Customer Reviews

A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Amid the noise, dust and confusion of a moving buffalo herd near Yellowstone National Park, a newly born buffalo calf strays from his mother, never to see her again. Eventually "mother" would be Roger Brooks, a retired commercial airline plot, and his wife Veryl Goodnight, a sculptor, who adopted and named the buffalo Charlie, after Veryl's legendary great-great uncle Charles Goodnight, who helped bring back buffaloes from near extinction.

Author R.D. Rosen tells the story of the couple and the joys, difficulties and sorrows they experience while raising Charlie from week-old bottle-fed calf to 1800-pound bull. Reading of these experiences just drained my emotions. I treasure this book for its revelation of how an animal can affect so intimately those who care for it. I was drawn mostly to Roger's close attachment to Charlie. "Ethologists and philosophers argue endlessly about what animals feel," the author writes, "and whether they feel in the same way that humans do. In Charlie's case . . . it was a question of something else altogether: how deeply an animal can get a human to feel." And therein lies the beauty of this book.

Interwoven with Charlie's story is the history of the plight of the buffalo, or bison, an American icon. I value the book for its documentation of the hardships of the buffalo in American history and the efforts of caring people trying to protect this majestic animal, a living symbol of America's heritage. Today, the herd at Yellowstone is the only continuously wild herd left in America, yet these buffalo are frequently mistreated. Rosen writes of efforts to preserve the Yellowstone herd, especially the work of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that is at the forefront of efforts to protect the wild buffaloes.

Cried my way through to the end of Buffalo in the House this morning. I loved the book. I am not an animal person, but I was still charmed by Roger's relationship to Charlie the buffalo, and absolutely dismayed by the history of the buffalo in our country. This book is engaging and informative from start to finish -- an educational and heartfelt delight.

We had the pleasure of meeting the author at a book reading here in Albuquerque. I had been intrigued with the topic as Santa Fe is just a bit north and the main character actually living in the house....well, we just had to go. We have also been to the National Bison Range in MT but I had no idea of the bison's history (both past and current). Without going into too much detail, this is a must read for animal lovers as well as those who just like a good story. I laughed a lot (and cried) and learned that our inhumane attitudes still exist in the west. As I drive past the Sandia Pueblo and look upon the bison grazing in the field, I will see them much differently. It's time we took a stand against the slaughter in Yellowstone. I gave the book to my 10 year old niece who lives in Montana - maybe she can help change things.

who would have thunk that a story about an injured buffalo would be the smartest, kindest, best written and engrossing memoir of the year? rosen has done an amazing job, bringing us into the story of charlie and the great people who adopt him, while also showing us how the buffalo was wiped off this land. bravo.

While doing research for a book (in German) about the Yellowstone bison, I came upon "A Buffalo in the House" and couldn't put it down. This beautifully written book not only tells the story of Charlie, the amazing buffalo and the people who try to give him a home, but also about the situation of the wild buffalos in the US.
While "the symbol of the American West" ist trying to survive, the government is slaughterin the last genetically pure bison in the Nations first National Park.
I highly recommend reading the book to get some insight on this political issue. And after reading it, go out and join the movement to help save the last wild bison.

I'm normally a fiction reader, but I couldn't resist this book after reading a brief review in People Magazine. Knowing that a caring couple actually took in a live buffalo (named Charlie) and even let him in their house (until he was too big!) drew me into the book, but what kept me reading was the emotional accounts of friendship and family brought on by a single wild animal. I laughed and I cried through all the accounts of Charlie's growing up and unexpected hardships.

Thank you for opening my eyes to non-fiction and for realizing that it too can be as emotional as a fictional classic or masterpiece. I urge any animal lover or history buff (the book provides an insightful history of the buffalo) to read this heart-warming story.

If you like animals, or have a pet, or are interested in the American West, this is a must-read book for you! I was thoroughly delighted by this well-written true story about a couple in New Mexico who adopted a baby buffalo named Charlie. It's a real page-turner, and a wonderful book for the beach, or as a gift. I've recommended it to everyone I know.

I enjoyed this book so much I read it at one sitting.
The relationship between this man and this unique animal was truly a wonderful thing.

if we were smarter than we are, we would have realized this magnificent ice age animal is uniquely designed by thousands of years of adaptation to survive the worst winters, eat grass only and less of it than a cow, have virtually no veterinary bills and to benefit the land, not destroy it.

I fully enjoyed this book. Not only do you fall in love with
this family and Charlie, you learn the awful history of the buffalo.
It amazes me to this day that people can be so cruel, not only to
another race of people (Native Americans in this case) and a species
of animal that did them no harm. This book made me more of an activist
than I already am and I sent out a letter the min I finished it to
the gov of Montana. Roger Brooks and his wife Veryl and RD Rosen
are doing a wonderful job of telling this story to all of us.

I bought this for her after she heard an interview with the author Rosen who's a pretty interesting guy even outside this book. I think this would be a terrific book for anyone who is interested in the relationships between animals and people.