Do you remember the first book that made you cry?
I do.
It was Message in a Bottle, by Nicholas Sparks. I read it when my family lived in Coral Springs. My children were in elementary school, and I remember sitting up late one night in our front living room. I was the only one awake. The rest of the house was dark except for the small corner of the room where I’d set up shop for the evening.
Y’all, I had, to that point, read hundreds of books. I was a voracious reader in my youth; the stories took me away from the angst of teenage-dom.
Up to that point, I’d been quite stoic.
Well, maybe the reason why I hadn’t cried was because I’d never met a writer who could break my heart the way that Sparks did with that book.
Oh, how I sobbed when I read the ending, quietly of course because keeping the kids asleep was kind of important.
I’m just going to be honest with you.
I don’t like watching movies or reading books that make me cry. I don’t like the headache I get afterward, but I especially don’t like having my feelings trod upon.
That’s why I don’t watch movies or read books about animals . . . especially dogs (except that I did see Benji when I was a kid and whew, what an emotional roller coaster ride that was!).
A few years ago, I happened upon The Honest Truth, by Dan Gemeinhart. I read it during summer break and cried as I sat at my kitchen table with that book in my hand. I loved it so much that I read it aloud to my classes that year . . . and the year after . . . and the year after.
Every single time I read it to a class, I cried in exactly the same places even though I knew what was going to happen.
That’s a lot of crying.
Dan has such a way with words; his characters’ voices are childlike but so easy to connect with no matter the age of the reader.
I’m a member of Pernille Ripp’s Facebook group, where someone recently mentioned something about another book Dan had written, Good Dog.
He’s actually written four books (how have I not known this?). Good Dog is his most recent novel.
I read a summary of the book on Amazon, and I had a little chat with myself.
“Don’t you dare buy this book. You know you’re gonna cry.”
“Be quiet. I need to read this so I can tell my students about it.”
“You don’t need this book in your classroom. You already have books that your students love.” (I think this may have been the Mr.’s voice arguing with me. Ha!)
“But I don’t have this book, written by this author. I know it’s gonna be good.”
“That may be true, but you don’t have to be in the know about every book. Stop trying to be tough.”
“La la la la la. I no hear you.”
Add to cart.
Purchase.
Done.
I couldn’t take my own advice.
The Mr. receives emails of all of the purchases on our Prime account, and he walked in from work saying, “What in the world are you doing?”
He knows me so well.
The book arrived a few days later.
Aubie and Molly’s collars in the background
Good Dog is the story of Brodie, a dog who has just died and is stuck between death and Forever.
Yeah. That should have been enough to make me tuck my own tail and run.
Even that picture on the cover.
Sigh.
I prepared myself mentally, armed myself with Kleenex, and sat down to begin reading . .
The first two sentences made me cry.
I knew it was going to be a hard, hard read.
I read about Brodie getting used to where he wakes up, acquiring words in the process – words that, as a living dog, he did not possess.
Although it was told in short, simple sentences, this part of the book – the opening chapter – held me captive.
Brodie meets other dogs who explain what’s happened to him. He can’t remember anything at first; memories come back to him very slowly. However, what becomes clear fairly quickly is that he has to return to Before, where he was alive and with his boy.
Oh my gosh. His boy. Y’all, this part made me think of Rooster and his connection with Gambit.
Gambit never left Rooster’s side when Rooster lived at home. Rooster was his person. Fortunately, we still have Gambit with us, so that’s where the similarity to the story ends.
Mostly, what I thought of Molly, who you know I’m still grieving for.
This book, and the story of Brodie going back to find his boy, who he senses is in danger, made me smile in some parts, because Dan was wise enough to know that his readers would need some comedic relief to balance out the heavy stuff, and it made me hold my breath in other places.
It’s a book that made me root so hard for Brodie and the fur babies helping him, feel sorry for the bad dogs trying to stop him, and hope for some sort of happy ending that I knew wouldn’t be there because y’all, Brodie is dead.
Sigh.
I stayed up really late Wednesday night to finish the book because I knew that I would need a few hours of sleep afterward – the emotional price too steep for this tender heart.
The last chapter of the book completely broke my heart, and I tried really hard to cry quietly so I wouldn’t wake the Mr., who was sleeping in the other room.
I thought of Molly, and how I wish I could hug her one more time. I wondered if she, like Brodie, had a hard time letting go of her person.
Now, don’t be thinking that I’m all emo and need medication. I’m fine. Really. I just have my moments when remembering is so very hard and the missing is so very painful.
You can’t go almost eleven years with a breathing soul and not feel something when that bundle of happy is wrenched away.
Herein is the power of books – even books that make you cry.
Yes, there’s hurting and a whole lot of tears and big, puffy eyes.
There’s anger at the unfair twists and turns and the ugly parts where the bad is happening.
There’s even disappointment when things don’t turn out like you want them to.
A good book, one that makes you cry, should imitate life. It should get you in your feelings and hurt you where you’re vulnerable.
That’s when the healing can happen. Sometimes, when we can’t find the right words to match our sadness, a book comes along that does exactly that.
That is why I made myself read this book, even though I knew I’d be doing the ugly cry the entire way through . . .
Until the wee hours of the morning . . .
With a certain fur baby on my mind.
I love you Molly. You were a good dog (most of the time), and I will never forget you.
“You. Me. Together. Always.”
Filed under: Books, Pets | Tagged: books, Dan Gemeinhart, Good Dog, reading, YA fiction | Leave a comment »
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