A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie
By: Dean Koontz / Narrated By: Christopher Lane
Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
You want Life Lessons from a dear dog? Hear ya go!
I know, I know, I know. I’m being harsh about Lessons from Lucy, but here’s the thing: I listened to that audiobook at just around the same time that I did A Big Little Life, and the latter succeeds gloriously where the former falls short. The former? Well, it’s of Dave Barry TRYING to learn from his dog, whereas with this one, you can tell that Dean Koontz and his wife not only learned from their dog but are putting those lessons to use in every single part of their lives, every single day.
Trixie came to them as a retired service dog (had elbow surgery and the problem would probably come back). She immediately became part of the Koontz family (consisting of only Dean and his wife, Gerda), and her personality was such that to know her, even slightly, was to love her. They learned to embrace life, enjoy the day, show appreciation, wallow in happiness, be grateful for every single thing in their lives. All from little Trixie.
Plus, A Big Little Life is quite simply well-written. Koontz’s writing style is so fantastic that I downloaded the only audiobook I have of his, The Watchers, halfway through the listening time. I came to love Trixie so much, come to love the duo’s acceptance of her, their dedication to giving her the best life possible.
If you’re not into “anthropomorphism”, skip this book like the plague. Though I must say that I find that word offensive: How DARE we assume/think WE are the ONLY ones to behave or think or emote in such and such a manner (Oops! Where’d that soapbox come from? I’ll step off it, shall I?)?!?
I say this because Koontz tells us what Trixie must be thinking, what her motives are, and the like. Personally, it flowed for me, and it all made total sense. I mean, I know and love animals myself, and you can tell exactly what’s going on in those fur-covered heads of theirs. That’s what made me love the book so much!
Plus Christopher Lane does a top-notch job with narration. He makes this one funny and loving audiobook as he delivers humorous situations, along with touching ones, along with the almost unbearable sadness that is part and parcel of loving an animal (of loving ANYthing/ANYone, for that matter).
I choked up at the end, especially since Hawthorne just died a few weeks ago, but I don’t think I was all teary-eyed just because of that. I think it mostly had to do with this being so lovingly written, and with it being just the way the world goes. You find yourself happy that you’re grieving so much. You KNOW you’ve been blessed by how deep the pain goes; you know how much you were given by how empty things are now.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this book, ESPECIALLY if you’ve just lost a dear one. (And do yourself a favor and make sure you get the Unabridged version!)
Keep a tissue or two handy. And don’t forget to smile…
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