Dog Years: A Memoir (P.S.)

Mark Doty in DOG YEARS has written a sometimes sad and always deeply moving beautiful memoir about loss, grief and the comfort that animals, in this instance Beau, a golden retriever, and Arden, a black retriever, bring to the sick and dying and those who remain. Mr. Doty is nothing if not opinionated: sentimentality is a mask for anger; "compassion for animals is an excellent predictor of one's ability to care for one's fellow human beings;" "no death equals another;" "the wounds of loss, the nicks and cuts made by our own sense of powerlessness, must form a sort of carapace, an armor." The kindgom of heaven may be "the realm of paradox, "attachment and detachment," memory and forgetfulness, "everything and nothing." Whether you agree with Mr. Doty's conclusions hardly matters although he is convincing and persuasive. What is just as important is that the reader is swept along by the writer's precise and beautiful language. (We should expect no less from a first rate poet.) So on September 11 the hole in the north twin tower reminds him of "an unfamiliar continent in a school geography book. A version of Australia." New York is a "pierced city." An old woman who runs a kennel in Key West has a voice "shredded by decades of Chesterfields." An old house in Provincetown has "straggly irises" in the yard. Furthermore, Mr. Doty strews gems from the greatest of American poets, Emily Dickinson, throughout his narrative. Just as his canine friends overlook nothing on their daily scavenger hunts, Mr. Doty's reader must use the same care for he skims this book at his peril.Whether you are a dog lover or not, DOG YEARS is not to be missed. It is in the league of other recent nonfiction books on grief: Elizabeth Edwards' SAVING GRACES: FINDING SOLACE AND STRENGTH FROM FRIENDS AND STRANGERS, Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING and Calvin Trillin's ABOUT ALICE. It reminded me of another poet Wendell Berry's fine short story "Mike" about the death of a dog and is every bit as good as my favorite nonfiction book by Doty: STILL LIVE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON; ON OBJECTS AND INTIMACY.Reading Mr. Doty is always a joy, regardless of his subject matter.

I picked up Dog Years for my husband, as he liked the Jon Katz books. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down. I expected a somewhat sentimental eulogy but this memoir is so much more -- it is really a kind of treatise on the inevitability -- and necessity -- of pain in any fully lived life. Further, it is about the limits of language to express experience, and the capabilities that dogs and humans have to communicate without words. Doty moves back and forth between the mundane and the sublime, from poop to poetry (he cites Emily Dickinson's poetry as language that tries to capture the eneffable, the unsayable). Of course he explores his own sadness but he lets us know early on that he had always had a melancholy bent. An important dimension of this memoir is his own journey down and through depression and his recognition that he was in need of help. I was reminded of other writers as I read -- John Updike, Andrew Solomon, Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall. Much more these than -- Jon Katz. Beautifully written, deeply affecting: a book that is an undeniable pleasure to read even while you're close to tears.

Loved this book. Many stories of life's realities entwined here. From the HIV reference along with the gay community, of course the 9/11 tragedy to us all and most of all the love a dog(s) that you grow old with and have to let go but affect your life forever and that love never goes away. I have had that love many times myself along with the sadness. My most favorite lays here with me now as I remind him that we have to grow old together. He is almost 8 and I want him still around when I retire in a few years so I can be with him all day and night. By the way I have husband and another favorite dog that I want to grow old with too!

This book is eloquent, poetic, deep, funny and thoughtful. I have never felt so connected to other 'dog people'. So many things Mark describes about his wonderful friends I found myself saying 'yes, Pukka does that too!' 'I know exactly what he means!'. 'I know exactly how he feels!'In addition to capturing the bond between human and pet dog, the book is also punctuated by real life events that have effected us all, like 9/11, and the death of a partner. Overall, the story is well written, (although it did go back and forth a bit in time), heart warming, heart wrenching, real, thought provoking and also explores issues of self worth, depression, relationships. And although the story revolves around a gay couple, it transends gender and sexual orientation as anyone can relate to their relationship with each other and with their dogs.I cried too much at the end though! (Well done)

I was really looking forward to Doty's so-called memoir, Dog Years, but it just didn't deliver. While there are some fine and moving passages here and there about loss and loving an animal, this book doesn't really qualify as a true "memoir," and it's not much of a "dog book" either. If you want to read a good dog book/memoir, try Hal Borland's classic, The Dog Who Came to Stay. It's great. Doty's effort simply strays too far afield from either genre to suit my apparently plebian tastes. There are sections here, littered with quotes from Emily Dickinson and Doty's ruminations on same, or references to Cezanne or Heraclitus, which could have been lifted from his Freshman poetry lectures, which is not what I expected - or wanted. Maybe there is so little about Doty because he's already written two memoirs. Well, okay; but don't call this a memoir, because it's not. I'm tempted to read his first memoir; maybe that would be a real one, but this book is sub-titled under false pretenses. The narrative meanders here and there and sometimes I wondered where the hell he was going with it. It was a struggle just to finish it. Sorry, Mark. Write a memoir or write poetry, but don't try to do both at once. - Tim Bazzett, author of Pinhead: A Love Story

After a reading a good review of the book in The Telegraph, I bought this book and was not disappointed. It is a brief moment in time of a man's life and how his two dogs share and help that moment. It is an uplifting book will some very sad moments pertaining to the death of his lover and his dogs. Anyone that has shared their life with dogs will understand the emotions that he describes when through the early stages of having a dog, the middle years and finally the demise.As an owner of 2 dogs this book spoke to me on many levels and I identified with "Dog Years" - it may help me when my dogs depart knowing that there are folks in the world that understand the grief that most owners go through when losing a much cherished member of the family.Good book, written well not only for dog/animal lovers but for anyone who has loved and lost.

The best book I have read in ages. It's spiritual, poetical, funny emotional, erudite and you don't have to be attached to dogs to fully engage with the story. I'm truly sad I've finished it.

Mark Doty, author of Heaven's Coast memoir returns with another beautiful, moving book, this time writing about his two dogs, Arden and Beau. For any dog lover, this is memoir at its best. Writing that takes it reader on an emotional journey and drops you off at the last page wanting more. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who cares about dogs and people as much as Doty as obviously does.Paul Power

lovely book

For dog lovers and non-dog lovers - this book is beautifully written and moved me to tears. Made me consider other publications by the author after it was mentioned in Jeanette Winterson's book.