Teresa Cárdenas, translated from Spanish by David Unger,
Old Dog
Groundwood Books, 2007.

Gr. 7-9

Rating: G*

This very short, easily read book by award winning Cuban writer Cárdenas is a character study of Perro Viejo, an elderly Cuban slave, who, nearing the end of his painful life, finally allows his heart to make a connection that sets in motion not only his own death but also the escape of some slaves from his master’s sugar plantation.

Through Perro’s eyes we see the cold indifferent master, the healer Beira whom he comes to love, his friend Ulundi who had been executed for burning down the sugar warehouse, and most of all, the inhumane conditions which the slaves endure as they are treated worse than animals.

The first part of this book is not a direct narrative, as Perro’s mind, befuddled by age, roams randomly through his memories, brought into focus only by his physical pain. In the latter half of the book, Biera’s action to save a ten-year-old runaway slave centres Perro more clearly in the present and crystallizes for him how he can redeem himself from a life of compliance.

This book has won Cuba’s highest literary honour: the Casa de Las Americas. It would be extremely useful in any junior high school discussion of the history of 19th century slavery. Quick to read and horrifying in its details, Old Dog would raise many questions and fire the imagination of all students.

Thematic Links: Slavery; Cuba

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.