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DREAM OF THE DOG WITH NINE LIVES

Name: DREAM OF THE DOG WITH NINE LIVES
Author: Edana Lir
ISBN: 978-0-9725221-9-9

by Edana Lir ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A wordy but charming and solid tale of human-canine bonding.

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A memoir focuses on a woman’s almost eight-year relationship with a small dachshund.

Lir (Moments of Introverted Outbursts, 2017, etc.) recalls early on in the narrative that she was 10 years old when she finally convinced her mother to let her have a dog. Within a few months, a neighbor’s pooch had a small litter. The author picked out a furry female puppy and named her Cindy. They were together for three years until a move to a complex that wouldn’t allow Cindy led to Lir’s giving her up. The author worried about her for almost two decades, until she reached her 30s. But she promised herself to one day “pick up where Cindy” and she “left off.” She would look for a small rescue dog that she could keep for the rest of its life. Several years later, Darwin, a purebred dachshund with behavioral issues, appeared in a TV-news adoption event. He had already experienced two failed adoptions. “He doesn’t need a dachshund person,” the man who ran the event later explained to Lir. “He needs the right person. He needs a protector.” It turned out to be a perfect match. The spunky little brown pooch adored her, and the author worked assiduously to let him know he was safe, understood, and loved. Like many pet parents, she was highly tuned to Darwin’s body language and vocalizations, which she amusingly translates into human-speak. After a battle of wills, Darwin would sit up, his long back vertical and ramrod straight, his eyes staring intensely: “Hmmm? Yeah? We good again?” Lir’s reflections include dozens of anecdotes about the pair’s mistakes, negotiations, and triumphs, but even more prevalent are the author’s frequent mental meanderings as she labored to decode Darwin’s inner world. Lengthy, almost full-page paragraphs are engaging but would benefit from judicious editing. And the pleasant conversational tone of the prose is occasionally marred by grammatical errors (“This will be a pattern him and I follow”). An inevitably sad final chapter (tissues advised) notwithstanding, this touching story is an enjoyable and loving tribute to a devoted best friend.

A wordy but charming and solid tale of human-canine bonding.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-0-9725221-9-9

Page Count: 216

Publisher: BookBaby

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.