Stephen King hailed A Three Dog Life as, “The best memoir I have ever read.” Very true, my own mother wouldn’t talk to me, after I had journeyed far & wide on a Metro-North train to visit her, until she had turned the last page! “Just a minute,” she said, opening her front door for me and simultaneously marking her place in the book with her finger, “I’ll hear all about your life in the City after I finish this book; go fix yourself something to eat.” Curious about what could possibly be keeping my mother from me, her favorite and only daughter, I scooped the book up immediately upon her setting it down and proceeded to read straight through the night.

If one word can be used to sum up this book it is courage, as defined by Theodore Roosevelt when he said, “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.”

Abigail’s husband was hit by a car and suffers from a traumatic brain injury. Without a drop of self pity, Abigail describes her ensuing life and the details involved in living a life “with no room for guilt or second guessing.” Her life involves a new relationship with her husband, who lives in the eternal present, and a move to the country, from NYC, to live closer to her husband’s rehabilitation center. Through all the ups and downs of her life, Abigail’s three dogs remain a constant comforting presence and provide the practical reasons for her to get out of bed each morning.

I closed the cover hoping that if I ever found myself in such “unfamiliar country”, a phrase Abigail uses to describe her new life, I would be able to muster up a fraction of the courage Abigail possesses.

If you want to hear a remarkable tale of courage and devotion, join us on Wednesday, September 17th at the Mid-Manhattan Library, at 6:30 pm, to listen to Abigail Thomas read from A Three Dog Life. She will also be discussing her most recent book, Thinking About Memoir, which offers thoughts for all those people thinking of writing about their own journeys through this world.

An excerpt of A Three Dog Life.

Reviews of A Three Dog Life.