An homage to a beloved canine that will bring readers more laughter than tears.
Lynn’s debut offers a collection of anecdotes, as told from the perspective of a troublemaking dog.
This book is a tribute to the author’s departed dog Bentley, a cute, lovable Airedale who also had his possum-killing and flower-bed-destroying moments over the course of his life. Bentley tells his side of the story in a series of short vignettes from his new home in heaven. In a separate chapter, the cats who lived with Bentley provide their perspectives. The dog describes his different adventures with his human “Mama” and offers advice to other canines, such as, “Jump willingly into the car when your human is taking you to the dog doctor.” Most of his stories involve him getting into some kind of trouble. As they’re told from his point of view, he always attempts to justify his behavior: Although he did bite his Mama’s friend on the head, he admits, he didn’t do so with the intention of hurting him; also, he doesn’t think he should be blamed for once eating his Mama’s eyeglasses, because she was the one who didn’t put them on the shelf, out of his reach. Occasional illustrations, including color photos of Bentley and simple line drawings of an Airedale, accompany the text. The book seems aimed at an adult audience, but its brevity and subject matter would also make it appropriate for younger readers. The overall lighthearted tone, and Bentley’s upbeat attitude in particular, keeps the book from becoming a tear-jerker, as is often the case with books about a deceased pet. In fact, it would likely be enjoyed by those grieving the loss of an animal companion. The book lacks an overarching plot or storyline, but it’s still enjoyable as short, simple descriptions of Bentley’s different activities, told in his own, overconfident style.
An homage to a beloved canine that will bring readers more laughter than tears.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481124430
Page Count: 53
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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
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