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Alex Sparks
Compost poisoning...it's common among pets and other animals http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-...
BeeJ
It's meant to keep animals from eating whatever is being grown. Typically it's rabbits, squirrels, voles and other small animals. Sadly though it smells good to dogs and cats as well. The only 'garden of death' I knew about left out actual poison, anti-freeze which smells and tastes sweet, to kill the neighborhood cats didn't matter if they were pets or strays.
Renata
Could simply be the rash of poisonings that occurred in High Park in 2008. See: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2008...
Patricia Habberjam
simple, someone doesn't' like animals (pets. wild) and puts out poison. Yes they do this in real life!!!
JTK
I thought the Garden of Death was someone's backyard compost including dairy or meat, which can produce toxins that are lethal to dogs.
Sandra
I read it as, the dogs have come to know this location by what they've seen happen here: you go there to eat, you die. The reason being, the homeowner regularly puts out poison to kill animals (rats, cats, dogs?).
Debjani
Traditionally gardens are symbol of birth or renewal. Author - Andre Alexis may have used the Greek mythological character Circe, the goddess of magic (Nymph), who lured men and turned them into pigs, as a metaphor for his interpretation of "the garden of death". Circe was also known for her knowledge of potions and herbs. "Garden of Death" portrays mortality in a new light.
Janet
A review of one of Alexis's other books referred to Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery as a "garden of death". It would seem to me that, given that the book is an allegory for human consciousness, that Majnoun's awareness of the garden is similar to our awareness of the cemetery as a place of death...a place he (and we) wants to avoid...a final 'resting' place.
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