A cute, fun frolic for tail-wagging fans.
In this debut compilation of humorous conversations and colorful photographs, three adorable dogs say the darnedest things.
What canine lover hasn’t imagined what a dog would say if it could speak? Leswick, a photographer and family man, has always talked to his dogs. But after a smart but mischievous Brittany spaniel pup named Eva joined his family, he felt like he could read her mind. So, over time, he began sharing their conversations on the internet. When Eva was 2 years old, Bruno—a happy-go-lucky golden retriever—joined the family chats. Most recently, Agnes, a rescue pup of unknown lineage, came along to liven things up even more. Deciding that he needed to put his dogs’ adorable photos—and antics—in book form, the author assembled this fun-filled, browsable collection. Cuter than the cutest Facebook memes—Bruno wears underwear on his head because he’s a Jedi, and Agnes looks sweet even when she’s caught ripping a toy to shreds—Leswick’s canine photos are accompanied by “dogversations” he or other family members have had with the pups. There are no chapters in this slender beauty, but relatively short conversations have titles—for example, in “Laundry,” the author finds Eva lounging on the humans’ clean clothes. Easy to read and comprehend (names are followed by colons to denote who’s speaking), these simple exchanges are squeaky clean and appropriate for the entire family. Lighthearted human-animal misunderstandings take center stage in several of the animals’ pithy quips. For example, in “The Great Flip-Flop Debate,” Bruno says the humans’ rubber sandals are meant to be chewed because flip-flop is a yummy-sounding name. Sometimes the situations are seasonal; for example, the dogs sing Christmas carols, and on Halloween, Bruno dresses like a ghost. But the family’s favorite season seems to be summer, and there are some lively scenes of the pooches in action at the lake.
A cute, fun frolic for tail-wagging fans.Pub Date: March 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-5157-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Our communal obsessions seem to have shifted—at least in the area of supernatural beings: Angels are passÇ, the Devil is ``in.'' Andrew Delbanco calls for his resurrection; psychoanalyst Carl Goldberg uses the phrase ``speaking with the devil'' as a metaphor for his work with malevolent patients; Elaine Pagels scrutinizes Satan's roots. Even Philip Roth's Mickey Sabbath (or is it Mickey Sabbat?) bears a striking resemblance to the proud, rebellious, orgiastic Prince of Darkness. And now we are treated to his image in art. Link, a scholar of Elizabethan drama, considers the development of Satan in Western sculpture and painting: the supposed impact of the hairy, horned Pan; the role of the Egyptian dwarf deity, Bes; the addition of black bat-wings in the 14th century, in the work of Giotto. But, according to Link, the Devil never attained the power in visual art that he did in literature. Just as well—he is perhaps a creature who flourishes best in the imagination. But, please—no books about people's personal encounters with the fallen angel.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8109-3226-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Juicy tales of intrigue and bravado from a ``fakebuster'' extroadinaire. Hoving, the notorious former director of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of Making the Mummies Dance (1993), etc., has found his calling in exposing art forgeries. As a roving fakebuster (the term is the author's) Hoving draws on his connoisseurship and position as an art world insider to investigate and pursue his hunches about inauthentic works of art. He provides us first with a history of the practice of art forgeries from the Phoenicians to the present. Hoving then offers case histories, including some he investigated. It's startling to learn how many preeminent art professionals (including the author himself) have been duped by forgers. Motivated by ``need, speed and greed,'' art scholars, collectors, and curators alike have been seduced by the most obvious of fakes. Among the most startling cases Hoving cites are the three statues of Etruscan Warriors at the Metropolitan Museum (actually created in Italy some 70 years ago) and the ``Curious Spurious Kouros'' at the Getty, as well as the dubious model for Michelangelo's David. Hoving also discusses the confusion caused by the ``Grand Master'' of forged Renaissance drawings, Eric Hebborn, and the remarkable forgeries of Han van Meegeren, the ``Vermeer Man.'' So what does it take to be a fakebuster? ``The mental makeup of a detective; the sensitivity of a seasoned connoisseur; the determination of a fierce, often acidulously antiestablishment independent; a scholar with years of saturation in every field of art; plus some experience as a successful forger.'' False Impressions, needless to say, is filled with a certain amount of self-praise and one-upmanship, as well as a zestful airing of the art world's dirty laundry. And though Hoving is certainly is no prose stylist, all the same he produces a most absorbing book.
Pub Date: May 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-684-81134-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
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