Glenn Plaskin

I like dogs but, given a choice, I prefer cats. That said...I would love to have a Katie in my life! Glenn Plaskin writes a wonderful account of Katie and the people she has touched. It is a must read for dog lovers (or even if you can only classify yourself as a 'dog liker' or a 'dog give or taker.' I guarantee you will fall in love with Katie!

Little did the author know when he brought Katie home to his apartment in Battery Park City, that Katie would take over the third floor and the show more hearts of the residents there. Sometimes the reader may wonder if Glenn is the owner or if Katie belongs to someone else along her route, only to discover that no one owns Katie, she owns them. For sixteen years Katie brought love and laughter to a small group of people who probably would never have discovered each other had it not been for her appearance on the third floor.

This book left me smiling, laughing, and even crying, which is what I look for in a book--one that can make me feel emotions instead of going through the motions. Plaskin is a veteran author but he has outdone himself with this book. It goes to the top of my 'must suggest to a friend' list. show less

In 1988, Glenn Plaskin bought a twelve-week-old cocker spaniel puppy, and named her Katie. As a first-time dog owner, he hardly knew where to begin, but a mutual friend introduced him to his neighbors down the hall in his Battery Park City apartment building, Pearl and Arthur. This older couple were life-long dog owners, and their last dog, a cocker spaniel named Brandy, had died two years earlier. Unprepared to get a new dog at this late stage of their lives, Pearl in particular is more show more than willing to help Glenn learn how to be a dog owner, and provide dog-sitting services.

It's not long before Glenn, Pearl, Arthur, and Katie start to build a bond a good deal closer than friendly neighbors. Arthur and Pearl were never able to have children, and Glenn's family, while close emotionally, is not close geographically. Pearl becomes another grandmother for Glenn, and a vital part of Katie's life, since she can't (usually!) accompany him to the office. Katie is a pampered darling, but a sweet, cooperative dog as well, and the fun grows when, as an indirect result of Glenn's work as a newspaper columnist, Katie starts to get modeling jobs.

And then Glenn's life runs full speed into a brick wall. The paper he works for is sold, and he's among the many let go. With all the other newspaper people on the job market at the same time, he's not having any success finding a new job. While he's still looking, his long-standing back trouble worsens dramatically, leaving him too disabled to work. He's getting physical therapy and attending a support group at a local community center--and Katie, accompanying him to the center, expands his family once again. She starts playing with six-year-old Ryan, and Glenn forms a friendship with Ryan's single dad, John. Coincidentally, John wants to move to someplace that will give him a less stressful and demanding commute, and an apartment becomes available in Glenn's building, on the same hall. Pearl becomes a friend and confidant to John and a grandmother to Ryan, and the three households bind together. They're in and out of each other's apartments, having "family" dinners together on a regular basis, and celebrating birthdays together. When Glenn is recovered enough to work again, he gets a job with Family Circle, and one of his feature articles is "Grandma Down the Hall," about the family they've created together.

It isn't all high spirits and fun. They're in the residential building closest to the Twin Towers. They live through the terror of realizing what's happened, fleeing the expanding debris cloud, and slowly rebuilding their lives and waiting out the time until they can return to their apartments. Also, Pearl and Arthur are in their late seventies when we meet them, and Katie is a dog, so in one sense the ending is no surprise. Glenn Plaskin makes Katie and his human neighbors come alive on the page, though, and while the ending is natural and inevitable, it's also deeply moving. Honestly, I cried through most of the last two chapters.

This is not a depressing book, though. It's warm and engaging and hopeful, and a must-read whether or not you're a "dog person."

Highly recommended.

I bought this book in ebook format.

You can read more of my reviews at Lis Carey's Library show less

As a dog-lover, I was sure I would really enjoy this heart-warming story of a man, author Glenn Plaskin, and his dog, a blond cocker spaniel named Katie. This book turned out to be much more. While the dog is central to the story, she is a catalyst for the human relationships between complete strangers who became closer than family, particularly Glenn's elderly neighbours, Pearl and Arthur. On top of that, Glenn and his dog Katie live in an apartment building which was right beside the World show more Trade Centre, and they were at home during that fateful September 11 morning. The first-person account of the events of the day is incredible, and it was amazing to consider how they all coped and depended on friends and strangers as they were evacuated and homeless in the aftermath. I felt as if the people (and dog) the author brought to life were my friends too, and couldn't hold back the tears near the end of the book, a very rare occurrence for me. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who would like to restore their faith in the basic goodness of most people. show less

The book was written well enough, but the story and topic just didn't interest me so much. Glenn has not really had a dog before, but for twenty-five years running in a to-do list, has had GET A DOG. When he moves into a nice area in New York City called Battery Park City, that was made from the reclaimed earth from when they built the Twin Towers, finally gets a beautiful blond cocker spaniel. So all the things we all know about having and keeping a dog are talked about. Through the dog, he show more gets to know his neighbors and gets to be like family with them.

It was somewhat interesting the part when they are displaced because of 9/11 because they are close to the World Trade Center.

So it is a cute cocker spaniel, but I would like more from a dog book, with the dog doing something more than natural dog stuff. The author's job has him meet with a number of famous people, and does a bunch of name dropping, and even when they like the dog, it just wasn't something I am interested it. I did however, found it note worthy how he favorably talked about interviewing Donald and Ivanka Trump, as this was before the Democratic Party's mainstream media succeeding in vilifying them for a fair amount of people.

So getting to know neighbors because he had a cute dog is mildly interesting, and that is how I felt about the book.

Note: Kleenex is needed at the end of the book, and even in that they pull too many tissues out of the box for me. show less