Customer Reviews

Riding the Dog: A Look Back at America

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Author Thomas E. Kennedy turns his considerable talents to the essay form in this remarkable collection. Just as Joyce wrote about Dublin while in self imposed exile, Kennedy turns his eyes back home to America after spending half his life in Copenhagen. What makes this collection priceless is Kennedy's great feel for irony and a self-effacing style that never strikes a false chord. It underscores the notion that perhaps no truer vision exists of a country than that of the expatriate. Hopefully, this book will ignite further interest in this prolific author's works, especially his recent fiction collection, "The Copenhagen Quartet," four novels loosely based on the four seasons in Copenhagen. "Riding the Dog" is the best essay collection of the year.

Thomas E. Kennedy is a master at fiction, but I simply love these pieces of memoir/creative nonfiction. He does an elegant job of weaving his own stories and recollections with what resonates with all of us - the shared human condition. Read it TWO times, it's even better the second.

Good essays. My friend recommended that I read this because I like to travel and be away form America. He thinks I will one day be come like Kennedy and write from a similar point of view. I liked the book. I did like his perspective and writing style. The stories are not remarkable or so well written, but something about them was very interesting to me. Each story was enjoyable and in its own way rewarding. Before I read the book I did not know what 'Riding the Dog' referred to.