It’s Just a Dog
By: Russ Ryan / Narrated By: Gary Galone
Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
Not exactly sophomoric but charming and goofy, most definitely
Perhaps Pete, Charlie Keefe’s Jack Russell terrier, was more than just his muse—perhaps he was the reason for the middle-aged man’s existence. And maybe? Maybe the little dog was the reason for his success as an artist of dog (mostly Pete) portraits.
When Pete dies, just when Charlie is schmoozing a French babe in Paris, all hell, or heaven, or Limbo, or whatEVER breaks loose cuz Charlie doesn’t know how to live without his little dog with him every waking minute of the day. And he certainly doesn’t know how to paint or create art without him.
Enter Dog Rescuer Extraordinaire Janelle, who just happens to be a hot woman… who really can’t give a crap about men for the most part. She’s into rescuing dogs… and finding foster homes for them… like, even if you’re really, really, REALLY NOT interested in it. But Charlie’s emotions are fraught, his temper is frayed, and when he screams a resounding NO at Janelle in the dog park, his agent begs him to apologize so his art career isn’t damaged beyond belief. So Charlie reluuuuuuuuctantly says YES to fostering little Brownie, a Cavalier King Charles puppy who is soooooo not like Pete.
As Charlie begins to fall in love with Brownie, a strange thing happens: Pete comes back. The ghost of Pete. Pete with a voice. Pete with an attitude, and Pete with bad gas, he doesn’t care who smells (besides, nobody but Charlie can see him). As Charlie tries to navigate his life with both Pete and Brownie, as he tries dating Janelle, as he tries restarting his faltering art career, his friends have to wonder: Has Charlie completely broken down cuz he sure is acting strange, telling them Pete’s around, talking to Pete, blaming really smelly farts on Pete. It’s more than any of them can take.
It’s Just a Dog was panned by some reviewers because Pete’s ghost is soooo obnoxious, some of the situations were soooo slapstick, and maybe, perhaps, the writing kinda sorta coulda been better. But this is not a refined novel, my friend. It doesn’t touch on Life and Death and when it touches on Grief, we get fart jokes and portraits of Jack Russells screaming into Heaven or being squeezed into Hell.
I thought Gary Galone did a really good job with the narration. He does regular voices just fine, but he really throws himself into Pete’s raspy, gravelly quips, making the mutt obnoxious on the one hand, desperately sad and missing Charlie on the other. He doesn’t turn Janelle into some weird female voice with a falsetto but has her a sharp-witted and clever woman, and when he does Charlie’s agent, he really turns him into a shallow but loving lush.
No, It’s Just a Dog is NOT fine literature, and you won’t find yourself weeping at any point during the audiobook (but I did get a lump in my throat at the end, okay okay okay—I admit it!). You will however discover a laugh bubbling outta your throat, a twinkle glimmering from that smile in your eyes, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll chortle out loud in a big way every now and again.
It’s a really short listen, so what’s not to like?
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.