A Home for Goddesses and Dogs
By: Leslie Connor / Narrated By: Patricia Santomasso
Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
Was hoping for the best with this one… and it was so lovely. Huzzah!
I was taken in by the cover, and is A Home for Goddesses and Dogs the Best Name Ever, or what?!
I did NOT, however, find the Publisher’s Summary compelling in the least. But thanks be to gosh: Once again, I’ve found a Summary that is sooo, like, 1/100th of what-all the story winds up being. Yeh yeh yeh, the Summary lands upon a few salient points, but it comes not even close to capturing just how quietly wonderful this book is.
13-year old Lydia’s mom has just died (Do NOT say I’m Sorry You Lost Your Mom—Lydia didn’t lose her somewhere; Mom Molly DIED!!!), and Lydia is now driving off to live with her Aunt Brat. Coming from a city (Where Mom could get as much medical care as possible), she’s now off to a small rural community where Aunt Brat lives with her quirky wife Eileen, and those two have been living with the -also- quirky Elloroy, a gentleman in his 90s who’s kinda obsessed with his demise… but in a joy-filled way. Aunt Brat and Eileen have the hearts of rescuers, so it should be no surprise when they take in a misbehaving/take-no-prisoners dog they dub Guff. Well, it’s a total surprise to Lydia; she’s NOT a Dog Person, and Guff constantly peeing inside the house, Guff constantly running away in a heartbeat does NOT pluck at her heartstrings.
That’s the setup, and then pretty much nothing happens except the unfolding of Life; sorrow touching the edges of Self; the attempts to create art out of big moments/little moments; channeling grief and hoping the dearly-loved dead can hear/see; new experiences opening the heart; having the courage to NOT curl up into a little ball of This Is What I’ve Always Done; trusting that people might just be good-natured; and Goddesses as works of art, or as women doing the best they can and rocking in the bargain. You know: No plot -ho hum- just an inCREDible amount of what makes up the entire world.
I really appreciated author Leslie Connor’s writing, her choices for how she depicted the maturity of Lydia. Only 13, yes, but Lydia has had to grow up pretty danged quick, and she’s had to handle HUGE disappointments all whilst being taught to embrace the tiny good things that truly matter. I could very much believe that she was capable of the little acts of courage which could be learned from, leading her all the way up to grand shows of bravery.
I also really appreciated narrator Patricia Santomasso’s performance. Yeh yeh yeh, I’ve bemoaned the bejesus outta it when authors choose to have quirky oddball characters, thinking that they’re adding to a reader/listener’s delight, but here Eileen and Elloroy work. Santomasso does a honking Heh Heh for Eileen that shows her to be someone who’s always up for a laugh, even as she’s a hard worker and strong in both body and mind. Then too, dunno how it’s managed on the page? But in audio? Santomasso somehow conducts her tones so that we never confuse what Lydia is saying with what she’s thinking. Santomasso should teach a class on it cuz sooo many narrators just lose me, where I’m thinking that the character is actually speaking certain things only to discover that yeah, they said something, but noooo, the rest was only going on in their heads: The whole I Wanted To Say But Didn’t. Awesome depictions of a wide variety of characters written and performed with seeming ease. Perfection.
I s’pose this runs juuuust shy of 5-stars cuz there ARE a few things that wind up far too neatly, a few endings delivered with just the tiniest of bows wrapping them up. -AND- there is indeed one character who’s developed developed developed but then kinda sorta winds up disappearing, and that’s never enjoyable.
Plus just a heads up: There are two depictions of man’s inhumanity to animals that might leave the more sensitive animal lover a trifle upset. But seriously, it’s what happens in this world, so there’s that…
Charming, quite simply?
Lovely!
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