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THE NEW WORK OF DOGS

Name: THE NEW WORK OF DOGS
Author: Jon Katz
ISBN: 0-375-50814-7

TENDING TO LIFE, LOVE, AND FAMILY

by Jon Katz ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2003

A thoughtful and balanced look at what people require of their pets.

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Journalist and novelist Katz (The Father’s Club, 1996, etc.) delves further into the canine territory he first explored in A Dog Year (2002).

Now that dogs work less at herding and the other skills they were bred for, he wonders, what kinds of work are they being asked to do? Correlating the skyrocketing pet population with excessive TV, Internet, and DVD use, Katz believes that dogs are being solicited to tend to Americans’ emotional needs in a society whose members feel disconnected from one another. He focuses on his hometown, Montclair, New Jersey, to examine the evolving human-dog relationship. We meet Sandra Robinson, a childless, separated, middle-aged woman who gets a dachshund puppy named Eleanor Rigby for all the wrong reasons; she wants it to resolve issues from her past and to serve as an anchor in the midst of enormous personal and professional changes. Ellie tries admirably to fulfill all these emotional needs, and everything’s fine until Robinson begins to recover her footing and starts to view the puppy as “demanding and whiney.” We also meet Betty Jean Scirro, an office worker who has dedicated her life to rescuing abused and abandoned dogs, then rehabilitating them in her small house until they can be adopted. (“What does it say about a country that’s developed an extraordinarily sophisticated and comprehensive structure for saving dogs, but no equivalent one for rescuing endangered or troubled people?” Katz asks.) Other encounters involve Rob Cochran, an overworked attorney who considers his Lab his best friend; terminally ill Donna Dwight and her Welsh corgi (this story alone is worth the price of the book); and 14-year-old Jamal Sutton, who has an abusive relationship with a pit bull. Although Katz owns two border collies and is clearly wild about dogs in general, he is troubled that owners try to deny or alter the very nature of animals to suit their needs.

A thoughtful and balanced look at what people require of their pets.

Pub Date: May 13, 2003

ISBN: 0-375-50814-7

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Villard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
TALKING TO ANIMALS
by Jon Katz

- BOOK REVIEW
SAVING SIMON
by Jon Katz

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SECOND-CHANCE DOG
by Jon Katz

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.