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A review by papidoc
A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz
5.0
Though I've always enjoyed Dean Kontz's fiction, I never thought I would appreciate a book of his as much as I did A Big Little Life. To my knowledge, this is his first foray into non-fiction, and it was warm, loving, gentle, thoughtful and even inspired in many ways. Like some of the best books I've read, I kept putting this one down, not to understand better what he was saying, but simply to bask in the warmth of his love for Trixie, and to ponder on the words of wisdom that he wrote. I found myself taking note of the truths in much of what he wrote. Consider the following quotes from the book:
• A line from “East Coker,” by T.S. Eliot: “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is the wisdom of humility.”
• “As any dog is remarkably grateful for each kindness it receives, Gerda and I were grateful for every day this joyous creature graced our lives. The only wisdom is humility, which engenders gratitude, and humility is the condition of the heart essential for us to know peace.”
• “Because we are imperfect beings who are self-blinded to the truth of the world’s stunning complexity, we shave reality into paper-thin theories and ideologies that we can easily grasp, and we call them truths. But the truth of a sea, in all its immensity, cannot be embodied in one tide-washed pebble.”
• “We go wrong when we don’t admit the unknowable complexity of reality, but we go dangerously wrong when we claim that one pale story – or an anthology of them – is truth. We arrive at the paleness to avoid consideration of the daunting truth in all its fierce color and infinite detail.”
• “In each little life, we can see great truth and beauty, and in each little life we glimpse the way of all things in the universe. If we allow ourselves to be enchanted by the beauty of the ordinary, we begin to see that all things are extraordinary. If we allow ourselves to be humbled by what we do not and cannot know, in our humility we are exalted.”
• “…the joy arising from innocence, from harmony with nature and natural law, must be the most exhilarating feeling either dog or human could hope to experience…the flight from innocence so characteristic of our time is a leap into absurdity and insanity.”
• “…God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.”
• “This world is infinitely layered and mysterious. Every day of our lives, we see far more than we can comprehend, and because the failure to comprehend disquiets us, we lie to ourselves about what we see. We want a simple world, but we live in one that is magnificently complex. Rather than acknowledge the exquisite roundness of creation, we take it in thin slices, and we view each slice through tinted, distorting lenses that further diminish its beauty and obscure truths that await recognition. Complexity implies meaning, and we are afraid of meaning.”
• “…the only significant measure of your life is the positive effect you have on others, either by conscious acts of will or by unconscious example. Every smallest act of kindness – even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, the compliment that engenders a smile – has the potential to change the recipient’s life.”
I checked out A Big Little Life from the library to read, but I appreciated its wisdom so much that I think I will go buy my own copy for my library. Over the years, I have become choosier about what I buy and keep, and this one is a keeper!
• A line from “East Coker,” by T.S. Eliot: “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is the wisdom of humility.”
• “As any dog is remarkably grateful for each kindness it receives, Gerda and I were grateful for every day this joyous creature graced our lives. The only wisdom is humility, which engenders gratitude, and humility is the condition of the heart essential for us to know peace.”
• “Because we are imperfect beings who are self-blinded to the truth of the world’s stunning complexity, we shave reality into paper-thin theories and ideologies that we can easily grasp, and we call them truths. But the truth of a sea, in all its immensity, cannot be embodied in one tide-washed pebble.”
• “We go wrong when we don’t admit the unknowable complexity of reality, but we go dangerously wrong when we claim that one pale story – or an anthology of them – is truth. We arrive at the paleness to avoid consideration of the daunting truth in all its fierce color and infinite detail.”
• “In each little life, we can see great truth and beauty, and in each little life we glimpse the way of all things in the universe. If we allow ourselves to be enchanted by the beauty of the ordinary, we begin to see that all things are extraordinary. If we allow ourselves to be humbled by what we do not and cannot know, in our humility we are exalted.”
• “…the joy arising from innocence, from harmony with nature and natural law, must be the most exhilarating feeling either dog or human could hope to experience…the flight from innocence so characteristic of our time is a leap into absurdity and insanity.”
• “…God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.”
• “This world is infinitely layered and mysterious. Every day of our lives, we see far more than we can comprehend, and because the failure to comprehend disquiets us, we lie to ourselves about what we see. We want a simple world, but we live in one that is magnificently complex. Rather than acknowledge the exquisite roundness of creation, we take it in thin slices, and we view each slice through tinted, distorting lenses that further diminish its beauty and obscure truths that await recognition. Complexity implies meaning, and we are afraid of meaning.”
• “…the only significant measure of your life is the positive effect you have on others, either by conscious acts of will or by unconscious example. Every smallest act of kindness – even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, the compliment that engenders a smile – has the potential to change the recipient’s life.”
I checked out A Big Little Life from the library to read, but I appreciated its wisdom so much that I think I will go buy my own copy for my library. Over the years, I have become choosier about what I buy and keep, and this one is a keeper!