APOLOGIZING TO DOGS

Rating:
Summary: Self-Consciously "Quirky"
Review: After enjoying the quirky, lurching rhythm of "The Loop" I thought I'd try another Coomer and "Apologizing to Dogs" was an intriguing title.

Alas, it has nothing to do with dogs or apologizing (a bassett was featured prominently in "The Loop") and everything to do with a writer who is very self-conscious. The story takes a back seat to the writing here, in a very mannered, gimmicky and ultimately tedious exposition. It tries so hard to be "quirky" that the unfortunate loser is the story. It reads like a class project, or a community college creative writing assignment (and that isn't good).

Coomer is capable of better. I plan to try some others next, and hope this misstep is an anomaly.

Rating:
Summary: DAY TO DAY HAPPENINGS ON WORTH ROW
Review: Although the characters were quirky and a bit eccentric, I just couldn't get into the day to day activities of the 12 homes/storefronts that remain on Worth Row. Effie, the 71 year old snoop, keeps a diary of everyone's comings and goings. There are more secrets going on here than on any soap opera on the air today. The fact that this title had the word "dog" in it is what drew me to it. Too bad there wasn't more of the dog and less of the other characters.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable romp
Review: Do you want multifaceted characters? Do you want humor? Do you want tragic characters who somehow have an implacable hope?

Apologizing to dogs is not Shakespeare, but it is the makings of a tragic/comedy. You have divorce, resentment, blackmail. lost dreams, and forlorn hopes all in a single contemporary Southern Setting in this book. Will you be elevated to a new level? No. Will you be brought to a mad-cap place with unbelievable characters that somehow, are resonant? Yes.

Please read this book. If not only to be amused (it would make a wonderful film) but also to be taken away from the doldrums of "real" life. This is a fun novel.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable romp
Review: Do you want multifaceted characters? Do you want humor? Do you want tragic characters who somehow have an implacable hope?

Apologizing to dogs is not Shakespeare, but it is the makings of a tragic/comedy. You have divorce, resentment, blackmail. lost dreams, and forlorn hopes all in a single contemporary Southern Setting in this book. Will you be elevated to a new level? No. Will you be brought to a mad-cap place with unbelievable characters that somehow, are resonant? Yes.

Please read this book. If not only to be amused (it would make a wonderful film) but also to be taken away from the doldrums of "real" life. This is a fun novel.

Rating:
Summary: New wonders from Joe Coomer
Review: Joe Coomer is, quite simply, one of our best writers. His earlier novel The Loop (out of print, grab a copy if you can find it) is one of the most delightful and moving novels of the decade. Apologizing to Dogs shows again that he can make eccentric characters more alive and real than most of the real people you'll ever meet. Writing novels myself, I usually think when reading, I could do that. But when reading Coomer, I just watch the language flow and and let the mystery and joy overtake me, wondering how he does it. His earlier novels have all been with small publishing houses that were not able to give him the push he deserves. This new one is put out by Scribner, which hopefully will give him the exposure he needs to reach the audience which is surely there. Read this book. You'll consider it the discovery of the year.

Rating:
Summary: Too much of a good thing?
Review: Joe Coomer, Apologizing to Dogs (Scribner's, 1999)

Apologizing to Dogs does, finally, take off. If you're fifty pages into it and ready to throw it into the fire, take heed; it does eventually start going somewhere. The problem is, it takes so long to get there.

Apologizing to Dogs is, ultimately, the story of Worth Row, a series of antique shops in Fort Worth, Texas, and its inhabitants (including the stray dog to whom one character apologizes). Worth Row has stood for years, with inhabitants coming and going, all along the way building up secrets, lies, blackmail, and other various oddities. But then a stray dog digs for a bone, and the radio reports a tornado warning, and it all starts to unravel like one big sweater. It's a small premise for a book, but a good one, and it's been done many times in the past. The problem with Apologizing to Dogs is that Coomer tries to pack just too much into the book without it really needing to be there; it's almost as if he thought that if he focused on a few main plotlines, the book would be too short, so he added a few more for filler. The end result is that a good portion of the book, especially during the first three quarters, feels like filler. Some sections drag on forever, while others flit by like nobody's business. Once it all comes together eighty or ninety pages form the end, everything falls into place and this becomes a fine comedic (in a deadpan way) novel. It's just getting through the first bit that's likely to alienate some readers. ** 1/2

Rating:
Summary: Laugh out loud, sign in commiseration, very entertaining
Review: This book is hard to put down, it is chock full of quirky characters. A small community of antique sellers in Texas, everyone has a secret, and they are all woven together. You will also enjoy his other books.

Rating:
Summary: No Apologies Necessary
Review: This convoluted plot would have been less surprising if it had shown itself centuries ago in three acts as a performance before Shakespearean audiences. The book isn't masterly and the plot probably isn't as tightly woven as it might be. But the characters are believable, the setting, almost bizarre enough to have come out of Wentworth, Ohio, by a popular horror writer, minus all the occult and parapsychology.

An ingrown neighborhood in Fort Worth, Texas, full of personal histories and human flaws reaches a series of climaxes (no pun intended) during a period of a few hours and in the end the reader is left with a handful of seeds for his own imagination to sprout and blossom. Readers familiar with Guy Clark might hear the lyrics of `Boats to Build' repeating themselves through some of the episodes. The coincidence of similarity might suggest Coomer is a Guy Clark aficionado, or that Guy found the story an inspiration for his song. Either way, the two make a matched set.

Coomer owes no apologies to dogs or readers for this one.

Rating:
Summary: No Apologies Necessary
Review: This convoluted plot would have been less surprising if it had shown itself centuries ago in three acts as a performance before Shakespearean audiences. The book isn't masterly and the plot probably isn't as tightly woven as it might be. But the characters are believable, the setting, almost bizarre enough to have come out of Wentworth, Ohio, by a popular horror writer, minus all the occult and parapsychology.

An ingrown neighborhood in Fort Worth, Texas, full of personal histories and human flaws reaches a series of climaxes (no pun intended) during a period of a few hours and in the end the reader is left with a handful of seeds for his own imagination to sprout and blossom. Readers familiar with Guy Clark might hear the lyrics of 'Boats to Build' repeating themselves through some of the episodes. The coincidence of similarity might suggest Coomer is a Guy Clark aficionado, or that Guy found the story an inspiration for his song. Either way, the two make a matched set.

Coomer owes no apologies to dogs or readers for this one.

Rating:
Summary: Apologizing to Dogs
Review: This is a wonderful example of the wit, whimsy & wisdom of Joe Coomer. Read it with an open mind & a gentle heart and you will laugh out loud. The story is set during one full day in the lives of shop-owners who treasure their antiques & their stores--regardless of the absence of paying customers! You will learn their secrets, fears and dreams, and you'll end up shaking your head in wonder when you discover that it is indeed possible to find yourself apologizing to a dog.