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| A Three Dog Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Abigail Thomas
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy New: $5.30
You Save: $16.70 (76%)
New (5) Used (7) from $4.42
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 386847
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 1.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B00155GE4K
Publication Date: September 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wonderful Read March 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Somewhere in my memory is an NPR "Driveway Moment" when I first heard Abigal Thomas speak about this book. I had meant to write the title down when I got into the house but failed to do so at the time. Then I read about another of her books called "Safekeeping" and when I went to look for it at the library, I found this one listed instead. And that "Driveway Moment" came back to me.
And I am very glad that it did.
This is the first book in months that I have read from cover to cover in nearly one sitting. Although listed as a memoir, it is more of a collection of related essays. The pivotal subject is a severe brain injury suffered by her husband which then becomes the defining event of the second half of her life. This would make it sound a little maudlin on the surface. But maudlin it is not. But it is moving, honest and joy-filled.
Finally, it is the sort of book that you then drive your friends crazy about by having to tell them all about it. Give it a try. It improved my week and it should do the same for you
 "What is it we are longing for?" February 22, 2008
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
Rich Rogin was walking the family dog late one night in his Manhattan neighborhood when he was struck by a car and nearly killed; the accident report said, "dead, or likely to die." Although he didn't die, he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI, to those unlucky enough to be on familiar terms with this sad condition).
Abigail Thomas gives us a tender little book about life with her husband after the accident wiped out his past and his future, leaving him only a jumbled present. Rich was not able to live at home and Abigail moved upstate to be near the facility where he lived, bringing him home for a visit every week. She filled her days with writing, knitting, and napping with her three dogs.
While the facts of the story are painfully sad, Abigail infuses her writing with loving accommodations of Rich's diminished condition. Of her visits, so often made difficult by his inability to fix himself in the real world: "During the days when it is impossible to communicate in words, I get into his bed and we hold hands. Nap therapy. This is a familiar posture, something we can do without speech, without thinking." Rich's reality becomes her reality on the days when she can't penetrate his confused world.
Abigail's enjoyment of her dogs is threaded through the book. Like her husband, they force her to live in the present. "Dogs are never in a bad mood over something you said at breakfast," she writes. "Dogs never sniff at the husks of old conversations, or conduct autopsies on weekends gone wrong. An unexamined life may not be worth living, but the overexamined life is hell. We talk too much."
Although "A Three Dog Life" is labeled a memoir, it's not laid out in the linear fashion of most memoirs -- more like a collection of essays presented in random order. For me this presentation left a lack of closure with several of her themes. I realize that it was a deliberate choice by the author but for me it was the one blemish on an otherwise magical reading experience. Do read it for yourself, in one sitting if you can. You'll find it a much happier book than it sounds.
Linda Bulger, 2008
A Great Comfort Book January 30, 2008
I loved this book. I read it at a time when I needed to nurture and take care of myself --- I had just lost my mom. This story made me laugh, cry, and think. It's a great read--- especially when you need to take a nap with your furry companions!
Wonderful memoir January 7, 2008
This is a beautifully written memoir. Don't expect a typical "dog story" -- the dogs are a very minor part of this book, but it is a very moving series of thoughts on how to deal with loss.
A Book to Sink Into December 27, 2007
As a rule, one of the best reading experiences is when I am able to get inside the author's head, or the author gets into mine, or both, one at a time or simultaneously.
Consider the amoeba. Amoebas get together once in a while to exchange cellular material, which, it is said, makes them more robust. That pretty much sums up a great book experience for me, and that's what happened when I read A THREE DOG LIFE. Along with allowing me to revisit the sights and smells of my beloved New York, Abigail Thomas shared her thoughts and feelings about things I have experienced and things I thought too improbable for anyone to experience, touching my head and my heart.
My favorite parts were about Outsider Art and about how she became a writer.
I was so sorry when the book ended, and I'm going to find a way to read her other works.
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