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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
tense
slow-paced
I disliked this book so much I almost threw it across the room until I remembered I was reading it on my phone.
I had to read this book for work reasons, and it was a slog. It rambles, it has anecdotes within anecdotes, it never fails to fail to get to the point.
You could skip the first 60 pages and not miss a thing. Frankly you could skip a whole lot more. As a fellow dog owner I can still say the subject matter is of very little interest - this guy has dogs. Big deal?
Strangely he's proud of the fact that his dogs are dangerous dogs that he cannot handle. They fight with him in the street. They destroy and chase native animals. They bite people, to the point a visitor to their home needs stitches. They rejoice when she 'gets over' her fears that they might easily savage a visiting child and doesn't report their dangerous animals, who then go on to destroy a family pet they've spent their whole lives with. Loveable, apparently.
Then the dogs die, eventually, as all dogs do - but after stupid amounts of money are mentioned on vet bills, perhaps to impress us?
Then they get another dog they can't control as a happy ending.
Do not recommend either writing style nor subject matter.
I had to read this book for work reasons, and it was a slog. It rambles, it has anecdotes within anecdotes, it never fails to fail to get to the point.
You could skip the first 60 pages and not miss a thing. Frankly you could skip a whole lot more. As a fellow dog owner I can still say the subject matter is of very little interest - this guy has dogs. Big deal?
Strangely he's proud of the fact that his dogs are dangerous dogs that he cannot handle. They fight with him in the street. They destroy and chase native animals. They bite people, to the point a visitor to their home needs stitches. They rejoice when she 'gets over' her fears that they might easily savage a visiting child and doesn't report their dangerous animals, who then go on to destroy a family pet they've spent their whole lives with. Loveable, apparently.
Then the dogs die, eventually, as all dogs do - but after stupid amounts of money are mentioned on vet bills, perhaps to impress us?
Then they get another dog they can't control as a happy ending.
Do not recommend either writing style nor subject matter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Markus Zusak’s memoir is ultimately a love story to his dogs. He speaks of them with such a love and admiration that it is infectious, and with such a natural storytelling ability it is easy too see why Zusak has had such a successful career.
On reflection my only criticism is that I find myself wondering what exactly the point of this text was, though this may well be naivety on my part, as i am not well versed in memoir as a genre.
Still, a generous and enjoyable story.
On reflection my only criticism is that I find myself wondering what exactly the point of this text was, though this may well be naivety on my part, as i am not well versed in memoir as a genre.
Still, a generous and enjoyable story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
emotional
reflective
sad
lighthearted
reflective
sad
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Zusak is such a natural storyteller that I sort of fell into this book about a life with dogs and he held me there. I’ve never had to wrangle a dog like Reuben, Archer or Frosty before but I’ve seen plenty of them at the dog park and it’s pure chaos. Zusak is committed to the dogs most of us wouldn’t take home from the pound and you have to love him for that (and beg him to keep his dogs away from Milo who would be terrified of them). Proximity to wildness reminds us of the wildness within. The audiobook, read by Zusak himself, was excellent.
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
funny
reflective