by Garth Stein 5/5
Yes, its true another dog book, but not at all like “Marley
and Me” which is what I expected. This book is about life, love and friendship
(of course it is, its about a dog’s life). I guess I had no idea what to expect
and I was splendidly surprised. Of course like any book about an animal and my
emotions rolled, and I cried. Here are two of my favorite passages.
“The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not
whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles-preferably of his
own making-in order to triumph. A hero without a flaw is of no interest to an
audience or to the universe, which, after all is based on conflict and
opposition, the irresistible force meeting the unmovable object.”
“Inside each of us resides the truth, I began, the absolute
truth. But sometimes the truth is hidden in a hall of mirrors. Sometimes we
believe we are viewing the real thing, when in fact we are viewing a facsimile,
a distortion.”
The story is written in the voice of the dog Enzo, of the
life he shares with his humans Denny, Eve and Zoe their daughter.
There is a documentary on the belief of Mongolians, that
dogs when they die they are reincarnated into the humans, and they are closer
in fact to humans that monkeys which are dumb. What a waste of an opposable
thumb.
