Susan Wilson (1)

KIRKUS REVIEWWilson (Summer Harbor, 2003, etc.) goes straight for the emotional jugular with a tale of two battle-scarred survivors, one human, one canine, learning mutual need and trust.Man and dog rehabilitate themselves and each other in his shrewdly engineered tale of twin catastrophes and redemption. Adam March?s fall from grace is self-made, the inevitable collapse of a Don Draper?esque life built on the rocky foundations of concealed origins. Destabilized by the thought that his estranged sister, last seen 40 years ago, has re-entered his high-powered, high-maintenance existence, Adam loses self-control and commits ?a self-immolating act of breathtaking nihilism?¥he slaps his personal assistant. Instantly he jeopardizes everything: marriage, job, wealth and social standing. Recast as a nobody, sentenced to community service in a homeless shelter while attending anger-management therapy, Adam must learn some humility. Chance is a pit bull mix born into brutality and bred to fight. Man and dog don?t exactly bond when Adam accidentally reprieves Chance from the pound (he was looking for the missing pet of a distraught homeless-shelter denizen), but over time their relationship warms up, encouraged by an attractive local pet-shop owner. A third-person account of Adam?s story alternates with Chance?s dog?s-eye perspective as each character touches bottom and is redeemed by his counterpart in the other species. The story closes in a rush of reconciliation, a sob or two, and wiser, happier humans and canines all round.An irresistible, if one-dimensional, cocktail of salvation and sentiment.… (més)

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this book- honestly I thought it was going to be cheesy. Well, it was a little- towards the end- but for the most part, it was pretty good. It's (obviously) about a dog. And a man, a powerful executive from unfortunate beginnings he’d prefer not to remember, pretty much built his life up from nothing and is proud of that. One day in a fit of arrogance and anger he strikes his secretary and gets charged with assault. In the ensuing lawsuit, he looses not only his multiple homes and most of his assets, but his wife and daughter, ending up seeing the latter only once a week. He’s ordered by the court to do community service at a homeless shelter. He finds the work there demeaning and unpleasant to say the least. Resentful and constantly defensive (in a just barely subtle way), until the dog comes into the picture. Then things slowly start to change.The dog is a pit bull type that was raised in a cellar, trained to fight, and bears the scars, both mentally and physically. When animal cruelty investigators bust the place, he manages to escape and wanders the streets for a while until getting caught again and put in the shelter. Where he’s in the last cage of the row- fated to be euthanized. But the two have an unexpected encounter, and the dog finds himself in this man’s care. Unlikely as it seems- the man lives in a small apartment and has never cared for a pet before- they gradually build a relationship. At first the ex-executive wants to hand the dog off to someone else, but he soon realizes the dog doesn’t have any other options. And then when an opportunity does come to get rid of the dog, he finds he doesn’t want to anymore. He’s surprised to his teenage daughter thawing towards him, because of the dog, and starts to chat with people he sees every day in the neighborhood, even make a few friends (with folks he never would have given more than a nod or glance, before). Chance just might bring more good into his life than anyone ever expected. And give him the ability to become a different person. This story is really heartwarming. A bit cheesy, but not overwhelmingly so. It helped that things happened at a constrained pace, that seemed more realistic (no sudden overhaul of character, instant flip just because of the dog). Some chapters are told from the dog’s viewpoint, which were my favorite parts.… (més)