Customer Reviews

All God's Creatures

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
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All God's Creatures is a full fledged local color novel chock full of vivid characters, of both the two and four legged varieties.

The novel traces the life of Maggie McLain, the spunky woman vet. Masterfully written, All God's Creatures weaves together a series of vignettes into a beautiful testament to the power of love, devotion and spirit.

Whether you are an animal lover or not, you will chuckle at the antics of Maggie and company as they build a thriving veterinary practice and struggle to keep their human relationships on an even keel.

Ms. McSparren has done her research and writes with authority. Page by page, she pulls you into her book with her wonderful humor and descriptive prose.

All God's Creatures was a pleasure to read.

All God's Creatures is about an unlikely Southern debutante in 1960s Memphis who becomes a large animal veterinarian. Gawky, restless, smart and opinionated, young Maggie McLain isn't cut out to fill the patent leather pumps of a Southern belle. When she ditches a Cotton Carnival ball to save a drowning pup, Maggie realizes her destiny.
Over the years, Maggie earns the devotion and respect of crusty farmers, snobby horse breeders and doubtful pet owners throughout western Tennessee. She's an inspiration to up-and-coming women vets, a loving wife to her proud husband, a patient mother to her demanding kids, and above all, a champion to sick and injured animals.
This is a wonderful story for the whole family. The stories in the book are both heart-felt and fun. McSparren's love of animals and joy of story-telling come out in this book.

I started this book this morning and could not stop until I finished.

There is love, pathos, humor, joy and sorrow. It is inspirational.

I laughed and cried all through it.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I purchased All God's Creatures when it was still a Kindle freebie. After the first dozen chapters, I was delighted, wondering how such an excellently written story could possibly have been given away for free. Not long after, however, I began to realize that the story did, in fact, have its share of flaws: specifically, this novel is burdened with poor pacing and a lack of focus.

Reading almost like a memoir, All God's Creatures follows the life of veterinarian Maggie McClain, providing several anecdotes from both her professional and private adventures. We see Maggie find her initial passion in animals, struggle through vet school, establish her own practice, raise a family, and manage an empty nest. Carolyn McSparren writes in a manner that makes all of these encounters, of both the two- and four-legged varieties, enjoyable and understandable even to those not well-versed in veterinary vernacular.

Unfortunately, it often seems like the author bit off more than she could chew by deciding to cover Maggie's life from start to finish. McSparren often ends up skimming parts of Maggie's life in which we would like more depth. How did Maggie eventually earn her mother's approval? Did Maggie and Morgan ever have relationship issues? What was it actually like for Maggie to manage life with two kids? When does Eli find happiness? Just as the reader develops interest in an aspect of Maggie's life, McSparren speeds on with the story, and with the change of a chapter, several years have passed. It would have been much preferable for the author to focus on one period in Maggie's life; in particular, I would have liked the story to focus on Maggie's struggles during the earliest years of the clinic.

Now, the above complaint is almost ironic as I make my next point. Sometime in the second half of the book, a life-changing event occurs, and all of a sudden the plot screeches to a halt as Maggie's entire life revolves around this change. Seldom does a page go by without the character's internal dialogue mentioning this event. All of a sudden, the plot becomes incredibly dull, not aided by the now repetitive nature of Maggie's veterinary cases. There comes a point when you have to make an effort to see the book through to its conclusion. It's as if the author waited until she was halfway done before realizing the plot needed to focus on something, which suggests poor revision.

All things considered, I think the author was quite skilled and seemed quite comfortable in this genre. I will definitely pick up other books by this author if the price is right. She had an ability to keep me interested--for a while--and I will give her the opportunity to capture my interest again. Writers this good don't often get it wrong more than once.

