After the death of his elderly aunt, Lake Stevenson finds his life rearranged when she wills him her elegant Philadelphia home and her unwanted springer spaniel and he meets a pretty real estate agent.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The true guides in life, indicates Constable (Why Shy Men Dream) in this wry novel, are those who show us where we are inside. The trick is learning that they may show up at unexpected times, in unexpected guises. Lake Stevenson, a 30-something bachelor with a tidy condo in Philadelphia and a smugly tidy life, learns where he is inside from a springer spaniel. Lake has lived and loved with cool detachment, boasting that his work-writing instruction manuals-reflects his highly organized "inner nature." Now his rich Aunt Ilsa has died, leaving him her house in Philadelphia's blue-blood Chestnut Hill, with the inheritance contingent upon his maintaining the beautiful stone house in the style to which his aunt's dog, Randall, has become accustomed. Although Lake vows to get around the will, readers will bet on the deadpan hound. Randall unflappably endures a bungled hair-coloring, imprisonment in an attic and a botched dognapping. When Lake abandons Randall in a park, he guiltily comes back to collect him-the dog at last has blown a hole through his new master's icy exterior. Finally, when Lake tries to sell the house out from under Randall, he falls helplessly in love with the real estate agent. While walking through a snow storm, bewildered by everything that is happening, he at last realizes how cold he has been: "If snowflakes landed on him, they would not melt." Although Constable's humans can be mawkish, Randall charms. He comes across as a laconic canine Zen master, opening his human master up to the innate wisdom of life by making it impossible for him to stay closed.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Constable has given us a wonderful romantic comedy in this great book to curl up with on a winter's evening. Thirtysomething Lake Stevenson is cruising through life. He has a comfortable apartment, a comfortable girlfriend, and is comfortably self-employed writing appliance instructions. But his life is thrown a curve when his aunt dies, leaving him her elegant estate in a prime Philadelphia neighborhood. His sister gets the summer house in Maine. The catch is the aunt's beloved dog, Randall, who must continue to live in the style to which he is accustomed, ten months in Philadelphia, with summers in Maine. Lake plans to lose the dog and sell the house to deal with his grief. But somehow, the dog, the house, and the real estate agent all worm their ways into Lake's heart. It's laugh-out-loud funny, with wonderful dialog that is often revealed as life's own instruction book might advise. Highly recommended for popular reading collections.?Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati Technical Coll., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly enjoyable,
By A Customer
This review is from: Where You Are (Hardcover)
Let me start by saying that this is not a book for critics. It's not nearly disfunctional enough. This is a book for people who want to read something that makes them smile, that makes them dwell on the difficulties and the riches of life, that makes them take a deep breath when they finally put the book down at the end and be glad they made the journey.Clearly I liked it. First of all, you should read this book for the writing alone -- beautiful, concise, visual prose that is so rare these days.The novel is also extremely witty, with an intelligent sense of humor. You begin looking over the shoulder of a young man in his late 20s/early 30s dealing with an unexpected turn in life: he inherits a house that comes with a dog. He's not sure he wants the house. He's definitely sure he doesn't want the dog. But things aren't that simple, and you get to enjoy watching Lake, the main character, deal with life's unexpected turns. Whether cat lovers (not that there's anything wrong with that) will be able to relate, I don't know. I'm a dog person.The book shifts into a love story that, in my opinion, was incredibly rich simply because it feels so real, so down to earth. It captures two people as they fall in love and try to figure out if they are falling in love, and somehow it does it right.This book isn't for everyone...there's no disfunctional families, no melodrama, no biography of Jackie O. This book says life has its difficulties and it's confusions, but it also has beauty. I loved it and think that it's is a rare gem among thenovels being written today
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful work in the love story genre,
By
This review is from: Where You Are (Hardcover)
Man with insular personality inherits home from eccentric aunt with a peculiar pet-related condition attached. Man's first instinct is to sidestep condition and reap profit. Man learns to love home, pet and new woman in his life. This sounds like the plot of a Victorian play or a 40s B movie. But Where You Are is instead a very fine novel, due to its subtle narrative and refined character development. We come to understand our two protagonists in the silences rather than in what they say, and the "romantic salvation" of the male protagonist is not treachly, soapy, or forced.This is a textbook example in how to take tried and true themes and make them new with witty, simple writing. More importantly, this was a really fun read.
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