Sheila....avid reader

I would say this book would be highly recommended for anyone that has someone close in their life with a mental disabilty due to an accident, dementia, etc. Abigail Thomas lets her feelings out. She is real. I could feel the author's ups and downs with her mentally challenged husband. A must read for people that are experiencing these emotions with a loved one.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Utterly Delicious Reading !!!

This little book is so full of the isms of life: courage, sadness, wonder, kindness, love, acceptance, exploration, and on and on. I could not put the book down and read it in one sitting. It just fullfilled me with appreciation for life.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A New Fan!

I loved this book...a small book packed with so much life! While the situation can be considered a catastrophe, nowhere in the book does one find a whisper of poor me. Ms. Thomas' book states, it is what it is and this is how we must live life now. Her book is laugh out loud funny in some places and very poignant in others. This is one of those books that you don't want to put down and when finished, wish there were more pages. I applaud Ms. Thomas for her outlook on her situation and the way she is living her life. I am now going to order all of her previous books.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

a wonderful read

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book. Her husband's accident was certainly tragic, but she manages to keep up her humorous side and take each situation as it comes - in some ways, kind of magically. At times I felt sad but other times absolutely laughed out loud, especially when she relates to her dogs. Our four-legged friends are so important in keeping us going and enjoying our lives, no matter the turns it takes.

Very good book!

I bought this book many years ago as my grandmother began to deteriorate mentally. This book helped me in dealing with this change in our family. Ms. Thomas is very open about how her husband's accident changed her life and the struggles she went through. I highly recommend this book.

good

gets a little strange as it progresses

she has an easy to read writing style...love it!

at times ms. thomas is laugh-out-loud funny and other times my heart aches b/c of her pain and grief. an excellent read!!!! hard to put it down so i could go to sleep at 3 a.m. i have put her other books on my wishlist, can't wait to read those:). love the cover w/ her on the couch w/ the dogs, what great dogs to have for a three dog life.

Awesome and enlightening book!!

I picked this book up by random and found it was just what I needed at the time. Looking at someone elses struggles and the things they are going through helps those of us who are in caregiver positions, and this is what the book was all about, fighting the struggle to care for a loved one while still maintaining your own identity. Abigail Thomas is a brillant author and I appreciate the courage and struggle she went through to write this novel and help others in the process. Excellent job!!!

No trip at all

Being in the position, I wanted other's insights on how, what, where and why. I wanted to like this, and was disappointed when it went nowhere and seemed more of an exercise than anything else.

Dogs as Touchstones

The book is a study of memory (or the lack of it) in a person's world. The woman who wrote this book is a writer who had the experience of losing
her husband in a day-to-day sense when he was in an accident that did damage to this memory. Her dogs were her saviors in a real sense, keeping her grounded in the rich presence of her life while she struggled
to help retain her marriage on some level. It is a story with many tears and much laughter. The positivity of the woman's mind helps her deal with her husband's loss of his, and the dogs help remind us that we often can learn deep lessons from creatures other than ourselves.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A wonderful READ that takes you on a journey you wouldn't expect.

A book that takes you on an emotional roller coaster. You will experience joy, warmth, tears, laughter - there are not enough words to describe the ride you take with this journey. A must read for the dog lover. A different road taken from Marley. It deserves your attention.

Sweet

Definitely recommend this book

A Great Read

This was such a good book! Like the other reviewer said, not really about dogs but the story was great. It is a sad, sweet, happy, comfy read.

I love this book. Not ABOUT dogs, but includes dogs. Very clever title.

The writing is spare and beautiful. There is no "poor me" quality. A very astute observation of a life that is tragically jolted. I will read it again and again as it speaks to me personally.

Three Dog Life

Great book. I could have read it in one sitting. Explains finally what is meant by a "three dog night", which I found amusingly interesting.

I feel it should have been called A Three Dog Life and a Husband's Illness.

I did enjoy the book, but thought I would get a lesson in learning from the relationships between the writer and her dogs; however it was more of a lesson in dealing with one's husband and his illness. It was a bit too depressing and not very uplifting to me. I had just seen the movie, and read the book "Marley and Me" so I wanted more fun, and more excitement. It was smooth reading though and was completed in a couple of evenings.

Difficult to get into, but a good story if you can get into it.

This book is about Abigail's life after her husband, Rich, is in an accident and sustains a brain injury. The injury is so bad that she can't have him at home anymore. She tries, but it really just doesn't work out.

I found this book went chronoligically, but yet still jumped around topics quite a bit. I would like to think this is because that's the nature of brain injury, but at a couple of points, I had to go back and re-read a couple of things to make sense of them. It was definitely interesting to see how Rich's brain injury affected him, and to see how a wife coped. At times, she would miss him, but at times she was just content for it to be she and her three dogs at home.

Interesting read, and not a very long book, but it took a lot for me to get into it. I would have liked more from the writing, really. I think the story could have been so much more powerful with more powerful writing.

Great Read!

This was the first book I have read by Abigail Thomas and I literally had a very difficult time putting it down! What I liked most about this book is that Mrs. Thomas writes from her heart and her memories, she is brutally honest and very open, and I was able to feel the range of emotions she has dealt with personally. I laughed and cried along with her and by the time I finished the last page I felt almost as if I had met or known Mrs. Thomas in person. This was also the first time I have read a memoire of this nature. I have since read Safekeeping and Thinking About Memoire...also very wonderful reads! Highly Recommend!

The best book I've read in years...

I loved this book! The story was written so well and so beautifully. I would recommend A Three Dog Life to anyone and everyone -- from those who love to read to those who only tackle one book a year.

beautiful...

A Three Dog Life is a beautiful memoir. Abigail Thomas writes of tragedy with an honesty and grace that's admirable. Her story never comes off as depressing and she never seems bitter. She's a take life as it comes sort of lady. Thomas proves that life after tragedy can still be full and hold pleasure, especially with dogs.

*Australian Aborigines slept with their dogs for warmth on cold nights, the coldest being a "three dog night." - Wikipedia