To Dance with the White Dog
Written and Narrated By: Terry Kay
Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
Iffy narration but a pleasant enough story
While I really liked To Dance with the White Dog, I can’t tell you to rush out and buy it. right. now! It’s good, and it’s a sweet way to spend just over 3 hours, but Terry Kay’s narration is rather off. I know, I know—in the past I’ve applauded authors for reading their own work; after all, they above all others, know where and how they’d like emphasis to go; they know when to add emotion to the text; they know the really tearjerker parts and hammer shamelessly on them so that we, the listeners, are left in a pathetic puddle of tears.
Enter Terry Kay…
Uhm, well? Okay, so it’s like this, see. He sounds like a preacher reading the Bible—reading, not even delivering a sermon. The narration rather plods along, each word and sentence meticulously following the other with nary an emotion in sight. To make it worse, at emotional points, his voice goes all Fire & Brimstone on us, and we’re simply left wondering: Whatthehell?!? There, that’s my rant. Other than that, yes, he does know where to add emphasis and a bit of inflection, so he’s not a total loss.
But it’s a nice story which starts when Sam’s wife of a gazillion and six years dies. Right away we meet him as a proud and independent sort; and right away we meet his children as desperate to find any signs of aging-induced weakness in him. They’re fiercely overprotective, but their hearts are basically in the right place.
Soon, a scrawny, pure white she-dog shows up, and while Sam initially wants her head blown off in pity’s name, he comes to find her company good and friendly. She’ll even stand up and place her paws on his walker, moving step by step in time with the movements of the contraption, just as though she was dancing with him. And nobody can see her but Sam: If she doesn’t want to be seen, then by God, she shan’t be seen.
His kids can’t see her and deem Sam to be hallucinating, but Sam only messes with their heads now and again, and he sticks to his guns. He and White Dog are a team. She’s the best company he’s had since his dear wife died.
Given the revelations/suppositions at the end, ya might be wondering why I put To Dance with the White Dog in the Animals category. Well, it’s like this: no matter what White Dog represents, she’s purely, simply the sweetest dog around. I love how Sam begins to earn her trust; I love how their growing affection for each other plays out. She reminds me of my dear, departed dog, Hayden: clever, loving, always having a plan of some sort.
So okay, narration could be better, but it’s a nice story, and I did get a lump in my throat at the very end. Make of that what you will; nice story, a pleasant way to pass some time whilst getting a few of your I-need-a-dog ya-yas out.
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