Bark If You Love Me: A Woman-Meets-Dog Story

by Louise Bernikow

Book Overview

A single city woman meets Mr. Right-he has amber eyes and a wily heart. There's only one catch . . . he has four legs and a tail. Relatively indifferent to the natural world, allergic to dogs, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565122585
• ISBN13: 9781565122581
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

It's a love story.

WOOF!I'm barking. I loved this story.Basically, a woman takes in an abandoned dog.Not so basically, Louise and Libro need each other. They grow to understand each other. They take care of each other. They both make mistakes (Louise's perhaps worse than Libro's). A human-to-animal relationship is different from a human-to-human relationship in that, with animals, love really can conquer all.And Louise's reaction to Mickey -- classic! and beautiful!I laughed out loud. I gasped. I sobbed. I finished the book and emailed a long-lost friend with whom I renewed contact this evening. I emailed him to suggest that he read the book immediately."Bark If You Love Me" was referred to me (cat person) by my brother's girlfriend (dog person at the boxer level). It was every bit as wonderful as she said. When I return this to the Bookmobile, I will strongly suggest that the librarians recommend this book to people of all ages.

bark if you love me

Who knew that adopting an abandoned dog could open up a whole new world? With this memoir, which is about so much more than dogs, Bernikow takes us on a tour of the strange continent of dog people who inhabit her New York City neighborhood.Eccentricity may be the defining characteristic of this Manhattan microcosm. Friendships, love affairs, and animosities ebb and flow in and around the dog park. And it's not just dogs doing the socializing. Indeed, the common bond of dog ownership brings together disparate folks -- professors and entertainers, gay and straight couples -- whose lives become inextricably entwined. Indeed, a dog-induced romance stands at the center of the plot.Dogs bring out the best and worst in everyone, it seems. In a city that can often be anonymous, passers-by inquire into the dog's age, well-being, and history. Tough-looking men turn into mushballs. And presumed friends deride bad doggie manners. The politicized factions that emerge in response to the City's crackdown on dogs are described with humor and affection. Only in New York could an organized band of dog-lovers agitate for greater off-leash privileges!Bark If You Love Me is, of course, a great gift for dog-lovers and New Yorkers. It's also a delightful read for anyone who appreciates a light-hearted and well-written slice of life.

Bark If You Love Me

I read John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie" because I loved Steinbeck, not because I loved French poodles. I read "Bark If You Love Me" because a bookseller friend of mine handed a preview copy to me knowing that as a writer I love good writing. This book is good writing, a quick read, filled with insight about life (and dogs), and much cheaper than 45 minutes with my shrink. (It also just reduced my Christmas gift decision-making by about a third.) Get it and chill.

An easy read, a gentle laugh

Anyone who's ever owned a dog knows that there's a lot more to it than patting Fido and filling up a food dish. It really is an entry into an enormous club, filled with veterinarians, new friends, neighbors you've never known until your dog starts sniffing them, and relatives you thought you knew right up until the time they start giving you unsolicited opinions about ringworm. Louise Bernikow relates her entry into this club with light-hearted humor in her new book Bark If You Love Me. This is a non-fiction book but a light read that is very much like a novel. In the first chapter, Ms.Bernikow does something her mother always warned her not to do: she brings home a strange male. This time, it's a boxer she names Libro. You don't need to own a dog to laugh at the quirky characters she and Libro meet. At times, she realizes with some surprise that she feels motherly toward him. There is a lover (human), and a mystery over Libro's past, but through it all, she laughs gently at herself and learns what a trusting, reliable relationship can mean to a single woman, even if it is with a dog. Berkinow is a journalist whose writes about women's history and the nature of being single in contemporary society (see: The American Women's Almanac : An Inspiring and Irreverent Women's History.) Her latest book will make you laugh and if you don't own a dog already, might make you think seriously about getting one.

Evocative memoir about life changes & kinds of love.

I've been buying copies of this book for all my dog-loving friends and all my friends who are ex-Manhattanites and miss it every day. I'm also giving it to my struggling, beginning writing friends who want samples of really fine writing. And then there are those folks who just love a good read! There is so much to like about this book it's hard to know where to start. I love the way she evokes the upper west side. I've lived there, long ago, and recognize the smells, sounds, and sights and the long and short views immediately. In addition to capturing the sense of a very specific place, she succeeds in evoking the idea of place as character. I love how, when she "accidentally" becomes a dog owner/lover/keeper for the first time in her life, she discovers that in this neighborhood she's called home most of her life and assumed intimate knowledge of, she suddenly discovers a parallel universe--the world of dog people. They've been there all along! And suddenly what was most familiar is brand new. I love how this writer, whose career I have followed for decades, finds a new way to be politically active, alive, accountable. Most of all, I love the writing -- the sheer professionalism of a skilled writer whose craft has been honed to the point of complete invisibility and absolute beauty. If I were teaching writing, this is the book I would use to show students the marvelous variety of sentences we have available to us. I would use this book to talk about subtlty, evocation, urbanity, subtext, and disciplined style. I'm not a dog lover but I'd let Libro give me a kiss. I might even kiss him back -- if his keeper had brushed his teeth recently.