Overzealous Book Report: Good Dog, Carl

Alexandra Day’s classic novella takes the struggles of being a single parent to the absurd. In this horror story, stereotypical gender roles are also explored.

This book would clearly fail the Bechdel test because the only female character is barely in it and only talks to a male dog. One can only guess that the infant is nonbinary. The male character is the only one with a name.

A frequent complaint among moms is that dads get praised for doing the bare minimum, while the moms get criticized if they’re not perfect. Sometimes when dads watch their own kids people say they’re babysitting.

Instead of a dad in this book there is a dog, which gives us insight into how the author views men. Lovable, yes. Good at childcare, no. Or perhaps the author is critiquing how society views dads. Afterall, most of them provide better childcare than a dog would.

The unnamed infant has many close calls while under the care of Carl: falling down the laundry chute, nearly drowning in the fish tank, possibly ingesting some makeup, etc.

Single parents often have to make sacrifices. They can’t always provide their children with the best care. The reader cringes at the end when the woman is attempting to pet another dog on her way home. The solution to her lack of childcare is not more dogs!