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 enlarge | Author: Pam Houston
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $23.94 (100%)
New (22) Used (60) Collectible (9) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 441314
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 342
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0393058174
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780393058178
ASIN: 0393058174
Publication Date: January 30, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Book For Dog Lovers May 26, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
With the current glut of mystery/thriller fiction available, it is nice to see an auther explore thoughts, feelings, love and relationships, particularly those between human and animal.
The two Wolfhounds and the cat in this story are elegantly portrayed and very enjoyable. The humans for the most part are less believable and not as likeable.
I'd recommend this story for those who have lost a cherished four-legged family member, or those who fear losing the same.
 Too horrible to finish! :-P April 26, 2006
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I REALLY wanted this book to be everything the cover and reviews said it would be, but was greatly disappointed. By page 19, there had been so many characters and past lives introduced - I wanted to cry in frustration! Save yourself the time and frustration -- pass this one by.
A real chore to finish February 21, 2006
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
I must admit, I didn't know what I was getting into when I purchased this book, but having grown up with Irish Wolfhounds and knowing how truly unique they are, I thought it was a safe bet.
Boy, was I wrong. Houston's characters are utterly unlikeable (with the possible exception of one of the dogs, Rose). Far more unforgivably, NONE of them are particularly easy to empathise with.
One would think that literary technique of incorporating more than ten narrating characters into the story would provide greater depth, but at root, you're left with a bunch of characters who are infuriatingly similar.... Houston forces her trademark wordy, cynical, self-absorbed, neurotic turns of phrase into each character. It's almost as though you aren't really reading about a bunch of different characters, but the same one each time, only in a different disguise.
While the main character's flightly mannerisms might have been endearing if she were the only flake in the book, this story is chock full of whiners. All the more irritating, the only "villian" in this story is drawn with such a broad brush that you almost wonder if an entirely different writer constructed him.
Sight Hound was terribly disappointing for me. Its a real shame. Having struggled through the slow death of two wolfhounds, I know there's a great existential struggle to be captured in the right novel.
This ain't it.
 Inspired by Toni Morrison February 17, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I almost never read fiction, but I always read Pam Houston. I found this book in an airport, and that was the most refreshing moment in a long day.
Houston's genius lies in her use of humor, which is as subtle and intelligent as the humor of one of her mentors, Toni Morrison.
This is a story about losing someone you love to cancer. By writing about her pets as if they were human, Houston has made the tragedy universal, touching, and appealing.
Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different character, and each dog and each person who speaks is equally intriguing. Anyone who likes Toni Morrison or William Faulkner will not be confused.
I think Houston is one of the great writers of our times. Like many great writers, she is so good that the current intelligentsia seems to be trying to ignore her. I guess cowboys and mountains and dogs and great laughs aren't supposed to be chic, but I was yearning for something good to read and I found it.
Huge Pam Houston Fan February 9, 2006
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Okay, I am a big fan of Pam Houston. I have read all but one of her previous books. I was waiting and waiting for her first novel. One of her short story volumes was linked and very close to being a novel. This book did not dissapoint! I laughed out loud and cried all within the first 70 pages. I agree with some others that the different points of views can make the reader work a bit, but in the end it also is what works about this book. Now, I am waiting for novel number 2.
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