Church of the Dog (Paperback)

by Kaya McLaren (Author) "My car is packed with boxes and bags, full of my hopes and dreams and my disappointments as I leave this man..." (more)
Key Phrases: Church of the Dog, Grand Canyon, Lady Godiva (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this treacly reprint of a novel first published in 2000 (by a now-defunct indie press), Edith and Earl McRae have lived on their Oregon farm for 60 years, but know their time is coming to an end. After a withdrawn Earl discovers a lump in his neck, he struggles to reconnect with his wife and his alienated grandson, Daniel. Into this family tragedy strolls Mara, a chaotic figure who sees auras and appears in other characters' dreams—in other words, she's the stereotypical freethinking outsider who opens stoics to the redemptive powers of love. The result is an ersatz inspirational novel that mistakes the characters' tendencies to natter on about God and ethics and spout goofy New Age-isms for plot or character development. (June)
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Review
"What a rollocking, inviting, eccentric novel this is!" -- SARK, Author/Artist, Succulent Wild Women --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143113429
• ISBN-13: 978-0143113423
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,033 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Fun and Inspirational, March 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Church of the Dog (Paperback)

How often can you pick up a book and think right from the very beginning, "As soon as I finish reading this book, I am going to write my own."? That is what Kaya McLaren's words did for me. They were an absolute inspiration. Her style is crisp and refreshing - not intimidating. She tells a wonderful story in a narrative that lopes. (It doesn't gallop like Frank McCourt's did in "Angela's Ashes" - a book you can't put down but one that leaves you exhausted.)

"Church of the Dog" is a work of fiction, but it is about people who are real. People you have met if you have ever lived in the rural west. Mara is the extremely creative and energetic single woman any single woman would like to emulate. She has dreams that help her and her friends navigate through life. Edith is the exuberant grandmother who has not let life's tragedies embitter her. In her advancing years, she is still singing the song, "It Is New Every Morning." Her practical, taciturn rancher-husband has not cramped her style one bit, but it is too bad her love of life did not rub off on Earl a little bit more. He might have wanted to stick around a little longer. The somewhat-troubled grandson evades true involvement in life by hiding behind his camera lens. The pictures he takes capture events and scenes - recording them more clearly than memory.

In the end of the book, love and family and hope prevail. I cannot think of three better reasons to read a book.

P.S. Don't be discouraged from reading the book if you saw it at a bookstore and were turned off by the poorly-written blurb on the back of the book. I am certain Kaya McLaren did not write those words. She knows how to construct a sentence with matching subjects and verbs. She knows the English language very well indeed. And she knows the human heart.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Angels ARE among us!, August 5, 2001

By	Evelyn C. Green (Enumclaw, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Church of the Dog (Paperback)

This gem of a book will be a favorite library edition and you will read it over and over again (5 times already!). In this day and age that an Author of Kaya's intuitiveness and spirituality is uplifting and such a positive affirmation of our life. Kaya's characters come to life with a belief and caring for each one. As I am of the older generation, I particularly loved Edith and Earl and their love story. Keep on writing, Kaya and thank you for this Angelic gift!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living and Dying, Grief and Joy, July 13, 2008

By	Christian McCallister "dr dolphin" (The waters of the Great Lakes) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a very character-driven tale, with a hint of the supernatural. It focuses on four main characters: Earl, Edith, Daniel, and Mara. Earl and Edith are an older couple, living on their cattle ranch in Oregon, and Daniel is their grandson. Earl and Edith were going to have two children, but Edith had a miscarriage, following an accident, and their son, Sam, died in a tragic accident, with his wife, as a young adult, when their son, Daniel, was eight. Earl and Edith raised Daniel. Mara is a free-spirited art teacher, who is a bit adrift in life, but lands a job in the small town near Earl and Edith's homestead. Daniel, at the beginning of the book, has semi-disappeared, working as a fisherman in Alaska, for reasons that come out later in the story. By the end of the book, almost everything, and everyone, has changed.

Events occur in the story, but action is a minor aspect of this book. What is dominant is the relationships, the interactions, and the emotions of the characters. Not all four of those main characters will still be alive by the end of the tale, and the focus of the book is handling the changes that occur, and how crises can encourage people to grow, in maturity and perspective. In what is actually a small story, told in but 221 pages, is almost every aspect of the human condition. It is resplendent with the joy of living fully, with the premise that the richness of life is to be experienced fully in its every form, even when that includes tragedy.

The level of development of the characters is a big part of what makes this book as moving and powerful as it is. I know these people! That is how realistic they are, even with Mara's quirks. Oh, I did not mention her quirks, did I? Mara sees auras around people, travels in her lucid dreams, and has some very unconventional beliefs about the nature of life, healing, death, and the hereafter. At times, it was a bit more New Age than I am used to, and I was initially concerned that Mara's aura-seeing and ideas about healing might be dominant enough in the story to cost it its credibility, but that apprehension was quickly dispelled. While Mara's unorthodox beliefs and unusual abilities, or beliefs about her abilities, do continue throughout the story, they are actually not a major factor, but do come off as just an unusual aspect of an otherwise still very credible and likeable character.

The end result of the convergence of these rich, credible characters, is a story that might be the most emotionally powerful tale I have ever read. It covers the entire spectrum of human emotion, and in a manner that simultaneously pulls no punches yet never comes off as melodramatic or meant to push your buttons just for the sake of doing so.

Several strong opinions are voiced in this book. A strong argument for vegetarianism is made, but not in a way that offended this definitely omnivorous reader-reviewer. Organized religion also takes a pretty big hit, here, but not in a condemnatory or sanctimonious or sacrilegious way. Instead, the characters state objections to certain aspects of organized religion, and hypocrisy is condemned, but spirituality and morality and living according to a belief system are lauded.

As I said above, I ended up feeling that I knew the characters, and I am glad to have met them. This book is one of those books that, once one reads it, it is unlikely to ever be forgotten. While I am not sure that it changed any of my beliefs, it definitely inspired me to remember to relish every aspect of life, no matter how painful it might be, and to always strive to move forward toward a better way of dealing with people. Can one ask for more from a reading experience?

-- Chris McCallister, author of Coming Full Circle