Reader's Ink discussion

How did you rate this book?

I Loved Loved Loved this book. I've been a sucker for an animal book since very young. My first were Old Yeller (sniff sniff) and All Things Bright and Beautiful. The specific things that make this book different is that Bailey came back after each life experience, and that he was able to retain his knowledge and memories from his previous life. This last three weeks, I've had three friends that have had to put a dog down. Weird coincidence that I'd just finished this book, and thought of many things. One thing that kept ringing in my head was the Cool Room, and the Cool Table. It got to where Bailey found that room as a place of peace, cause he may be neutered/spayed, or put to sleep. He didn't know he would be coming back. So I've been thinking of my friends dogs. Are they going to be coming back to bless another family and make them happy and healthy. My best friend who died three weeks ago. We've been best friends since we were 14. I love her with all my heart, and weep as I type. I miss her so. This is the longest it's ever been since we've spoken. Again, I have faith that I will see her again, and that brings me great comfort. I'm giving this book a 5. Very deserving as it approaches these issues from a very clear and understanding viewpoint, which with my own belief system is easy to understand.

Oh Carol, I am so sorry about the loss of your dear friend. Losing those we love is the most difficult part of life we have to encounter. As you were comforted by reading this book, I hope you are comforted by many many more things as time goes by.

Thank you my sweet. I wish we lived closer so we could meet and get to know each other better. I truly have felt blessed that you allowed me to join your group. I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm learning from you all, and am feeling a kinship with you all. Anyone know what happened to Amber???? Been thinking about her.

I ALSO ENJOYED THIS BOOK. I LOOK AT RILEY NOW AND THINK ARE YOU PEACHES, WICK, SPRECKLES, SAMSON, SHILOH, BLOSSOM, OR MUGSY? I ALSO WONDER IF WE KEEP RETURNING UNTIL WE GET IT RIGHT! WASN'T THERE A MOVIE KIND OF ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING CALLED DEFENDING YOUR LIFE? REGARDLESS, THIS REALLY MAKES ME CONSIDER MY PURPOSE IN LIFE AND WHETHER OR NOT I'VE ACCOMPLISHED ENOUGH TO BE "A GOOD DOG". I HOPE SO...

Carol- I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I cannot imagine what you must be going through. My thoughts and prayers are with you!

I am going to give this book a 3.8. It took a while for me to get into it- mostly because of the dog's point of view. Parts of the story were very moving, and I can only imagine how I might have reacted had I ever had dogs in my life (which I haven't). The story was structured in an interesting way, though some of the timelines were hard to follow.

Overall a nice book!

I agree with you about the timelines, Julie. I assumed from the beginning that each life happened one right after another. The landing on the moon sort of showed me otherwise, and then in the end when Ethan was an old man, I could sort of see how the dogs lived spanned across Ethan's life. I always sort of wondered, though, how much time passed before the dog wad "reborn".

First, MANY thanks to Meghan for posting the questions while I was on vacation. I was going to do it from the beach and then realized . . . that was a bad idea. Alisha and Julie generated most of these (right?), and they did a great job.

Me, I rated this book a 4. My gut is that it's a somewhat inflated score, but I found it charming and funny and hey, I enjoyed it. The first life was a bit on the dull side, but the rest were MUCH better.

Oh, and Auntie Cheryl, I LOVED your doggie list. I knew/know every dog on it! Granted, my main memory of Shiloh was the loss of my my airplane candy to that snoopy dog when I was six years old, but still. I remember! And all the rest were SO sweet and unique. Especially my Blossom and Mug! And Wick. And Peaches, the canine matriarch. Okay, they were ALL great dogs . . . .