A Dog's Heart

Russian novelist and dramatist Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) is one of the foremost satirists of the twentieth century. He is best known for The Master and Margarita. A.S. Byatt is one of England's foremost writers - a distinguished critic as well as a novelist - she was appointed a C.B.E. in 1990, the same year her novel Possession won the Booker Prize.

Bulgakov's (The Master and Margarita) 1925 satire of the Russian Revolution and the utopian socialist vision of the 'New Soviet Man' tells of a surgeon who transplants human body parts into a dog, which results in the dog turning into an uncouth, narcissistic, and ill-mannered lout of a human being. British actor Roy McMillan (Bulldog Drummond) gives a spirited reading of this new translation of Bulgakov's comic gem. After opening the book with a howl, he narrates the novel in an appropriately dispassionate manner, voicing the doctor as confidently arrogant, giving the dog a working-class (Cockney) accent, and also adeptly rendering the other characters. While likely to do best among those having some knowledge of Russian literature and the Soviet era, this title will appeal to any listener enjoying satirical fantasies, especially as read by McMillan. --Library Journal, Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Comm. Coll. Lib., Lynchburg

I greatly enjoyed Roy McMillan's perfect reading of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, A Dog's Heart. This is perfect satire commenting not just on human nature but on 1920s Russia, when communism produced some strange paradoxes. In this tale we meet a respected surgeon who transplants human glands into a stray dog with dire results. The dog takes on all of the worst traits of the human donor. Sadly, Bulgakov never lived to see this short novel - or any of his plays - published. Stalin banned all of his work although he spared the writer from the dire fate of some of the other intellectuals of his era. This unabridged audiobook offers many chuckles as well as food for thought. --Alide Kohlhaas, Seniors Review