A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
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“In each small life we can see fantastic truth and beauty, and in each small life we glimpse the way of all things in the universe.”
DEAN KOONTZ thought he had everything he needed. A successful novelist with more than twenty #1 New York Times bestsellers to his credit, Dean had forged a career out of industry and imagination. He had been married to his high school sweetheart, Gerda, since the age of twenty, and together they had made a pleased life for themselves in their Southern California home. It was the picture of peace and contentment. Then along came Trixie.
Dean had permanently wanted a dog–had even written several books in which dogs were featured. But not until Trixie was he truly open to the change that such a gorgeous creature could bring about in him. Trixie had intelligence, a lack of vanity, and an mysterious knack for living in the present. And because she was joyful and direct as all dogs are, she place her heart into everything–from chasing tennis balls, to playing practical jokes, to protecting persons she loved.
A retired service dog with Canine Companions for Independence, Trixie became an help dog of another kind. She taught Dean to trust his instincts, persuaded him to cut down to a fifty-hour work week, and, perhaps most vital, renewed in him a sense of marvel that will remain with him for the rest of his life. She mended him in many ways.
Trixie weighed only sixty-something pounds, Dean occasionally called her Fleeting Stuff, and she lived less than twelve years. In this huge world, she was a small thing, but in all the ways that mattered, including the effect she had on persons who loved her, she lived a huge life.
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If you want to vomit, read this book. Koontz is one of persons sappy dog nuts who believes all the anthropomorphic nonsense about this animal species—like, loyalty, forgiveness, and even that dogs know they will die someday! He refers to this animal as his daughter!! Koontz is a kook. This book is a load of sentimental tripe than could only appeal to the choir of dog cultists.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Dean Koontz’s attempt at nonfiction in A Huge Small Life is a presumptuous and predictable like letter to his late dog. Reading it was like being trapped at the office Christmas party by a co-worker whose kid made the small league all-star team over the summer.
But I establish an escape. Just when I considered tossing the thing a third of the way through, I realized I really wanted to see how the master of suspense would handle the death of his beloved Trixie. All dog books and movies climax with the death of the dog. So I knew it was coming, and I knew the tears would flow. But I wondered: Would Koontz really give her a Viking’s funeral pyre? Would he see a chariot arrive to carry her soul to doggie heaven? Would he take Trixie to a taxidermist so she could sit in his living room the rest of his life? Anticipation left me giddy. As a result, I started as a replacement for to read the rest of A Huge Small Life as a comedy. Suddenly it ongoing to work for me.
If you need a excellent laugh and choose to read this book for that, I won’t spoil the ending by revealing the agony of Trixie’s death. As a work of humor, I’d rate it four dog biscuits. As a serious memoir, but, it suffers from the leader’s naivete and self-indulgence. I establish it naïve to judge he is the only one who has veteran these emotions with a dog and self-indulgent to judge anyone else should care. I regularly winced in embarrassment for this marvelous wordsmith as he gushed at part about such mundane mutt matters as Trixie’s toilet habits, recounting them like they belonged in the Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.
But then, Dean Koontz has plenty of fans who will care. If he publishes his grocery list, he’ll find thousands of buyers for that, with many of them keen to post five-star reviews on Amazon. In this case, he’s done only a small more. I just hope he donates all the money to the SPCA.
As a fellow leader and dog owner, I respect Koontz’s skills at both. I just reflect he got a small carried away with this experience, and I can’t resist poking fun. But readers should know how much sap they’ll have to suffer before finding any nuggets of insight in A Huge Small Life.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Have you ever wondered why canines play such a pivotal role in most novels published by Dean Koontz? Well here is an explanation. It seems like Koontz has featured a dog as a key player in most of his novels beginning with “Watchers” way back in the 1980’s, up through his “Darkest Evening of the Year” more regularly than not.
What surprised me when reading “A Huge Small Life” was that Koontz didn’t really buy a dog until relatively recently when he and his wife adopted their Golden Retriever named Trixie. I would have thought dogs had permanently played an vital role in Koontz’s life, but he only learned the joys of pet ownership in the past decade.
I’m not really sure how you would review this book. Most of the time when I pick up a Dean Koontz book I’m hoping it’s chock full of suspense and creepy villains..not so with “Huge Small Life”. This is a non-fiction book, where Koontz relays some autobiographical info on he, his wife Gerda and their dog Trixie.
It’s amusing because it seems that as a fan of horror fiction, I know nearly everything regarding Stephen King. Usually King will write a page or two at the tail end of his novels, telling the reader about the process he took in it’s writing, and where the thoughts came from, or basically just filling us in on what has been happening in the freezing winterland known as Maine. But, I know very small about Dean Koontz, and it was a nice treat to get some all too brief info about his childhood, and early writing career which is touched upon in “Huge Small Life”.
I wanted to find out more about one of my favorite authors, but sorry to say Koontz just scratches the surface here, and puts the primary focus on his dog. What small tidbits we are agreed are very appealing, and beg for a genuine telling:
Growing up lacking inside plumbing, with a non-existent father.
Marrying his high school sweetheart.
Watching a name get shot and then having the gun turned on him.
A “close call” with a stabbing?
The small glimpses we are agreed simply whet the appetite for more.
Trixie’s tale is sweet, and there are times where you will find yourself chuckling and additional times where a lump will form in your throat (or at least anyone who has lost a loved pet will). But overall, 300 pages of cute dog tales can wear thin after awhile.
I guess I would recommend “Huge Small Life” to animal lovers as well as fans of Dean Koontz if nothing else to get persons nifty small bits of info regarding one of the genres best selling authors.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I like animals, dogs in particular and I tend to devour a excellent book about a dog. I must say I was disappointed here. I’ve never read Koontz’s fiction and, judging from some of the more positive reviews for this book by some of Koontz’s fans, maybe one needs to be a fan of his fiction in order to be able to appreciate and sit through the rather long description of Trixie deciding where she is going to poop. I experience my version of this every day with my own dogs and it would never occur to me to write it down, step-by-step, and theme others to reading it. I mean, seriously Mr. Koontz, aren’t you known for suspense? I realize that Mr. Koontz’s point was that Trixie somehow knew not to do it on their property but it’s just not that appealing. Or how about the time that Trixie bounded down the stairs and ran into the study and ongoing staring at what might have been a ghost? Not very compelling. Or the description of how Trixie reacted to fireworks, several pages of this leading nowhere special. I can tell Trixie was a fantastic dog by her pictures, especially the one on the back of the jacket. These images communicated the beauty of Trixie’s spirit way more effectively than Koontz’s writing did. I’m not trying to be mean here but I do reflect some writers could use a “reality check” and this is a excellent case in point. Just because you can write a excellent suspense novel doesn’t mean you can write a memoir. The manuscript for this book would very likely have been rejected for publication had it not had the name Dean Koontz attached to it. Maybe he should stick to suspense fiction? Or take a class on memoir writing? Just a thought.
The following life tale inspired by dogs are excellent examples of how to get it right : Merle’s Door by Ted Kerasote, Dog Years by Mark Doty, Dogs I Have Met & The Dogs Who Establish Me, both by Ken Foster.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
This memoir of a very special dog is a wonderful read. Intuitive, intelligent, and inspired, Trixie was a marvel to her parents, Dean and Gerda Koontz, as well as her readers, and proves that dogs are more than just pets; some more than others obviously.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5