Scan barcode
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Audio book read by Nicole Roberts
Five apartment dwellers living in a quiet block near Central Park meet over their canine companions. Friendships develop, misunderstandings ensure, couples come together, drift apart and the members find new attachments.
This is a lovely, quick read – a Valentine to New York City. The characters are charming and sometimes exasperating. The dogs are all loveable (even the one that bites). It’s a year in the life of these lonely people wherein they meet and connect over their beloved pooches. The book contains humor, pathos, irony and romance. What’s not to like?!
Nicole Roberts does a fine job narrating the audio book. She has good pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the characters.
Five apartment dwellers living in a quiet block near Central Park meet over their canine companions. Friendships develop, misunderstandings ensure, couples come together, drift apart and the members find new attachments.
This is a lovely, quick read – a Valentine to New York City. The characters are charming and sometimes exasperating. The dogs are all loveable (even the one that bites). It’s a year in the life of these lonely people wherein they meet and connect over their beloved pooches. The book contains humor, pathos, irony and romance. What’s not to like?!
Nicole Roberts does a fine job narrating the audio book. She has good pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the characters.
laila4343's review against another edition
4.0
Oh my, what a cute, funny, sad, sweet book! I loved it. And I'm not even a dog person. :)
libraryofholly's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a wonderful celebration of both New York and life with a dog - two things that I adore dearly yet have never experienced. I’ve never had the joy of owning a dog, nor have I been to New York, although they are two things I’d love desperately and Cathleen turned my wishful thinking into a wonderful book that provided sweet storytelling and blissful escapism. Just the lighthearted read I needed in these strange times!!
sleightoffeet's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't dislike it enough to stop reading, but it was kind of boring, and there were a lot of inconsistencies that jumped out at me. I should have loved this book! It had lots of characters and little sub plots and dogs too, but it just didn't hit.
This is a book about a bunch of New Yorkers, many with dogs, that live on the same street and run into and interact with each other. Some get along, some don't, some may get along very well at some point.
In addition to it being bland, I don't know if the author could decide whether she wanted the narrator to be in the 3rd or 1st person. The narrator wasn't its own character, but would randomly interject a thought in the first person, which I found disconcerting. The narrator was omniscient, and therefore couldn't really be a person running around and knowing everyone's thoughts and feelings.
The characters themselves weren't really distinctive, most of them remained static throughout. The one antagonist did such a 180 by the end of the book that it made Scrooge's transformation in A Christmas Carol look absolutely commonplace.
Again, I didn't hate it, but it was very blah.
This is a book about a bunch of New Yorkers, many with dogs, that live on the same street and run into and interact with each other. Some get along, some don't, some may get along very well at some point.
In addition to it being bland, I don't know if the author could decide whether she wanted the narrator to be in the 3rd or 1st person. The narrator wasn't its own character, but would randomly interject a thought in the first person, which I found disconcerting. The narrator was omniscient, and therefore couldn't really be a person running around and knowing everyone's thoughts and feelings.
The characters themselves weren't really distinctive, most of them remained static throughout. The one antagonist did such a 180 by the end of the book that it made Scrooge's transformation in A Christmas Carol look absolutely commonplace.
Again, I didn't hate it, but it was very blah.
cdomin2's review against another edition
1.0
I thought I would enjoy this book since it seemed to revolve around dogs (and it kinda did) but it was extremely dull. There wasn't a plot. There wasn't any reason to motivate me to turn the page and finish the book. The only reason I did was because I kept hoping it would get better, and also because I still need to reach my goal of reading 50 new books this year. I'm not sure how people enjoyed this book.
randybo5's review against another edition
2.0
Should have been a fun read for a dog lover, but the characterization seemed shallow and the plot predictable.
frahorus's review against another edition
2.0
Come sia finito a leggere questo romanzo non lo so neanche io, perché l'ho trovato davvero per caso e forse complice la copertina ma soprattutto il fatto che sia ambientato a New York mi hanno spinto a leggerlo, perché alla fine noi lettori onnivori siamo spinti sempre dalla curiosità. E ti trovi di fronte a un romanzo corale, dove ci sono diversi protagonisti che ruotano attorno allo stesso quartiere nell'Upper West Side, a due passi da Central Park, e proprio lì le loro vite si intrecciano, perché queste persone hanno tutte una cosa che le lega: hanno un compagno di vita a quattro zampe! E al parco più famoso al mondo si incontrano e fanno amicizia. Così conosciamo Jody, insegnante di musica che ha un pittbull di nome Beatrice, Polly che è redattrice e ha un fratello, George, che fa il barista e il loro cane si chiama Howdy (che in realtà non era loro ma del precedente inquilino dell'appartamento che purtroppo era morto e lo aveva lasciato lì da solo, povero cucciolo!), poi abbiamo Geneva, amica di Polly, Emily la figlia di Everett che fa girare la testa a Jody, Doris l'insegnante di matematica che ha un SUV e odia i cani (soprattutto quando trova la pipì sul marciapiede dove ha parcheggiato il suo macchinone), e altri personaggi più o meno secondari.
E poi la vera protagonista rimane naturalmente New York, piena di contraddizioni e di cose strane, ma sempre una delle città anzi metropoli che continua ad affascinare ognuno di noi. La storia che si srotola ai nostri occhi ha una certa leggerezza, nulla di speciale, l'autrice ci narra le vite di persone semplici, che si innamorano e si lasciano, che attraversano le difficoltà che la vita ci presenta, che ridono e piangono, insomma, ognuno di noi potrebbe tranquillamente rispecchiarsi in loro.
La cosa che mi ha lasciato perplesso sin dall'inizio è stata il fatto che non c'è un solo protagonista e con l'avanzare della lettura un po' ti disaffezioni ai diversi protagonisti, perché poi devi ricordare quello che ha fatto l'altro e nel frattempo rimane in sospeso l'altro ancora eccetera. Per il resto senza lode ne infamia, come si suol dire. Ma se amate New York e i cani allora dovete leggerlo.
E poi la vera protagonista rimane naturalmente New York, piena di contraddizioni e di cose strane, ma sempre una delle città anzi metropoli che continua ad affascinare ognuno di noi. La storia che si srotola ai nostri occhi ha una certa leggerezza, nulla di speciale, l'autrice ci narra le vite di persone semplici, che si innamorano e si lasciano, che attraversano le difficoltà che la vita ci presenta, che ridono e piangono, insomma, ognuno di noi potrebbe tranquillamente rispecchiarsi in loro.
La cosa che mi ha lasciato perplesso sin dall'inizio è stata il fatto che non c'è un solo protagonista e con l'avanzare della lettura un po' ti disaffezioni ai diversi protagonisti, perché poi devi ricordare quello che ha fatto l'altro e nel frattempo rimane in sospeso l'altro ancora eccetera. Per il resto senza lode ne infamia, come si suol dire. Ma se amate New York e i cani allora dovete leggerlo.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
2.0
A simple story of a handful of people and how their lives become entangled. I think a lack of personality from both the characters and the dogs failed to draw me in to the novel. A pleasant read however.
sawyerbell's review against another edition
4.0
Captures the essence of living in the Upper West Side and the delights and sorrows of sharing life with a dog.