I just finished the last sentence of this excellent book, and just had to write about how good it is! This book has been on my shelf for some time. I am not sure why it took me so long to read it, but I am really glad that I finally did. The Veterinarians and animals that they care for were wonderful to read about. Even the sad bits (which are inevitable where animals are concerned) were not too bad to read about. McSparren's writing has a way of easing the pain. Honestly I cannot think of anything negative to say about this book. The human interest in this book also holds some interest for all ages. The reader gets involved with the lives of Maggie, her husband, children and friends. This book is unique and will be a tough act to follow. I savored every word, laughed and cried. I highly recommend it to anyone that loves all of God's creatures.

A great read!
I love the way Carolyn wrapped us around all of the characters. I feel like I know them and would love to have them for my neighbors. I couldn't wait to see what each chapter would bring!
Please.....consider a sequel to this one.

This is really a terrific book. If I had gotten it in physical form instead of for the Kindle, I'd place it on my shelves right beside my James Herriot books. It's well written and the stories that make up the whole range from humorous to lump in the throat. My only smallest of criticisms would be that it covers a vet's life from before vet school till retirement age and does seem a bit long, and typos appeared too often in the last half of the book. Maybe if I hadn't been so taken with it that I read it all in one swoop I wouldn't have felt that way about the length of it.

I work in an animal hospital and when I started reading this book, I knew nothing of the author. I assumed that she was telling her own tale about becoming a vet. I was shocked to find out the author was in fact not a vet and based most of the information from people she knew in the vet industry. Her accuracy for detail and fact regarding the procedures, mishaps, and circumstances that go along with treating the animals and their clients. She gives real heart to all the characters involved. I must say she really captured the eccentric quirkiness of some of the clients in the book. Very well written and an absolute joy to read.

Though I haven't finished this wonderful book yet, I have found it delightful from the first page. It's not often that I actually laugh aloud when reading, yet McSparren has included many very humorous events in her account. Her writing is ' first class ' - a truly talented author. Her love of animals is readily apparent as you read, and all those who love animals as much as she does will enjoy this delightful book. Though I haven't finished reading it yet, I'm certain the remaining chapters will prove as entertaining as those I've already finished.

Picture a Memphis girl in the 1960s whose mother's only ambition is to turn her into a Southern Belle and marry her off to the scion of a wealthy family. The girl was tall and brainy, not Belle material at all, but through her mother's machinations she found herself dressed in a Scarlett O'Hara gown and representing a local club as Cotton Carnival princess. On the way to her ball in the pouring rain, she rescued a puppy from the edge of the road. Bringing it to a local veterinarian for treatment, she found her passion and knew she wanted to be a vet herself.

From this romance-novel beginning comes the charming story of Maggie McLain and her large-and-small-animal veterinary practice in western Tennessee, succeeding in a profession that belonged to men at the time the story begins. Maggie and her classmate Elizabeth (Eli), along with Maggie's banker husband Morgan, build a practice from the ground up and earn respect in their profession.

All God's Creatures is a novel, authored by Carolyn McSparren whose roots are in romance novels. Because of the first-person delivery and the memoir style, many readers will indeed think they are reading a memoir in this Ya-Ya Sisterhood/James Herriot fusion. The author's deft characterization of the farmers, horse trainers and pet owners, along with Maggie's family and friends, makes an easy, absorbing read. The veterinary anecdotes are varied and have a realistic feel.

I found that the first half of the book moved along at (if anything) too fast a clip, and then the pace fell off as the book focused more heavily on Maggie's family situation. A memoir (and remember, this novel is "posing as" a memoir) can have a hard time building dramatic tension, and there is no real exception here, so don't look for it. But if you are a fan of Fannie Flagg or Anne Rivers Siddons, and want a relaxed novel that showcases the strength and friendships of women and has lots of horses and other engaging animals, this book could be for you. About three-quarters of the way into the book I hoped it wouldn't end soon. An enjoyable read, "All God's Creatures" was offered as a free Kindle download late last year though it's certainly still a good value at the price currently being charged.

Linda Bulger, 2010