A book with bad reviews

A book with bad reviews

Title: From Baghdad to America: Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava 
Author: Jay Kopelman
Publication date: 2010

My book club read Jay Kopelman's first book, From Baghdad with Love, several years ago and enjoyed it. We were all dog lovers (hence our name Must Love Dogs) and enjoyed rooting for Kopelman's effort to bring a dog he'd rescued as a Marine stationed in Iraq home to the U.S. against military rules. When his second book came up as a Kindle Daily Deal, not only did I buy it, I encouraged the members of my club to do so as well. For that I can only say, "I'm sorry."

I bought this book last year and it's been on my Kindle for three or four months. I approached it believing I'd accomplish the challenge of "a book with nonhuman characters." I quickly realized that the dog I'd fallen in love with (who was pictured on the cover and included in the subtitle) was rarely mentioned in this book.

The book begins with Kopelman taking his dog for a walk around his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Lava, like many survivors of war, has PTSD (who wouldn't?). Kopelman takes the dog for a walk OFF LEASH. Our first reunion with Lava is him being hit by a car and my opinion of Kopelman takes a dive and doesn't recover.

It's important that I am cautious in my critique and in my opinion of Kopelman because he is an angry man. He doesn't like critics and he is pretty clear about that in his book. Not only is the story lacking but Kopelman could've used a better editor too. Lava seems to be an afterthought. Most chapters are a rant about civilians taking soldiers and their service for granted and then close with a quip about Lava. Here's the one quote I highlighted in my reading:

“Of course I apologized, but I couldn’t shake the sense that I was truly an asshole.” 

My note said, "Because you ARE an asshole!"

The best thing I can say for this book is that Lava is still alive. The second nice thing I can say is that it only took me two days to read it. In the end, it went from "a book with nonhuman characters" to "a book with bad reviews." Guess I'm back to Animal Farm for my nonhuman character challenge.

Next challenge: TBD