A quirky insightful love story that animal lovers would especially appreciate! ( )

abxc-Sherrisue76; Intriguing, excellent book. Dante, one of the narrators and the dying Irish wolfhound, says it's about Faith. And perhaps it is. It's also about love, trust and learning to really live. Told by 12 different narrators, and covering several years of his "human's" life, it tells the journey of Rae and Dante, their special bond and how Dante feels he set his human on the right path for after he's gone. Delightful and insightful. This book is now going out in the Wild Thing Book box. ( )

Just loved it, LOVED it. This is a book for dog lovers' introspective moments, well written and touching. You just have to read it. ( )

I fell in love with Irish Wolfhounds because of this book. I have an Irish Wolfhound because of this book. Despite these two things, I didn’t like this book. The book jumps around from the viewpoints of all the characters, including the dogs, the cats, and all the owners involved. The voices of the human characters are all so similar, that I often found myself paging back to find out which character I was on. And, when I did figure out which human I was dealing with, I didn’t like them especially. The dogs were written well, and I think the whole book could be improved by ripping out all the sections covering the people and just leaving the dogs and the cat.

The story is based around Dante, a three-legged Irish Wolfhound, and his owner Rae (who is incredibly self absorbed-except when it comes to her dog). Rae is hoping to find love, and Dante wants nothing more than to see her happy and see her find love. The novel, written by Pam Houston, chronicles the bond between dog and owner and this is where the story gains its power and momentum. The touching moments between Rae and Dante make you want to reach down and stroke your dog between the ears a little bit longer. Houston describes Wolfhounds perfectly and really captures the essence of the breed. Despite all this, I still don’t recommend the book. It’s heartbreaking, and the human characters make it hard to like them, or care about them at all. If you’re going to read it, flip through and just try to get to the good parts. Houston can write, but the brief glimpses of her talents weren’t enought and left me ultimately unfulfilled. ( )

I see that others say this book isn't as good as other things Houston has written. I can't compare as this is the only thing I've read. I was completely charmed by it - how can you not be taken with someone who names her cats after power tool manufacturers? ( )