Timoleon Vieta come home – why does it end like that?

I recently read timoleon vieta come home by Dan Rhodes. For those that have not read the book but might, please do not read on, but also, maybe don’t read the book 😅

At the end of the book, the character called The Bosnian kills Timoleon Vieta, the dog whom the book in named after, and who has spent the whole book travelling back to his owner. It is such a horrible ending. To make it worse, Rhodes tells us throughout the book that the dog has pretty eyes like a girl, and at the end the dog gets stabbed in the eyes.

Like, what the fuck is actually wrong with Dan Rhodes? Why would I invest so much time reading your mediocre novel just so you can treat me as a reader in a way that is obviously sadistic and horrible at the end? Obviously anybody who picks this book up likes dogs. Why invest so much time and energy in creating a novel that is just intended to hurt the reader? I feel like this writer is actually cruel. Does anybody here have a different understanding of what he was trying to do with this ending?

I’m just glad I found this stupid book in the library and didn’t buy it.

by hannathebaker