Wednesday, May 7, 2008

A Dog Among Diplomats by J.F. Englert


I feel like I'm breaking up with this book: Really, it's not you. It's me.

This is probably a very nice book. There's nothing wrong with the writing, and there were occasional turns of phrase and flashes of wit that I enjoyed. Randolph the Labrador Retriever was generally charming. (Although really - Proust? Come on. Why would such a nice dog read Proust? Most of the *people* I know who read Proust are pretentious and uninteresting. Randolph should be reading Dashiell Hammet or Wilfred Thesiger - mysteries, travel and adventure.)

The characters are very...precious. The mystery seemed a bit forced - it was really just an excuse for Randolph to check his email while his clueless owner stumbled about.

Maybe I'm just not ready for an internet-surfing dog right now. I think it's for the best if this book and I just go our separate ways. After all, we'll always have Manhattan.

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