A copy of Men and Dogs has been buried in a stack by my bed for a couple of months now while I read the long and wonderful The Invisible Bridge. So, last weekend, I opened Men and Dogs and was immediately pulled in. This is a good summer read. I would not say it is a “light” summer read, but I would say it kept my attention and that I enjoyed reading it. The character development ranks high, the plot shows natural unforced movement, and the setting of Charleston, South Carolina, is depicted accurately. (I was there a few summers ago and loved the way the author Katie Crouch used the factual street names and places, such as names of churches.)
The main character, Hannah, suffers from the inability to move on from her father’s disappearance in the Charleston sound, most likely due to drowning, when she was a pre-teen. His dog was with him and the dog was found, but not the body of her father. Now a young married adult, Hannah is obsessed with the fact that she thinks her father is still alive. This obsession leads to marital disharmony in her San Francisco home and depression which shows itself in various ways. Hannah’s husband decides a month’s “vacation” at her childhood home, complete with her crazy stepfather, and truly Southern tennis playing mother, is just what Hannah needs to recover. Hannah reconnects with her teenage boyfriend, now an Episcopal priest, and that move, of course, causes sparks. All of the Southern mores and customs are examined and put on the page in this new novel.
Katie Crouch already cultivated a following around here for her first novel Girls in Trucks in 2008. I liked that title as much as I like the title: Men and Dogs. This new novel worked for me, and I thank Pat for recommending it! -Nan
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