A review by jenbebookish
Heroic Measures by Jill Ciment

4.0

I kept hearing people say that this book was like, theeee most amazing book. A particular Goodreads friend who I trust very much when it comes to book recs even claimed this as one of her favorite books! So that being said, I was expecting this lil novel to blow me away.

Well. It didn't blow me away in the manner I expected it to, but I loved it nonetheless. It was a very sweet book about a very sweet subject, one that is very dear to my heart. Dogs! I think any dog lover will first imagine their own sweet puppy in the place of the dog from this book, and then secondly love this book to pieces.

The book is short, and sweet, tho for being such a quick read it still read like a punch in the gut. Who of us dog lovers wouldn't shed a tear after reading about surgery and recovery from the perspective of a dog? When Dorothy's (the dog) back legs are paralyzed from a ruptured disc and yet the sweet pup still answers to her owner's call by attempting to bring her little body over to him by dragging her lifeless legs behind her across the animal hospital floor? Who of us wouldn't be reminded of our own sweet pet when Dorothy's only cognitive thought as she lay there in a pain induced haze is, "maybe that's Alex and Ruth come to bring me home?"

There were other things going on in the book, set in New York alongside a potential bomb threat, the selling and moving of apartments, etc etc, but that to me was just background noise, all I cared about and wanted to know was is Dorothy going to survive the surgery? And when can she go home and leave the awful animal hospital that is an assault to all her senses and where death lingers beyond every corner?

This book is worth reading, particularly if you have a dog. Or a heart. There is so much sweetness wrapped up in this little bundle of a book, a couple hours spent reading this and you'll be left with the warm fuzzies and the urgent desire to cuddle your dog to death!