My Life as a Dog by Reidar Jönsson

First published:Mitt Liv som Hund, 1983 (English translation, 1989)

Subjects: Coming-of-age, death, emotions, family, and friendship

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism and social realism

Time of work: 1958-1959

Recommended Ages: 13-18

Locale: Småland, a rural village in Sweden, and Happy Heights, a housing development in urban Sweden

Principal Characters:

• Ingemar Johansson, a thirteen-year-old struggling to be accepted and loved
• Ingemar’s mother, a woman who suffers from tuberculosis and openly admits to her son that he was not wanted
• Ingemar’s father, a banana boat sailor who is often remembered by Ingemar as the man who brings fruit
• Manne, Ingemar’s best friend in Småland, the son of the village inventor
• Saga, a player on the local soccer team and the girl to whom Ingemar loses his virginity
• Ingemar’s uncle, a kindhearted man who shelters Ingemar in Småland after the death of his mother
• The Manufacturer, a rich man who once loved Ingemar’s mother

Form and Content

My Life as a Dog is a touching story of a lonely boy’s struggle to survive in a world that is forcing him to become an adult before he is ready. Although it takes place in Sweden, this autobiographical novel raises social issues found throughout the world. Neglected in his childhood and, as a result, confused as a teenager, the protagonist, Ingemar, faces life with a blind resignation—he continually tricks himself into believing that soon he will be loved. The protagonist at times seems to be mentally ill, but anyone who has felt totally alone in the world will be able to relate to his precarious grip on sanity.

Narrated by Ingemar, the story mixes the present tense and flashbacks. In this manner, Ingemar Johansson tells how he spent the last two years of his childhood, being passed from one guardian to another and living with the constant fear as well as the certainty that he will manage always to do the wrong thing. He compares himself to the dog that was sent into space by the Soviet Union, and he comforts himself by deciding that the dog’s life must have been even more uncomfortable and lonelier than his. Ingemar’s one wish is to believe that his mother loved him, but he is forced to face the fact that neither she nor anyone else ever really wanted him.

Ingemar’s childhood is spent in fear of angering his mother, who suffers from tuberculosis. Whenever her attacks become too bad, he and his sister and brother are sent away to the children’s home or to their grandparents’ house. Ingemar, however, is described by the adults as being “too much trouble,” so he is often separated from his siblings. When he is at home, he is forbidden to disturb his mother, and he must cook and care for himself without any help.

One summer, he is shipped off to his uncle’s house in a small village, where he manages to make a few friends and to play on the football (soccer) team. After his mother’s death and a short stay with a man known as the Manufacturer, he returns to live with his uncle, but this time his stay is not as successful. Although he finds friends in Manne, the son of an inventor, and Saga, a tomboy who is distressed by her growing breasts, Ingemar disrupts the village through a series of blunders and is finally retrieved by his long-absent father.

Unfortunately, as soon as Ingemar shows signs of being able to take care of himself, his father leaves to work once again on a banana boat, and Ingemar is left alone. He realizes how angry he is and begins to avenge himself by smashing windows at night and stealing from the pharmacy where he works. His anger is totally unleashed when his brother returns and produces a hidden airgun. Ingemar is finally arrested, and he breaks down at the police station. Although he claims that he will go and work with his father, it is clear that he will continue to be alone, since he ends his story the same way that it began—forming a circle of loneliness.

Critical Context

Written in the 1980’s, My Life as a Dog deals with social issues that were in the spotlight at that time. The book appeared in the United States in the late 1980’s, around the same time that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic was gaining momentum. Even though sexual and health issues are not the main themes of the novel, his mother’s slow death and the theme of loneliness and separation touched a nerve with readers. Furthermore, Reidar Jönsson portrays a young adult who is forced to live without guidance from a caring adult. This seemed to be a recurring theme by the 1990’s, as more and more attention became focused on welfare reform and the cycle of poverty.

A critically acclaimed film version of My Life as a Dog was made by Lasse Hallström in 1985.