ARC.

[Alyson Indrunas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I love this writer for all the glory he has brought to television: The Wire, The Deuce, etc.
This sweet story is told from the perspective of the dog. We learn more about social class in America through this boxer's eyes than from the words of the majority of our politicians. I made Scott read it so I could talk to somebody it.
Joy.
Fav scenes were with Top.

"One evening, Top presented me with a black leather collar that had my name on it, written in diamonds. He said they were real. It didn't matter to me if it was true.
The collar was beautiful and the fact that he had taken the trouble to have it made for me made me love him deep.
When he put it on me, I strutted around the room."

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Buster: A Dog at the library because I've enjoyed every Pelecanos novel that I've read. Pelecanos normally writes Washington DC, Baltimore-area urban crime novels. Buster: A Dog is a neat little novella that finds a unique perspective to a similar story - it tells the story of a city through the eyes of a dog - Buster. Buster is a boxer who goes through a series of homes and owners, seeing different aspects of DC and humanity in the process. It's a neat little story that was a fun spin on the usual Pelecanos fare.

[Emmett · Rating 1 out of 5]

TLDR: Disney’s Dog With a Blog but for adults! (Derogatory)

I have read cereal boxes with more compelling writing than this. You can just ~tell~ a man wrote this. Even though it’s a dog’s POV, it might as well be any 20 year old white guy telling this story. And I can’t believe I have to say this, but the way sex was talked about was nauseating.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been hooked on George Pelicanos for quite a while. We once lived in Silver Spring, Maryland and my daughter went to preschool with his children. We sat and ate pizza together a few times at daycare, parent meetings! This book is a whole lot different than most of his books but kind of sweet especially if you’re a dog person.

I am 79 and lazy about writing reviews in Goodreads these days. So I fall back on Claude AI to do that work for me. I think my reviews are probably more interesting.

Buster: A Dog by George Pelecanos (2024) — Summary & Review
Summary
Buster is an 88-page novella narrated by Buster, a purebred boxer, that takes readers through five homes in Washington, DC, exposing the private tragedies behind each door — poverty, abuse, homophobia, and organized crime. 
Buster begins life with a loving single mother named Darcia in a public housing complex, but is taken away by an abusive alcoholic named Ed Grange. Over the course of his life he experiences homelessness, a harrowing stay in a kill shelter, and acts of kindness — including adoption by an older gentleman grieving the death of his wife. At his peak, Buster lives with a young marijuana dealer named Top who runs a profitable but dangerous business in the city.  As the seasons change, he begins to understand the finality of existence and learns to appreciate the gift of life. 
Review
This is a real departure for Pelecanos, best known for gritty DC crime novels and his TV work on The Wire and The Deuce. The dog’s-eye-view conceit could easily have gone soft and sentimental, but Pelecanos largely pulls it off. Each home shapes Buster, teaching him rules of survival, yet he never lets the world turn him hateful — learning, as he ages, that showing kindness and vulnerability can be more powerful than baring his teeth. 
Reviewers have compared the novella to classics of the genre like Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, praising Pelecanos for offering a clear-eyed, surprisingly moving, and occasionally funny view of not just a dog’s life but of America itself. 
The main criticism worth noting: the tone is somewhat inconsistent, swerving between a sentimental survival story and coarse street fiction.  And one Goodreads reviewer observed that a third-person narrator might have served the story better than Buster’s first-person voice, since some of Buster’s observations feel more human than canine.
On balance, it’s a quick, emotionally resonant read — especially if you’re a dog lover. At 88 pages it’s an easy afternoon’s work, and Pelecanos’s street-level Washington DC atmosphere gives it more weight than your average “dog book.“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pelecanos novella from a dog's POV, sort of, though said dog, being a Pelecanos character, is robustly assertive and streetwise, cherishes his independence, approves when guys keep their look clean (Buster's favorite home is with a principled weed dealer who looks good and treats him like a king), and, of course, is so DC that he appreciates a go-go classic. And naturally we hear about his sexual experiences, though he's not, uh, super-reflective about them.

