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Michael Jay

Goodreads Author

Born

Detroit

Website

https://dogwaterfree.com

Genre

Memoir, Psychology, Young Adult

Member Since

September 2023

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Michael Jay is an American author, education advocate, and resort community developer whose award-winning memoir, Dog Water Free, explores the moral and emotional formation of a boy confronting love, loss, and responsibility during the defining years of adolescence.

Detroit-born, Michael attended Detroit Catholic Central High School with the help of an anonymous benefactor, graduated from Harvard College, and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. In his career, he has developed award-winning destination resort villages, including the Village at Squaw Valley USA in California (now Palisades Tahoe) and Tamarack Village at Tamarack Resort in Idaho.

Throughout his career, as a Harvard College Admissions Committee Alumni Interviewer, Michael Michael Jay is an American author, education advocate, and resort community developer whose award-winning memoir, Dog Water Free, explores the moral and emotional formation of a boy confronting love, loss, and responsibility during the defining years of adolescence.

Detroit-born, Michael attended Detroit Catholic Central High School with the help of an anonymous benefactor, graduated from Harvard College, and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. In his career, he has developed award-winning destination resort villages, including the Village at Squaw Valley USA in California (now Palisades Tahoe) and Tamarack Village at Tamarack Resort in Idaho.

Throughout his career, as a Harvard College Admissions Committee Alumni Interviewer, Michael has advocated on behalf of high school students across the Western United States, listening closely to the formative questions young people ask as they prepare for adulthood. That work deeply informs Dog Water Free, a coming-of-age memoir focused on the years when character is shaped long before clarity arrives. Michael Jay lives in Idaho.
AWARDS
Recognized as a Distinguished Favorite by the NYC Big Book Award Committee and honored with an IndieBRAG Medallion for Nonfiction, this full-hearted memoir has the engaging quality of a "truth is stranger than fiction" adventure.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Dog Water Free captures the turbulent yet transformative years between childhood and early adulthood. Called a “mother-son memoir of lasting consequence” by a past president of the Women’s National Book Association (Lynn Henriksen), this memoir of formation follows Mikee, a middle child. His early adolescence is defined by a maelstrom of fateful events involving a solemn, prayerful bargain made in response to his mother’s terminal illness and then irrevocably altered by the sudden death of his father. It begins in a working-class neighborhood in Detroit and ends on the island of Nantucket before the candles are lit to celebrate his 26th birthday.

As Mikee attempts to interpret grief through a child’s flawed logic, the narrative traces how values are absorbed, not through strict instruction or adolescent rebellion, but through sustained observation of a parent living with dignity under pressure. Rather than framing maturity as escape or rupture, Dog Water Free locates meaning in endurance, stewardship, and the quiet inheritance of conduct that could only be endowed by an enlightened mother whose days are numbered. ...more

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Average rating: 4.23 · 145 ratings · 30 reviews · 57 distinct works • Similar authors

	Dog Water Free, A Memoir: A coming-of-age story about an improbable journey to find emotional truth 4.30 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gay Love Signs: The New Astrology Guide for Men Who Love Men 3.94 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 1980 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Michael Jay (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Barbara Geiger (Contributor), C.J. Munoz (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 3.88 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Final Sleep Saga: Volume 1 Dreamscape it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sea Monsters it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shadow on the Throne 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Arcana: The Final Sleep Saga Volume 2 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ice Age Beasts it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Planets (Easy-Read Fact Book) 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1987 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dynamic: Book One of The Mirus Records 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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The Overstory

by Richard Powers

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Jun 18, 2026 12:45PM

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Dog Water Free, A Memoir: A coming-of-age story about an improbable journey to find emotional truth.

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Michael Jay rated a book it was ok The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry, #1) by Rachel Joyce	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was just a bit too slow for my reading at this time. Alas, I had to forsake finishing THE UNLIKELY PILGIMAGE OF HAROLD for a desire to get to know Theo (of Golden) who stole my heart.
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Michael Jay rated a book it was amazing Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Highly recommend. This lovely story about a mysterious man who visits a small town in Georgia and impacts everyone's life is most worthy of your time. I'm still remembering Theo fondly, and it's been weeks since I finished. Take your time with this o ...more
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Michael Jay shared a quote “To achieve great things, just two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." - Leonard Bernstein, Chapter 33 of Dog Water Free” ...more Michael Jay
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Michael Jay rated a book really liked it Meditations by Marcus Aurelius	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A meditation for the ages from a Philosopher King. Stoic wisdom never goes out of style. Read a bit...let it stew...then read a bit more. Meditations is best digested in small bites.
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Michael Jay rated a book liked it The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This work details Founding Father Ben Franklin's early years, primarily providing a foundation of understanding his origin story via letters from Franklin to his son. Now, I'm looking forward to diving into my classmate Walter Isaacson's acclaimed bi ...more
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Quotes by Michael Jay (?)

“It’s a neighborhood where every dad has at least one job and where parents often end conversations with the words: no guts, no glory.”
― Michael Jay, Dog Water Free, A Memoir: A coming-of-age story about an improbable journey to find emotional truth

tags: coming-of-age, detroit, orphan, true-story

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“I dream therefore I am." - Marge to her young son Mikee”
― Michael Jay, Dog Water Free, A Memoir: A coming-of-age story about an improbable journey to find emotional truth

tags: courage, inspirational, mom

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“What in the world could this family have done to deserve a fate such as this?”
― Michael Jay, Dog Water Free, A Memoir: A coming-of-age story about an improbable journey to find emotional truth

tags: coming-of-age, inspirational, true-story

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“To achieve great things, just two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." - Leonard Bernstein, Chapter 33 of Dog Water Free”
― Michael Jay

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