An ambitious and insightful new novel in which a dog is your co-pilot.
Debut novelist MacDonnell offers discussions of politics, religion, philosophy, and science—all from a dog’s-eye view.
Have you ever looked into your dog’s face and seen a flash of recognition—a canny glance that makes you wonder if Sparky knows a lot more than he’ll ever let on? MacDonnell apparently has, and the result is this deeply innovative new volume, which plumbs the depths of canine psychology. The main character is Eros, a newborn pup learning to make his way in the wide world. His mother and first mentor is Skylark, or “Shyla,” as her human owners know her. She brings Eros (and readers) up to speed on some basic truths about their world: Dogs are smarter and more perceptive than humans; they communicate via telepathy; and they take care of people, not the other way around. Eros is a preternaturally reflective young dog, and his questions quickly outstrip his mother’s teachings, sending him on an intellectual journey through the realms of metaphysics, psychology, faith, and a host of other topics. Overall, MacDonnell’s book is daring, original, and cheeky. She’s as quick with a joke as she is with a philosophical maxim, and her novel is a dexterous mix of humor and deep reflection. The only real weakness is that it all gets a bit repetitive from time to time. Take, for example, the first lines of the second, third, and fourth chapters: “Three days of eating, sleeping, and not a lot of thinking went by”; “These early days passed quickly. Eros slept a lot, ate a lot, and slept some more”; and “The next few days were just a lot of feeding and sleeping.” A more streamlined product would have been even more enjoyable, but these small structural issues don’t dampen the fun—or the fulfillment—that the book delivers.
An ambitious and insightful new novel in which a dog is your co-pilot.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-5913-1
Page Count: 212
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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