Title: Men and Dogs
Author: Katie Crouch
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Date of Publication: (April 7, 2011)
ISBN 10: 9780316002141
Pages: 304 pages
Synopsis: It was the spring of 1985. Dr. Buzz Legare went on a fishing trip in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor, taking the family dog with him. They found the dog later, floating alone in the small aluminum boat, but Buzz was never seen again.
Fast forward two decades: his daughter Hannah is thirty-five with a successful business and a dedicated husband, Jon, in San Francisco. She’s left Charleston far behind, but not the conviction that her father is alive somewhere⎯not dead, just missing. Her obsession begins to play out in self-sabotage, culminating one night when, having royally screwed things up with Jon, she finds herself drunkenly climbing up her own fire escape—with disastrous results.
Head bandaged and heart bruised, Hannah is ordered home by her strong-willed mother, Daisy, and reluctantly welcomed by Palmer, her much more responsible brother who stayed behind. There, she encounters rivals and ghosts from her past, including Warren, the childhood love she could never quite forget. Enlisting his help, Hannah sets out on a quest to find out what really happened to her father so long ago. Palmer and Daisy worry about the manic lengths she’ll go to dredge up the past. Some family secrets, they reason, are best left buried for good. (http://www.katiecrouch.com/new/books_menanddogs.shtml)
About the Author: Katie Crouch is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Girls in Trucks and the upcoming novel Men and Dogs. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Observer, Tin House, Glamour, and McSweeney's. She received her M.F.A. at Columbia University, and was awarded a Sewanee Walter Dakin Fellowship and a MacDowell Fellowship. She currently lives in San Francisco.
My Review: Men and Dogs is the story of how a family copes after the father of the family disappears during a fishing trip. Hannah, the daughter, 20 years after her father’s disappearance is determined to find out the truth. She is certain he is still alive. Her brother, Palmer, believe their dad died and that his actions lead his father to his death. The mother seems to have adjusted the best to the death of her husband and moved on the best she could.
Hannah and Palmer were unlikable as characters. Hannah was very self centered and immature. Her actions were unpredictable. I did find Hannah’s attempts to reunite with her husband sad, desperate and humorous at times. I think actually I had the most respect for Hannah’s husband and his tolerance. Palmer seemed cold and detached overall.
Men and Dogs is a quick read that keeps you engaged in the story. There are some quirky characters when Hannah returns to Charleston.
My Rating: 3.5/5 – a quick enjoyable read that kept me interested throughout the book. But not one that I would be raving to my friends to get them to read it.
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