October 15, 2018
In 1957, Laika, a mixed-breed Russian street dog, was the first animal to orbit the Earth and died hours after launch. Sixty years later, her journey continues to fascinate readers of all ages, inspiring children's books and a graphic novel; her name and image appropriated in popular culture media, such as stamps, toys, and even a rock band. Through the "window" of Laika's story, and accounts of other animals used in domestic and international space programs, Caswell (creative writing & literature, Texas Tech Univ.; An Inside Passage) provides an informed reflection on the human drive to explore and the loneliness that can accompany such endeavors. The author poses questions about the human condition and our relationship with the world at large, including the animals with whom we share this planet. He leaves readers to answer the questions for themselves, with interpretations depending on opinions about the intersection of exploration and exploitation. VERDICT Looking back at the technological, social, and political developments leading up to Laika's fateful ride, Caswell offers a historical and philosophical discussion of how we left Earth for the first time and what's next in our journey.--Meagan Storey, Virginia Beach
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 24, 2018
Caswell (Getting to Grey Owl), a Texas Tech University associate professor of creative writing, narrates the remarkable and haunting story of Laika, the stray dog turned cosmonaut who died on the Russian satellite Sputnik II, paving the way for Yuri Gagarin to become the first human in space. In addition to recounting Laika’s training and ultimate journey on November 3, 1957, Caswell takes the reader back to the late 1950s, vividly depicting the intensity of the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union, and looks ahead to the future of space travel, which he believes is likely corporate-funded and focused on Mars. However, the primary purpose of this equally poetic and scholarly rumination is to consider feelings of loneliness and empathy across species. The titular window on Sputnik II serves as a “central metaphor” for these subjects, and Caswell has researched exhaustively to discover whether, in fact, Laika could see out of it, which would have required a conscious effort on the Soviets’ part solely to ensure her comfort. Caswell’s speculative description of the dog’s “slow and painful death” is perhaps unnecessary and emotionally exploitative, and he is prone to flights of morose melodrama elsewhere. What he has crafted, however, is on balance a moving tribute to the mutually beneficial bond between man and dog.