G527 Book Review of Dog Crazy by Meg Donohue
Author: Meg Donohue
ISBN: 978-0-06-233103-8
Publisher: William Morrow
Type of book: grief, loss, dogs, love, relationships, dog/human relationships, dog's roles in life, pets, foster pets, anxieties and phobias, 2000s, Philadelphia, San Francisco, conditioning, overcoming, moving on.
Year it was published: 2015
Summary:
The USA Today bestselling author of How to Eat a Cupcake and All the Summer Girls returns with an unforgettably poignant and funny tale of love and loss, confronting our fears, and moving on . . . with the help of a poodle, a mutt, and a Basset retriever named Seymour
As a pet bereavement counselor, Maggie Brennan uses a combination of empathy, insight, and humor to help patients cope with the anguish of losing their beloved four-legged friends. Though she has a gift for guiding others through difficult situations, Maggie has major troubles of her own that threaten the success of her counseling practice and her volunteer work with a dog rescue organization.
Everything changes when a distraught woman shows up at Maggie’s office and claims that her dog has been stolen. Searching the streets of San Francisco for the missing pooch, Maggie finds herself entangled in a mystery that forces her to finally face her biggest fear-and to open her heart to new love.
Packed with deep emotion and charming surprises, Dog Crazy is a bighearted and entertaining story that skillfully captures the bonds of love, the pain of separation, and the power of our dogs to heal us.
Characters:
While other characters played a big role, the main characters included Maggie a thirty-two year old woman who happens to be a pet bereavement therapist but at the same time is suffering from agoraphobia. She changes a lot in the book, and the reader is with her during her every struggle, cheering her on to overcome the challenges. Anya is a youngest sibling among three brothers and loves dogs and photography. She has suffered through loss when her beloved pet is gone and is determined to find him. The dogs also play a big role in Maggie's story; Giselle is a poodle that is owned by Maggie's friend and that Maggie starts to use to help her go outside. She is vivacious, lively, helpful, loyal and friendly. Seymour is an anxious and a panicky dog that seems to be frightened of noises, leashes and trains, but also helps Maggie face her fears. The third dog is Toby, Maggie's previous dog that was always loyal and uncomplaining.
Theme:
"We carry our loves and our losses with us, and even though we can't know what is ahead, along the way we learn-it really doesn't matter from whom, dog or human-how to keep moving." (210)
Plot:
The story is in first person narrative from Maggie's point of view as she little by little reveals the life that led her to become the Agoraphobic Therapist. I liked and enjoyed all aspects of the story from the sentences to characters to plot and to confronting love and loss and trying to move on and heal from it. The story was the right size and once I got captured by it, I barely noticed the time flying away from me. I do admit that a few things toward the end weren't explained well and seemed to be in a hurry, but that didn't took away from my enjoyment.
Author Information:
(From TLC)
About Meg Donohue
Meg Donohue is the author of How to Eat a Cupcake. She has an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and a BA in comparative literature from Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she now lives in San Francisco with her husband, their two young daughters, and their dog.
Opinion:
If you're a dog lover and are looking for something heartfelt, contemporary, and where dogs play a huge role in healing, then you're in a for treat: since I'm pretty new to the world of loving a dog (three years now...a miniature dachshund who is spoiled rotten...) I'm not sure if in the past I was able to sense or understand the role that dogs played in some of the books I reviewed previously. This book, however, this book really captured the motion and emotion of dogs and I enjoyed reading their antics and seeing my dachshund as well as a certain Chihuahua/Corgie mix in the dog characters; watching my little beauty stretch from a nap in a rollicking wave, hearing the thump of her tail against various objects, seeing those pleading eyes begging for a treat and so forth. I also loved some of the sentences that the book contained that pertained to healing and to dogs' role in our own lives as well as some advice on how to take care of incredibly skittish dogs. A wonderful and memorable treat for dog lovers that gets dog owners and poignantly captures the love we possess for our four legged friends. Oh yeah, love the cover, especially the cute dogs.
This is for TLC Book Tours
Meg’s Tour Stops
Tuesday, March 10th: Walking With Nora
Wednesday, March 11th: 100 Pages a Day … Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Thursday, March 12th: A Chick Who Reads
Friday, March 13th: Kritters Ramblings
Monday, March 16th: Always With a Book
Tuesday, March 17th: BookNAround
Wednesday, March 18th: Bibliotica
Thursday, March 19th: Peeking Between the Pages
Monday, March 23rd: Patricia’s Wisdom
Tuesday, March 24th: Ms. Nose in a Book
Thursday, March 26th: Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Monday, March 30th: From the TBR Pile
Tuesday, March 31st: Books in the Burbs
Wednesday, April 1st: Thoughts on This ‘n That
Friday, April 10th: I’d Rather Be At The Beach
5 out of 5(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
I can't imagine my life without dogs in it, so this sounds like a book I'd really appreciate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!