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THE TROUBLE WITH ALARIC by Jane Williamson

THE TROUBLE WITH ALARIC

By

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 1975
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

The twist Williamson puts on the old ""be glad you're you"" theme is not in the plot; Alaric, a dog who doesn't want to be a dog but learns after an exhausting day that being a person isn't for him, proceeds according to formula right down to the final ""Woof!"" The implicit conclusion--that it's better to lie around all day than to make the bed, go to work and fix dinner--may or may not be intended, and may or may not be an improvement on the old status quo-serving one of self-acceptance. But Williamson's deceptively first grade-ish drawings of Alaric--brushing his teeth, licking his ""best friend"" (a little girl) or slumping in shirtsleeves with a martini after a hard day's work--give him an amusing incongruity together with a very dog, like appeal.