An often pleasant slice of a dog’s life.
In Hanser’s (The ESL Student’s Grammar HELP! Student Handbook, 2014, etc.) novel, a charismatic canine recovers from an accident and steals his human family’s heart.
This sweet dog tale, narrated by Joey the chocolate Labrador retriever, is based on true events, according to the author. As a young pup, Joey is adopted by a new family—Mom, Dad, and little girl Vivi—and lives a rambunctious, happy life of rascally hole-digging and crazy escapes from the fenced backyard. The author scatters lovely color photographs throughout of the real-life Joey, his family, and even a friendly animal control employee’s truck. One sad day, the energetic dog digs through the fence and gets hit by a car. In addition to his other injuries, his ankle is broken, requiring surgery and a temporary splint. He then starts off on a slow road to recovery with the family. Joey’s first-person narration is upbeat but not always consistent. Sometimes, his speech is cute and simple: “My parents have a lot of rules for me. They have rules for whether I can jump up on the sofa or not.” At other times, though, his language is oddly stilted; for example, after he unsuccessfully tries to convince Dad to let him go for a run, he exclaims: “So many subsequent mornings I arose with hope, only to settle into a sense of failure and disappointment.” Unimaginative daily details regarding the humans’ rituals slow the plot. Some events contain asides with forgettable, uninteresting information, such as the details of Joey’s lineage. The book’s strength, though, is its humorous comparisons of humans’ and dogs’ expectations; Joey, for example, thinks that the sound of a training clicker means that it’s time to play a game involving running away. These witty contrasts will elicit chuckles, particularly from readers with high-maintenance pets. Despite the book’s uneven structure, dog lovers will find that they have a soft spot for Joey’s nonstop energy and fun-loving personality.
An often pleasant slice of a dog’s life.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9915149-2-2
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Ivy Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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