The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst

This book was seemingly normal at first - the whole first half.  Then this really upsetting bizarre and weird occurrence took place which almost made me not like the book at all.  This man was very sad that his wife died and there are flashbacks throughout the book explaining his relationship with his wife as it had been.  The man drops out of work as a university professor on a sabbatical to teach his dog to speak as he thinks this will help him understand how his wife died.  He suspects suicide.  The bereaved  man, in his desperation, writes to a horrid dog abuser in jail to consult him concerning his work operating on dogs and disfiguring them in horrible ways in order to make them speak.  The jailed man gives one of his underground dog-abusing cohorts the bereaved man's address and the bereaved man eventually becomes involved in this club but is horror-stricken by their actions and he must leave.  When he returns home to find his dog missing, he knows it is the crazy animal abusers which did it.  The dog is eventually found with her essential vocal organs removed, but alive.  The man thinks he found out how his wife died in the end.  The poor dog scenario was too much for me to take though.  I don't think I'll read another book... too gross.  Most of the book was totally OK though.  5/10