Coming out April 13, 2010Paul is going through a mid-life crisis. He's trying to deal with his recent divorce and his father's even more recent stroke. He relies on his drinking buddies at the local bar to cheer him and make him forget his loneliness. He relies on companionship from his girlfriend, who is in an "open relationship" with him and one other man. And he relies on his ancient dog Stella to help him ruminate over life's issues. He's not the first human to ever talk to their pet, but Stella might just be the first dog who talks back. But only to Paul. She proves to be quite insightful, both in offering rather impartial views of what is going on in Paul's life and in how she innocently questions why humans make the choices they do. This is a quirky tale of letting go and moving on, of figuring out what you want life to be for you, of relationships and communication told in a placid but fresh voice worth listening to.
--Jackie
See if these opening lines grab you:
"In the winter of 1998, at the close of the twentieth century, in a small college town on the Connecticut River, on the sidewalk outside a house close enough to the railroad tracks that the pictures on the walls were in constant need of straightening, not that anybody ever straightened them, Paul Gustavson, having had a bit too much to drink, took the glove off his right hand, wedged it into his left armpit, and fumbled in his pants pocket for his house keys....
"I'm home," Paul said, letting himself in and closing the door to keep out the cold.
"I thought you were dead," the dog said. Her name was Stella, and she was a mixed breed, half German shepherd and half yellow Labrador, but favoring the latter in appearance. Fortunately, she'd also gotten her personality from the Labrador side of the family, taking from the Germans only a certain congenital neatness and a strong sense of protectiveness…
"Once again, I'm not dead."
"Joy unbounded," she said dryly."
You can preorder this book here.
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