I am a dog. I contribute to the fabulous Anipal Times.
I write my impressions of the books my Momma reads to me each night. I hope you like my book review.
First, I want to explain my rating system for the books I review.
Five paws: A must-read. So good that all my paws are waving. So good that I borrowed a paw from Momma, who types for me, plus added all four of mine.
Four paws: A great read. Enjoy it in the tub.
Three paws: Eh. To read or not to read, if you have extra time, then read it.
Two paws: Likely skip it. Drags on, characters are silly, or just not a good read.
One paw: Seriously, skip it.
Today we have a novel by Ann Patchett called Whistler.
The book starts with a private school teacher, Daphne Fuller, and her hubby being slyly followed by an older man at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Daphne, in her 50s, is married to Jonathan, in his 70s, and jokes that older men just like to follow her.
The stalker is Eddie Triplett, a Random House editor and one of Daphne’s many childhood stepfathers. Daphne has lunch with Eddie. They rekindled a friendship. Life is in the details, and this book beautifully proves it.Daphne agrees to attend a 50th wedding anniversary dinner with Eddie later. He introduces her to the entire party as his daughter, despite only knowing and being married to her mom for just over a year.
Eddie was indeed responsible for a car accident where he broke his ankle and nine-year-old Daphne dangled from the roof for a bit, but was blessedly not seriously injured.
They reminisce. Daphne says if she put six stepfathers in a lineup, she could have picked him out.
I wiggled at that line.
They also crash a wedding and consider dancing in a water fountain.Eddie is stuck. His life never moved far from a college roommate named Skip and his wife, Polly. He explains his choices to Daphne, who kindly listens. Daphne knew him only as a child, yet tried to help him as an adult. They became fast friends.
Daphne asks if Eddie remembers the horse story he told her in the car after the accident.
Eddie does. He invites her to visit him one day at his editing job.
Daphne goes and sees a framed picture of a horse on his desk. Eddie asks if Daphne remembers the entire horse tale he told her oddly, as she dangled bloodied from the roof in their car accident.
She says yes, yet she thought he invented the story. Eddie tells her no; it was a book proposal his agent found in the newspaper about a Wyoming woman and her horse.
Eddie says he tried to buy the book idea from her for years, but the woman would not sell it. It was about a horse named Whistler. At the time of the car accident, the dire story almost scared her.
It is, like Eddie’s life, stuck in the neutral gear of a car, my momma says.
Eddie gifts Daphne the framed photograph of the horse instead. For years, Eddie has kept it on his office desk. Eddie never turned the proposal into a book, but he has kept the horse’s picture framed and on his office desk for decades.
Yep, you heard me.Daphne states Whistler would have made a splendid book with a little effort. Eddie again tells her the tale of Whistler. A horsewoman on a ranch could call her horse with a whistle, and he would run to her.
One day during a storm, she trots out to find her other horse, Nutmeg, but she loses her way and the horse bucks her off. For days, she lay in a heap talking to long-dead relatives, friends, and her darling OTRB dog, Marty, who told her to just whistle for the horse named Whistler. She finally does, and he comes and finds her. She gets on him, saving herself.I tell Momma, nice story to tell a nine-year-old kid dangling from her seatbelt in a car accident. Woof. Daphne understands now why he told her the story.
Eddie found Daphne in her 50s to save himself.
Daphne is a great pal to Eddie. He teaches her a lot.
Momma wonders why Eddie gets stuck so much, but Daphne has her life enriched by knowing Eddie.
Details make the story.Ann Patchett is a PEN /Faulkner award-winning author of Tom Lake.
We love her. She brings to life the tiny moments of your past that stick, as demonstrated by this quote by Daphne’s husband, who glibly states, “Every teacup comes with a short documentary film.”
Momma guffawed over that one.
Daphne spends her time icing the cake on this one tiny part of her past.This book gets five paws up.
First, it has a horse, but second, it has gorgeous sentences and a meaningful conclusion.
Whistler is an examination of how seemingly insignificant past relationships can come back at you with either a dose of delight, or someone else’s human regrets.
Whistler is worth reading.
Thanks for joining me. Enjoy the fall season, eat some twigs, and roll in the grass until we meet again at Meet Me At The Bookshelf.
*Sassy wavy paws
