Customer Reviews

How Shall I Tell the Dog?: And Other Final Musings

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The late Miles Kington offers his observations about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The book is structured as a series of letters to his literary agent about ideas for a new book. Miles is looking for a way to "cash in on cancer."

The book is an interesting reading experience and occasionaly amusing. But I did not enjoy the book. In the touching parts he comes across as trying to be funny and the funny parts come across forced, as you see a dying man trying to make the best of his situation. The Afterword by Caroline Kingston was truly touching and moving.

At one point Kington writes: " I love chatting to lonely people. Either I amuse and charm them, or I bore them silly, and then they value their own company when I leave them alone twice as much as they had done ten minutes earlier." I think an analogy can be drawn to the readers of this book. Some will be amused and charmed, others will be happier to just put the book down.

Perhaps no one except Miles Kington could have written such a book. (I suppose Shaw could have, but he wasn't granted a year's warning as Kington was.) And I understand why some Amazon reviewers were not amused; British humor is a bit subtle and dry for many Americans. Besides, Kington was never the legend here that he was across the Pond. (Picture a subtler, balder Andy Rooney.)

But this is an important book; all of us will embark on that Final Journey someday, and most of us deal with that certainty -- the only absolute certainty -- by ignoring it. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt; it's our favorite defense mechanism. ("I know I have to die," Woody Allen wrote. "I just don't want to be there when it happens.") As Kington explains, this is not wise; most folks arrive at the end of their lives, having known since childhood that such a time would eventually come, completely unprepared. This makes little sense. It's scary, yes; anything unknown -- and unknowable -- is scary. But in the end, facing your fears trumps avoiding them every time, and Kington's book will help you do that, gently and humorously. As one professional reviewer wrote, "Don't flinch, read it."

I wasn't crazy about the series-of-letters format, in which the book, in essence, documents its own creation -- hence one star subtracted. But Kington, writing with a very big boulder hanging over his head, may not have had sufficient time for revisions.

Few folks can accept death with serenity and grace; fewer still can articulate the process. We should all learn from Miles Kington's wonderful example.

This is another one of my BEA ARCs that I thought looked endearing enough when I picked it up. It's slated as, "A book to make the Grim Reaper laugh" and I honestly thought it would be more musings about how to go about telling his dog that he was dying. I really don't want to criticize a dead guy's final book but . . .

I was just rather annoyed with the humor. I didn't find it all that funny. Maybe I didn't get the British wit. Maybe, to some people, there is something funny about a guy who just has nothing but ideas but no motivation to follow through with any of them. Considering its ringing motif throughout, I just found it annoying and, eventually, grating. Just shut up about the ideas already. You're obviously going nowhere with them. To me, that's what this guy did himself to his agent, which I only found more annoying.

Like I said, maybe that is the humor. I just didn't find it funny. I don't know who Miles Kington was. I've never heard of him before picking up this book. I couldn't tell you if I genuinely liked his humor or not. But judging by this book alone, I don't. It's exceptionally dry. And I like dry humor. I found this so dry it was, for the most part, humorless.

It wasn't the book I thought it was going to be which I think hardened it even more. There were a couple of chuckle parts but none of this laugh-out-loud that the blurb said would be in there. At least not for me. Again, maybe I just didn't get the humor. But hopefully someone else will.

Miles Kington writes beautifully about almost nothing, and somehow he makes you laugh out loud. When he found he was dying fast, he kept writing and this is, for me, a hilarious book about the death of my old Oxford friend. After reading it you may never be afraid of dying--though death can be a bit of a downer, for others at least.

When author Miles Kington was told he had only months to live, he embarked on a series of letters to his literary agent and friend Gill in which he proposed absurd ideas for a new book - this one - on cancer. His observations on everything from the dilemma of being outlived by his dog to ideas on a funny funeral video make for a fine presentation any general library will appreciate.

Cancer is very serious business. Even the word itself conjures up many images and thoughts, none of which are warm, fuzzy, or the least bit pleasant. British humorist Miles Kington manages to absorb his unexpected and definitely unwanted diagnosis with a stiff upper lip that hints at a bit of a smile.

Miles, the writer, is always on the lookout for the next good idea for his new book. First, he gets the urge to write another book, then he comes up with the idea for the book itself. At the age of 66 he is given a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, a generally fatal cancer. He queries his oncologist, who thinks that writing a personal journal about living with cancer would be good therapy. Then he begins to brainstorm one final book, and all sorts of ideas --- interesting, useful and a few downright bizarre --- spill forth in many letters to his literary agent, Gill. The reader is left to assume what Gill's replies might be.

Miles decides that the book 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE by Patricia Schultz needs a rewrite by someone like him who knows he does not have time to see all those places. So why not come up with a much shorter and more realistic list? How about a book of what to do on the way, or once you get there? Surely just ticking off a list of exotic places seen is not what travel should be about.

Though his elderly father-in-law will go down in history as the man who did not assassinate Colonel Guaddafy, Miles believes that a patient who has a terminal disease might be just the one to rid the world of a truly evil person. What is there to lose? He doesn't ruminate upon this unusual thought too long before he is off on another tangent. What about a book about Niagara Falls written from the perspective of many people, some famous, some not? What about a book about all the infrequently asked questions about cancer? How interesting would that be? Surely not a bestseller. If he's going to cash in on this cancer thing, he has to come up with a better idea.

Miles muses about creating a television program, a documentary of sorts, about looking over and clearing out all the accumulated paper clutter (which he refers to as "the great mess") before one shuffles off this mortal coil. Perhaps a book that explains how to do all the things one wanted to learn to do but never did get around to, like yodeling or whistling with two fingers in one's mouth or executing a graceful cartwheel. Then there's always a child's book about cancer, a board game about death...the possibilities seem endless.

Miles worries that his beloved dog, Berry, who will now surely outlive his master, has absolutely no idea what is happening to him. How does one explain death to a dog? What if Berry insists on being taken for a walk at the very moment that Miles is drawing his last breath?

Readers of HOW SHALL I TELL THE DOG? will gain a true appreciation of the author's wit, courage and grace. Although living with cancer will never, ever be funny, Miles Kington has taught his audience that it is possible to enjoy some lighthearted moments along the way.

--- Reviewed by Carole Turner