You know, I went on Amazon today to read the customer reviews and the negative ones far outnumbered the positive. Nearly everyone hated the ending and a lot of people cited the exact same things I did, especially a lack of connection to the characters and seemingly important plot points that just wound up going nowhere. A lot of people said they felt like their time had been wasted. One guy even said he hated the book so much he couldn't wait to get it out of his house! I think this is one of those cases where the critics are just sniffing each other's glue or something. Either that or they're all fuckin terrified of Oprah Winfrey, who devoted an entire episode to fawning over this thing.

And frankly, while I liked the dog chapters, the training bits irritated me too. I was especially annoyed by a reference to "idiot dogs," i.e. every dog that is not a Sawtelle dog. My Daisy WAS NOT AN IDIOT thank you!