Publishers Weekly
★ 11/25/2019
“Everything I know about love I learned from dogs,” writes New York Times columnist Boylan in this eloquent memoir. Expanding on her 2003 account of life as a transgender woman, She’s Not There, Boylan examines her transition through seven dogs who were there for her at pivotal points. The “magic of dogs,” Boylan writes, is not that they love their owners unconditionally, but that their owners have an unconditional love for them, an ideal that can be harder to realize with fellow human beings. Each of the animals profiled here—including Penny, the aloof dalmatian and childhood pet Boylan outgrew; Matt, the obnoxious mutt whom a vet suggested they feminize via hormone injections; and Lucy, the “medium-sized yellow dog with a purple tongue” who never quite got over leaving her first home, a hog farm—allows Boylan to explore different areas of relationships with others, and with oneself. She touches on, among other subjects, self-doubt, confusion about her sexuality, emotional distance, and infidelity. Boylan also shares encouragement and guidance for those facing their own emotional struggles, noting that while hers weren’t easy to overcome, self-acceptance awaited her at her journey’s end. Filled with insight and remarkable candor, this is a sterling tribute to the love of dogs. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
Boylan’s gorgeously crafted homage to our unconditional love of dogs turns out to be much less of a paean to her constant canine companions, and much more of a journey through her own psyche and the moral needle of the world we live in. What do we keep, even as we lose pieces of ourselves? The dog at your feet while you’re reading already knows the answer.”
—Jodi Picoult, #1 NYT bestselling author of A Spark of Light and Small Great Things
“Good Boy is a warm, funny, instantly engaging testament to the power of love—canine and human—to ease us through life’s radical transitions. And I say that as a cat person!”
—Jennifer Egan, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Manhattan Beach
"Beautiful, tender, and utterly engaging, Good Boy measures out Boylan's life in dog years. The result is a gorgeous memoir, full of heart and insight."
—Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book
"Jenny Boylan has given us a story full of humor, earned wisdom, and large doses of unconditional love. Beautifully written, wise, and funny, Good Boy is a gift to us all—but especially the dog lovers."
—Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could Be Yours
"How do you measure a life? Anyone who has lived serially with dogs will appreciate Jenny Finney Boylan's brilliant answer: through the dogs who have accompanied you through that life. The dogs we choose reflect us, and how we live with them reflects on us. Silent observers of the vicissitudes of growing up — and being grown up — Boylan's dogs track her selves. Good dogs, all."
—Alexandra Horowitz, author of Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond, and the New York Times bestselling Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know
Library Journal
04/01/2020
New York Times columnist, novelist, and memoirist Boylan (She's Not There) believes that the magic of dogs is not that they love us unconditionally, but rather "what's unconditional is the love we have for them." Boylan maintains that dog owners are able fully to understand themselves through this love, which she deftly demonstrates in seven vignette-like chapters about her life. Each chapter is loosely based upon a dog she's owned and the pivotal moments that occurred during that time. Boylan's experiences are expressed with a captivating blend of deep reflection and wry humor, delving into her discomfort in her skin as a young boy, struggles in relationships, the death of her father, her transition to womanhood, and her child's own transition. The dogs are wonderfully portrayed with all of their quirks. Boylan makes astute observations about the way that dogs reflect back their owner's struggles, sometimes in unexpected ways. VERDICT Boylan's candor and distinctive writing style will appeal to readers of reflective memoirs. A solid choice for libraries looking to expand their LGBTQ biography collections. —Anitra Gates, Erie Cty. P.L., PA
MAY 2020 - AudioFile
Narrator Kelsey Navarro inhabits this memoir by the much loved, though often attacked, transgender writer Jennifer Finney Boylan. According to Boylan, life is about love—how we get and give it—why there's never quite enough. That's also what dogs are about, she asserts. It's not the unconditionality of their affection that's extraordinary, but our response, its mystery and depth. Pushed center stage for this history, the pets—who are often in the background in our lives—can be seen to exert an outsized influence. While capable of high theatricality, Navarro here employs the voice of a woman more amused than outraged. Adoration may be mysterious, but Navarro's quiet performance generates that precious nectar, and plenty of it. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-01-12
A memoir told through the lens of seven canine companions.
Often, it's difficult to remember all the details of our lives and the people we once were. "But I remember the dogs," writes New York Times columnist and LGBTQ activist Boylan, who is on the PEN America board of trustees and serves as the inaugural Anna Quindlen writer in residence at Barnard College. In her latest, the author ties each of the seven chapters to a phase of her life and a dog she has loved. The narrative is somewhat chronological, but the dog stories and timelines also skip around a lot, which occasionally becomes disorienting. As in her previous books, Boylan's wry wit, wicked sense of humor, and unique way of turning phrases shine through, and her candor is powerfully therapeutic. Particularly stunning is the section in which she describes her initial reactions when a close family member also came out as trans. However, this book is not a Boylan primer. Readers who have not encountered She's Not There (2003), her memoir about her transition from male to female, may long for more detail in this book; the author sometimes skims over major life events she has written about elsewhere. But this is about the dogs, and the canine theme emerged from a Times opinion column, in which she wrote about her dog Indigo, that went viral in 2017. Boylan's stories about each dog—from Playboy to Sausage to Matt the Mutt to Ranger (whose frequent interactions with porcupines "never ended well")—range from sidesplitting to downright profound, and the author makes a convincing argument for the inherent need for all creatures to be who they truly are. Though the connections between the dogs and Boylan's life aren't always obvious, these tales will entertain, endear, and—fair warning—possibly induce a sudden urge to drive to the local animal shelter.
Intimate and insightful glimpses into Boylan's life and the dogs that have helped her learn more about love.
