Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me [Paperback]

Jon Katz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2009

In this wonderful book, Jon Katz, the owner of Bedlam Farm, learns once again about the unexpected places animals can take us. As trained hospice volunteers visiting homes and nursing facilities in upstate New York, Katz and his affectionate and intuitive border collie Izzy bring comfort and canine companionship to people who most need it. An eighty-year-old Alzheimer’s patient smiles for the first time in months when she feels Izzy’s soft fur. A retired logger joyfully remembers his own beloved dog. As Izzy bonds with patients and Katz focuses on their families, the author begins to come to terms with his own life, discovering dark realities he has never confronted. Meanwhile, Lenore, a spirited, bright-eyed black Labrador puppy, arrives at Bedlam Farm. Her genial personality and boundless capacity for affection steer Katz out of the shadows, rekindle his love of working with dogs, and restore his connection to the farm and the animals and people around him.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a half-dozen books about the dogs and other animals that live with him on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York (Dog Days, A Good Dog, Katz on Dogs), Katz's gentle, folksy style and intuitive connection to the world around him work a familiar but comforting vein, entirely suitable to his subject: "I cherish the considered predictability of these creatures, their sociability, their contented acceptance of life. I wish I possessed even one of those traits. I'm working on it." The latest features his adoption of Izzy, a sensitive border collie who inspires Katz to take up volunteer work with hospice patients. Whether meeting Timmy, a young boy dying of brain tumor, or Glen, a terminal patient who recollects his own beloved dog, Katz evokes vividly the hospice environment and the deep meaning its patients find in Izzy. Unfortunately, the balance of the book, concerning a black lab named Lenore and Katz's own struggle with depression and a painful past, suffers from a lack of detail and leaves little impact. Fans will be happy to return to the farm, but newcomers may want to start with his first dog volume, 2002's A Dog Year. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“With wisdom and grace, [Katz] unlocks the canine soul and the complicated wonders that lie within and offers powerful insights to anyone who has ever struggled with, and loved, a troubled animal.”—John Grogan, author of Marley & Me

“Katz’s world–of animals and humans and their combined generosity of spirit–is a place you’re glad you’ve been.”—Boston Globe

“One of our most talented and perceptive canine chroniclers.”—AKC Gazette

“Compelling . . . Amidst swirling emotions and personal tangles, Izzy & Lenore is a gem of a showcase of man and dog at their best.”—CityDog magazine

“Will make you smile, weep and perhaps look at the four-legged creature in your own life with a little more appreciation and love.”—Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

“What could be better than man’s best friend? Two of them, of course.”—New York Post, required reading

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812977742
• ISBN-13: 978-0812977745
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #638,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bedlam Farm in upstate New York is where I live, write and tend my animals - four dogs, two donkeys, two barn cats. The rambling old farmhouse was built in 1862; it's surrounded by pastures, streams and wooded hillsides, plus four barns and a milkhouse in various stages of disrepair.

I write books- memoirs, novels, short story collections, and beginning in 2011, children's books. I am also a photographer.

In my former life, before I grew preoccupied with sheepherding and moving manure around. I wanted to change my life and write more about the experience of living with and understanding animals.
I write novels and nonfiction books (I've written 20 books), along with columns and articles for Rolling Stone, Wired, the New York Times, and the website HotWired.
Coming to the farm turned out to be a Joseph Campbell style "Hero's Journey." I went off into some dark places, got divorced, struggled to face myself, and found someone to share my life.

My wife Maria Wulf is an artist, who specializes in fiber art. She works in the Studio Barn across the road from the farmhouse. Earlier this year, I thought briefly of selling Bedlam Farm. After getting married, we decided to stay here. My daughter Emma, a sportswriter living in Brooklyn, has written her own book about New York baseball. I publish a blog I love dearly - www.bedlafarm.com. My photos appear there daily. My dogs are Izzy, Lenore, Frieda and Rose, the working dog who helps me run the farm.

My writing life began with a novel - "Sign Off" - an unwittingly prescient story about the jarring changes in work and security.

This year - 2010 - I am returning to fiction. I've written a novel, "Rose In A Storm," about a border collie stranded on a farm in upstate New York during a terrible storm. I wrote this book in conjunction with some animal behaviorists who helped me enter the mind of a dog, and hopefully, be faithful to that. My first children's book "Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm," will be published by Henry Holt next year. I have just finished a short story collection to be published next year by Villard/Random House.
In recent years, photography has become central to me as well as writing. I have been fortunate enough to have several gallery showings of my work, and also sell my photos as notecards through the Redux Gallery in Dorset, Vt.

I am also working on a book about animal grieving. Hopefully, it will be useful.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eloquently Truthful, September 30, 2008

By 

Barbara Techel "Author of Frankie, the Walk '... (Elkhart Lake, WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me (Hardcover)

I've read all Jon's books and loved them all. But, this one is my all time favorite. It touched my heart so deeply. Jon portrayed beautifully the connection between dogs and humans. His honesty about not always finding the right words to describe this connection was refreshing. Sometimes things just don't have an explanation. They can only be felt with the heart. Jon does this so eloquently in Izzy and Lenore. My own dog, who is in a wheelchair, does therapy work with hospital patients and assisted senior facilities. What transpires when she interacts with them is absolute love on a level most times I cannot find words for. All I know is that I witness something bigger than myself. Bravo, Jon for sharing Izzy and Lenore with hospice and nursing home residents and now sharing those beautiful stories with the world... what a gift for everyone.

~Barbara Techel, Author of Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Excellent Bedlam Farm Story, October 5, 2008

By 

HollyMartins (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me (Hardcover)

This is probably Jon Katz's most personal book yet, and one of his finest. There is some soul-searching here, but also enough focus on others -- with extremely well-drawn portraits of his dogs and, most touchingly, the hospice patients they help -- to keep it from becoming self-centered. It is a continuation of the story of Bedlam Farm, but you don't need to have read Katz's earlier books to find this one moving, entertaining, and, in its examination of the human-animal bond, often thought-provoking and enlightening. Katz has become deeply engaged with photography in recent years (as chronicled on his excellent blog) and the beautiful black and white photos here add yet another dimension to a really lovely book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars therapy for dog lovers, October 3, 2008

By 

Chasing Eudaemonia (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me (Hardcover)

Jon's story is really about many journeys intertwined. At the center is an abandoned dog named Izzy and the discovery of his amazing gift for shepherding humans through the most difficult transitions they will ever face. Along the way, Jon experiences a journey deep into himself, to a place he's avoided for too long. Thanks to Lenore (the adorable face on the cover), Izzy, Rosie, Elvis and a few very special humans, Jon was able to cross the valley of shadows and share a story of hope, love, compassion, and understanding.

For anyone whose life has been touched by the unconditional love of a dog (or really any animal), this book will make perfect sense. I purchased it on a whim one particularly rotten morning on my way to work, and finished it the same day. Thanks to Jon, Izzy, Lenore and the others, I have new hope for my own journey...