Anyhow, it works pretty well. Buster's an allegorical young man, of course, but also a dog, and he's just trying to find a good home after starting in unpromising circumstances. He never knew his dad but cherishes his mom's self-reliance and honesty, doesn't let a mean owner get him down or compromise his sense of self-worth, stands up for the owner's gay son as long as he can, survives twice on the streets before finding his way to good homes, and in general is a pretty stand-up dog. It's honestly pretty affecting, his search for a place and a family who will honor and appreciate him and let him run around as much as he wants.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a teeny tiny book, I thought, as I picked it up. Eighty seven pages, the sort of narrative one devours in a single evening without even challenging one's bedtime. Lord, novellas are fine, fine things.

It's the story told from the perspective of a boxer, meaning, that breed of dog. It describes the life and trials of Buster, who's born into a poor family in DC. Buster's life is one of varying hardships, as he encounters humans both kind and cruel, and the dogs-eye-view of things makes for an engaging tale.

I will note: Buster's pretty danged articulate for a dog. This helps the flow of the story, and adds flavor to the insights, but I often found myself thinking he was a wee bit too undoglike. The insights and reflections were just kinda beyond the dogbrain, if my dogs have been any measure of that mindstate. Then again, writing as a dog would just come across as comedy, so...yeah. I get the choice.

A pleasant way to spend an hour.

[Miriam Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wondered what a dog is thinking about? The charming novella about life written from the perspective of a bulldog named Buster lets you know that a dog will accept a lot of goings-on with life around him if he is offered food, love and companionship. Additionally, a dog is not blind to the drama that life brings to the humans with whom he is living. Buster experiences a lot of drama during his life, and in a short number of pages, the reader experiences all that drama as well.

Buster: a Dog is a masterfully written piece by the masterful writer, George Pelecanos. I was enchanted and read the book in one sitting. I liked that Pelecanos kept the story as a novella, because it packed a greater punch than if it had been written as a novel with long passages about Buster’s owners. Well done.

[Dace ჯ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the writing and fell in love with this smart dog. He did sound a bit too human sometimes. We get to follow all his life in this novella. It's kind of sad that dogs are so dependent on their owners and their fates and they might change several owners during their life due to their death or other reasons. They might also end up on the street or in the pond. All in all, Buster didn't have a bad life and he had some moments to cherish as we all hopefully do. A lot of tragedy in his life was connected to him growing up in a mostly black neighborhood of Washington DC and most of his owners being black Americans. I still wonder what happened to the diamonds - it didn't seem Uncle Joe got them...

[Ben A · Rating 5 out of 5]

George P. Pelecanos's Buster: A Dog is a beautifully written, heart-breaking story that fits right into his world of crime, mystery and D.C. noir all told by the unlikely narrator, Buster, a boxer. It was simply beautiful, emotional and if you've ever been lucky enough to have a dog that is just a little bit more than a dog than you'll understand what makes Buster such an amazing character.

Special Thanks to Akashic Books and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Gunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m impressed by the way the author manages to present a whole range of believable characters, scenes, and emotions in just a few short pages. It undoubtedly showcases the author’s craftsmanship and skill.

What works less well for me, however, is the choice to tell the story from Buster’s first-person perspective. It makes me wonder whether a third-person perspective from an independent narrator might have been better suited to guide both the main character and the reader through the story.

That said, this one sits around the 3.8 mark for me, rounded up for Goodreads.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I intend to read more.

Buster is the star of the book, of course, but the residents of Southeast Washington DC and their struggles. Buster tells his story as well as theirs. I fell in love with Buster. I wanted to reach into the book and give him a big hug. I was there with him thru the good and the bad. This is the kind of book I’d like to last forever.
( )

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

How refreshing to hear from a dog’s point of view. Their life experiences, ups and downs, and how they navigate life alongside humans. You will fall in love with Buster and hear his ‘voice’ during his time living with five different owners and families. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, Buster, A Dog, will broaden your understanding of the connections we have with our pets and their levels of understanding and intelligence.

[Dan Downing · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slight, well-intended story is too simplisticly written to be an enjoyable read. But it is by George Pelecanos and therefore worthwhile, even if only to explore what he is interested in.
Buster's story has a happy ending. Those who work in animal rescue/welfare know how mistreated dogs and other animals are: their endings are often not happy. As all is said, this is a nice little tale.