A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Author: Dean Koontz
- Publisher: Hyperion
- Release Date: August 2009
- ISBN-10: 1401323529
- ISBN-13: 9781401323523
- List Price: $24.99
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
Summary"In each little life we can see great truth and beauty, and in each little life we glimpse the way of all things in the universe." DEAN KOONTZ thought he had everything he needed. A successful novelist with more than twenty #1 New York Times bestsellers to his credit, Dean had forged a career out of industry and imagination. He had been married to his high school sweetheart, Gerda, since the age of twenty, and together they had made a happy life for themselves in their Southern California home. It was the picture of peace and contentment. Then along came Trixie. Dean had always wanted a dog--had even written several books in which dogs were featured. But not until Trixie was he truly open to the change that such a beautiful creature could bring about in him. Trixie had intelligence, a lack of vanity, and an uncanny knack for living in the present. And because she was joyful and direct as all dogs are, she put her heart into everything--from chasing tennis balls, to playing practical jokes, to protecting those she loved. A retired service dog with Canine Companions for Independence, Trixie became an assistance dog of another kind. She taught Dean to trust his instincts, persuaded him to cut down to a fifty-hour work week, and, perhaps most important, renewed in him a sense of wonder that will remain with him for the rest of his life. She mended him in many ways. Trixie weighed only sixty-something pounds, Dean occasionally called her Short Stuff, and she lived less than twelve years. In this big world, she was a little thing, but in all the ways that mattered, including the effect she had on those who loved her, she lived a big life. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Not At All What I Expected - Better
Rating:
I knew when Dean first talked about writing Trixie's memoir that I would buy it. I knew from everything he had written that it would be a must-have book. I bought it a few months back along with another new release of his and will be the first to admit that I didn't read it right away. I told myself I was saving it for my husband as a holiday gift. The truth was that I wasn't sure if I could handle it. I knew how it would end and having been through a loss of my own which was very similar, I just feared that it would be too upsetting.
After writing to Dean about some autographed books for charity and receiving yet another handwritten note from him in return, I knew it was time. I had to knuckle down and get to reading the book I had been looking at for weeks. It wasn't going to disappear and heck, I might just enjoy it.
This book is not at all what I expected; it was much, much more. Sure, it's the story of how Trixie entered the lives of Dean and Gerda, how their lives changed and about the strength of the human-canine bond. It's also a story about the lives of the Koontz family from Dean's childhood, to how he and Gerda met, to the places they've lived, to the friends they've loved (and the nuts they've had to avoid) to a fondness for pizza. I will never again think of the song "Achy Breaky Heart" without having a wide grin on my face and I now realize what it was that caused Dean's writing style to evolve in to what I, and so many others, enjoy so very much each and every time he tells us a new tale.
For me, reading a Koontz book is like being visited by an old friend. The friend knocks on the door, wears a smile and says, "well, hello. It's me again. Come on, let's get comfortable. I have a new story to tell you." If you've enjoyed Dean's books in the past, whether or not you consider yourself a dog person, you owe it to yourself to read "a big little life." You may shed some tears as I did. But you'll smile and you may even laugh out loud. This book is a celebration of life and I'm so very thankful that Dean and Gerda took the time to share it with us.
Wonderful for Dog Lovers
Rating:
This memoir of a very special dog is a wonderful read. Intuitive, intelligent, and inspired, Trixie was a wonder to her parents, Dean and Gerda Koontz, as well as her readers, and proves that dogs are more than just pets; some more than others obviously.
A loving Tribute to a Dog & Candid look inside Dean Koontz' private life
Rating:
Most people reading these reviews will know by now that Trixie Koontz was a service dog, forced to retire at a young age due to an elbow injury and who came to live with writer Dean Koontz and his wife Gerda. They likely will have read some of the books she "wrote" as well. Indeed, Trixie has been a part of Koontz' public persona for son long that when she died, tens of thousands of Koontz fans felt kicked in the guts by her loss. Dean had so vividly brought her personality and life to his fans through her "books" and "essays" on his website that it was hard to accept that she was gone. His loving essay about her passing away made grown men and women weep buckets - even those who had never known "dog love." As a result, fans were waiting and hoping for this book for some time and Koontz doesn't disappoint.
Dean Koontz communicates with his fans regularly but remains an intensely private person. In writing this book, he opens up his life to his readers and brings us in at the time he and Gerda decided to adopt a young dog. As a couple who never had any children and who have been together since High School, Trixie's arrival is shown to be a lot like the arrival of a new baby. In fact, getting to know Gerda through this book was an immense pleasure. My spouse and I took in a dog when we were young in our marriage and we laughed out loud at so many of the similar experiences we shared with the Koontzes (Is that the proper plural?) In fact, the entire book swings back and forth between hilarious, and touching.
Dean & Gerda reveal themselves to be slightly nervous and indulgent parents who learn from their minor mistakes and find their lives enriched and enlarged by their doggie "daughter". Trixie brings out the best in them and and brings them even closer to each other. Her adventures and escapades are well documented and will provide some wonderful belly laughs if you are a dog person and perhaps some giggles if you aren't. In the end, there will also be tears as Dean describes Trixie's old age and decline. He holds nothing back from us and we share his loss fully in a cathartic manner.
I am so thankful to him for writing this book because "Short Stuff" , as he calls Trixie, had been a huge part of his life and a huge presence in the minds of his fans. he asked us to embrace her as a "character" and to buy "her" books and we did. Now he is generously inviting us into his and Gerda's life with her. I appreciate the courage it took to open that door and invite us in. Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Koontz. You are right. trixie was and IS a GOOD DOG!
A BIG LITTLE LIFE
Rating:
Wonderful, sensitive, and loving about Trixie as the former books about her
were.
John and Sharon Schumacher
Thumbs Up for A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
Rating:
There have been quite a few dog memoir types of books published lately, but that in no way takes away from this book by Dean Koontz. This book not only tells the story of life with Trixie, an early-retired service dog, but of the real impact that she had on the Koontzs. Dean's writing illustrates how this dog not only filled their lives, but he tells the story almost still with an awe of how she changed them for the better.
Breaking Koontz away from his workaholic (writaholic?) lifestyle and showing him an entirely new depth of living perspective, Trixie is more than just a subject of anecdotal amusement in A Big Little Life. The family itself is as much the focus as their dog, and they give a good plug for Canine Companions for Independence, from whom they had adopted Trixie and for whom they have become advocates and benefactors due largely to the impact Trixie has had on them. Even though they had supported CCI, and he had written dogs into his work before Trixie, it is as if she had opened up a whole new world to them.
I haven't read many of Koontz's books, and wouldn't consider myself a dedicated fan of his work, but I did enjoy this book very much. It has given me some insight to the writer as a person and, because of that, renewed my interest in his novels. Koontz has even penned a few books on Trixie's behalf, among the dozens of others he has written.
If you enjoy these types of books, such as the ones written by Katz, Kerasote, and Grogan, I think you will enjoy this one as well.
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