Dog [Paperback]

Michelle Herman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2006

Single, childless, J.T. Rosen—a poet and college professor who has failed to live up to her early promise—has constructed a careful, orderly life around her work and the little house she has lived in alone for many years. Long ago, after a tumultuous youth filled with the "Sturm und Drang of boys and men," she gave up on the possibility of love; she has begun by now, in the Middle Western town she cannot bring herself to think of as home, to give up on the possibility of friendship.

When the dog enters her life, almost by accident he takes over her life, as puppies do.

But as the days and weeks pass, the relationship that unfolds between dog and woman provides a glimpse for her of the possibilities that life still offers, of goodness that she begins to understand can be "counted on" in some inexplicable way.

Dog is about how a person constructs a life for herself, about the bits and pieces that make up a life as one goes along, and about the possibility of goodness, always, among those pieces—the possibility of love, and grace.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Endearing when its narrator decidedly is not, the latest from Herman (Missing) takes a rather stiff, lonely, mid-40s Midwestern tenured professor of English poetry and gives her the canine humanizing treatment. Having drunk too much wine one night while surfing the Net, Jill (or "J.T. Rosen," as she is known professionally) comes across a dog-adoption site run by a do-gooder named Bill, who relinquishes a dog to her almost reluctantly. She names the puppy Phil, after men she has loved and lost. Worry over Phil's well-being and midnight walks soon have their effect; Jill warms to her students at the university (where she is known as Her Royal Highness) and to her brother, Norman, who teaches at a more glamorous institution and has "a sports car [his] wife and children could not fit into." She even stops mourning her soul-crushing move from New York and is cured of her insomnia. Phil chases away her "limping, broken, bitter night thoughts," and teaches her, more than writing poetry or teaching have, to be patient: "The kind of patient she had never been with any human being." It's a straight-up recounting of animal therapy, but Herman brings it off with grace and humor. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Jill Rosen, who prefers to be called J.T., is a poet and a college professor living in a small midwestern town. Originally from New York, she reads the Times instead of the local paper and wonders how she ended up in this place. After an early and disappointing love life, she has more or less sworn off men--or have they sworn off her? She lives an orderly and careful life that revolves around her work, her teaching, and her little house. Then, on a whim, she adopts a nine-week-old rescue puppy. Phillip, aka Phil, is a dog who is as careful with his emotions as she is, which appeals to Jill. Soon he has her out walking, meeting her neighbors, changing her routine, and examining her life. What develops is a very real connection between two creatures and the mutual healing it brings. Told with humor, insight, and intelligence, this novel is as thought--provoking as it is charming. Elizabeth Dickie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Lawson Library (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596921781
• ISBN-13: 978-1596921788
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michelle Herman was born and reared in Brooklyn and educated at Brooklyn College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has lived for many years in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, the still life painter Glen Holland (www.glenholland.com), and their daughter, Grace. Her first book, "Missing," won the Harold Ribalow Prize for best Jewish fiction in 1990; subsequent honors include an NEA Fellowship, a James Michener Fellowship, numerous artist's fellowships from the state of Ohio, and several major teaching awards from Ohio State, where she has taught creative writing and literature since 1988 and where she directs both the MFA Program in Creative Writing and the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in the Fine Arts. Her stories, novellas, and personal essays have appeared in such journals as The North American Review, The Southern Review, Story Quarterly, American Scholar, and O, the Oprah Magazine. When not writing or teaching, she can usually be found singing--jazz standards, her own songs, or gospel/R&B/pop songs with The Harmony Project (www.harmonyproject.com). Her newest book, due out in spring 2013, is "Stories We Tell Ourselves," a volume of two novella-length personal essays about the unconscious.

Visit her online at www.michelleherman.com.