Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs

GOOD BOY: MY LIFE IN SEVEN DOGS (2020) is Finney Boylan's fourth memoir recounting her transgender journey from boy to man to woman. I've not read the first three, but this one was damn good. There's plenty here about her childhood, adolescence, and early adult years, and her confusion and unhappiness about feeling something was "not right" about her. But now in her sixties, as the title suggests, this time around she looks closely at the dogs that have been an important part of her life, and also gives free rein to her quirky wicked sense of humor. And the dogs are pretty quirky too - real characters. So yeah, I chuckled a lot, in between wondering - trying to understand - her feeling for so many years that she was NOT what she show more appeared, or what she really wanted to be. The whole trans thing, in other words. She makes it very real. And then there was the end of her last dog, Ranger. Really broke me up, 'cause I've been there, had to say goodbye to a few dogs myself. Think Marley, or Old Yeller, ya know? It's cryin' time. And it was that way for Jennie and her wife too.

This was kind of a strange book for me, but a good one, as I said, and Jennifer Finney Boylan is a fine writer. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Good Boy My Life In Seven Dogs, is the first book by Jennifer Finney Boylan that I've read however it will not be the last.

I found this book to be a raw, honest and heartfelt look at Boylans life and the dogs who shared her journey.
Dogs simply are who they are and we see that loving, accepting and celebrating them in that is the purest form of love. It is also a fact in regards to people.

Boylan's raw honesty about her journey and unique perspective made this book one that I'll not forget. It is a valuable book that can make you take stock of your beliefs, create moments of pure laughter and also bring you to tears. Boylan has written that book with Good Boy.

Some reviews have mentioned that the book can be hard to follow at times. I show more felt the flow of the book was a result of both Boylan's writing style and the fact that parts of the book were originally written for a different format.
Honestly, the flow seemed very natural to the way my thoughts often flow, sometimes "oh look a squirrell" before returning to the topic at hand.
I find that with most books, I need a bit to pick up on the writer's style.

This book was outside my wheelhouse and I could have easily missed reading it. I'm glad I didn't.

Received ARC from Celadon Books show less

Unsolicited ARC. I wanted to like it, as it was indeed targeted to me carefully (I like memoirs of not-famous people, I can enjoy books about smart doggies, and I'm totally open to reading about the experiences of other ppl who identify under the 'queer' umbrella). But I just couldn't. It read like a vanity press memoir, that is to say, too random and scattered, and desperately in need of beta readers. And the doggies, at least as far as I got, didn't do anything, and we didn't spend much time with them. Dog on the cover leads me to believe dogs are the stars... nope.

For an example of the shaggy dog story pointlessness, "One of our neighbors was Mrs. du Pont, on Liseter Farm. Years later, her son would murder a wrestling coach on their show more property. They made a movie out of the tragedy: Foxcatcher. Steven Carell was in it. He wasn't usually given to fake noses, but he made an exception in this case." Who the F cares?!

Also young Jimmy was a piece of work. He was assigned a desk for an after-school activity. For no reason that was revealed or that I could discern, he broke all the crayons in that girl's desk. He did imagine Denise's "eyes filling with tears at the random injustice of the world." But then he immediately admits "I wasn't sorry." End of story. Wtf? All I can guess is that Jimmy was so angry about being a boy that he took it out on this poor girl. Not an excuse. Not the kind of person I want to read more about, tbh.

Granted, I didn't get very far in the book. But there are so many other gems out there waiting for me, I'm passing this on. show less

Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan represents many of the things I dislike about memoirs while also showing moments of things I do. Boylan uses dogs to center each chapter of the book at different points in her life on her path to transitioning from the boy and young man she is at the beginning to the woman she is at the end. I have issues with memoirs that “remember” events with specific details and dialogue years after they happened, and Good Boy is full of moments like that. But, Boylan is a good writer giving readers both funny and poignant moments while exploring her journey. This isn’t a dog book, and it also isn’t a great “trans” book for readers looking for real insight, but it is an enjoyable show more read. show less

This memoir was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, as seemingly the life of the author has been.

I was already crying on page 2 and then laughing on page 4, and ended up the book with more tears.

At times I found myself skimming sections of the books. Perhaps my expectations were too high or misplaced, but I was hoping the book would be a more real life version of "A Dog's Purpose". Overall I wished there was more about the dogs, rather than a way to mark time as we followed the author along on on a wandering tale of their life.

One statement definitely stood out - "Everything I know about love I learned from dogs.".

I'm very appreciative to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book.

This is a bit of a tricky one to rate because while I think the writer is talented and I enjoyed quite a few parts of this memoir, I also struggled at times. My main issue is there was a lot of bouncing around and I felt like I kept losing focus while reading. I wish this could have been more of a smoother reading experience.

Jennifer Finney Boylan is a professor, transgender activist, and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Her 2003 memoir, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, was a bestseller and she has made appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and The Today Show to name a few. Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs is her third memoir and takes the reader through the different stages of her life from show more boyhood, manhood, and finally embracing womanhood. There are 7 parts to this book and each one features a different dog that was in her life during some key moments.

I haven't read the author's first memoir but I would love to get my hands on a copy because I think she is fascinating and I would love to learn more about her. Some of the dogs she owned were more heavily featured in parts than others. I thought she brought up a great point near the beginning of the book about how we think of dogs as having unconditional love but we as humans have unconditional love for our dogs. I think this is something any animal lover can relate to whether or not you have dogs.

The seventh part of this memoir was my favorite but I did think there were some touching and reflective moments throughout the book. I loved the openness and honesty which is such a key element to any memoir. I might not have enjoyed the execution at times, but I am glad I got a chance to read this one.

Thank you to Celadon Books for sending me an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review! show less

"This is a book about dogs: the love we have for them, and the way that love helps us understand the people we have been."

In this touching memoir, Jennifer Finney Boylan recounts her life by describing it in relation to seven of the dogs she's had. This book takes you from the author's childhood, when she was a young boy named James, to now, where she's a middle-aged woman who is part of the faculty at Barnard and contributes opinion pieces to the New York Times. It was a really unique and heartwarming read--relating her experiences by talking about her dogs gave it an interesting perspective and allowed her to explore themes of unconditional love and family in a way I hadn't considered before. It also gave the book variability; at show more times it was laugh out loud hilarious, at others it made you want to cry. That being said, at times the narrative thread seemed to get a bit lost and parts of the story felt disjointed. However, it was still a very heartwarming read, and I really appreciated how honest the author was in sharing her account. This is a read that will stay with me for a long time! show less