Such an emotional roller coaster. There are highs and lows. The woman struggles with how to get her father and dog to form a good relationship through their elder years. The father being a past post man does not help the situation and neither does the dog being a huge lab. This book will make you smile one minute and tear up the next. ( )

Warner's book 'My Dad My Dog' outlines the struggles, joys and sorrows children experience while caring for an aging parent. As a reader you easily empathize with the daughter and cheer on her successes. The book reinforces what you already know; enjoy each day that you have with family. ( )

I really wanted to like this one. The novel is from a Southern author and takes place in a Southern setting, both things I appreciate. Plus, I was fortunate enough to win this book via Goodreads Giveaways. And the author was kind enough to sign the book, as well as to include a lovely bookmark, as well as a hand-written note.

All of that said, I only made it to page 122 of 278 before I had to call it quits. The story is the fruit of author Rebecca Warner’s time as a home caregiver for her parents, and it shows. While there is much to learn here about the struggles of ailing parents, something which all of us will likely deal with at some point in our lives, the novel read a bit more like a diary of Warner’s experiences. Perhaps a memoir, infused with a bit more emotion, would have been a better outlet for this tale.

I can recommend this one as immensely valuable for those desiring of learning what it’s like to care for a parent in your home. If you’re looking for moving fiction, this would not be the one to choose.

Regardless, a hearty thank you to Rebecca Warner, Black Rose Writing, and Goodreads Giveaways for the complimentary copy of the book. ( )

A beautifully told story of a daughter’s experience taking care of her ailing father. Charming and heart-warming, this one’s a keeper for me not least because of the way in which she speaks her truth. ( )

Rebecca Warner’s My Dad My Dog follows the emotional ups and downs experienced by a woman named Rachel as she cares for both her aging father Joe and her ailing Lab, Nick. Dogged by financial difficulties, Rachel and her husband David can no longer afford to pay for Joe to reside at an assisted living facility. Instead, they have made arrangements look after him in their own home.

Those same financial constraints also mean that they can only afford to hire additional help for a limited amount of time, meaning the rest of Joe’s care is up to the two of them. This is no easy task, since Joe is affected by a “trifecta of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes, in addition to the after-effects of a broken hip.”

Rachel hopes that her father will befriend Nick, thinking the dog would be good company for him. But the day he moves in, Joe insists that he doesn’t want the dog around him. Rachel suspects that part of the issue is Joe’s previous experience as a mail delivery person, where he’d been “bitten on more than a few occasions.”

Told in first person from Rachel’s viewpoint, the novel gives us glimpses of the family’s daily life as they care for Joe. This might make for boring fodder in some writers’ hands, but Warner enhances the interest factor by building in tension and a degree of anticipatory suspense as we watch Rachel and her husband juggle priorities and try to work through financial hiccups. The relationship between Joe and Nick ebbs and flows, though Warner gets the reader rooting for the two of them to become friends.

The fact that Joe’s health issues manifest themselves differently from day to day also builds interest. Joe’s memory on some days is better than on others, and Rachel finds that her father “often surprises me with the things he recalls.” Other days, he asks her questions that indicate he’s forgotten the content of a conversation they’ve had just minutes ago.

Warner also builds in reference to some of the behavioural side effects of Alzheimer’s, giving an educational flair to the novel.

My Dad My Dog provides a clear-eyed view of the challenges of caregiving, particularly when it comes to caring for patients with dementia. Rachel confesses that she is “tired just thinking about the day’s demands.” She also states, “unless you’ve had to provide care for more than a day or two, there’s no way to fully understand what caregiving demands of you.”

We see first-hand Rachel’s uncertainties and the sense of guilt that she isn’t doing enough. Keeping everything in balance—Joe’s needs, Nick’s needs, and her own relationship—is difficult, and Warner conveys this in an honest and compelling manner, without becoming maudlin.

Warner also touches on issues of family dynamics when it comes to caregiving. Rachel resents her older sisters, who don’t take the time to understand what she’s going through, and don’t offer to help financially, task-wise, or in other ways.

Though My Dad My Dog is a book of fiction, it’s easy to forget that. The story rings with a sense of authenticity. There’s a good reason for that. Warner is no stranger to the challenges of eldercare, having had 14 years of experience as the health care surrogate for both of her parents. She has, as she puts it, had lots of experience navigating the “healthcare labyrinth.” Though the book is fiction, she did retain the names of her father, Joe, and her dog, Nick, as a nod to the fact that they served as inspiration for the story.

Warner, a former newspaper columnist and blogger for HuffPost, had written three books prior to My Dad My Dog: the political thriller Moral Infidelity, a romance novel Doubling Back to Love, and a self-help book, He’s Just a Man. Given this writing experience, it is no surprise that My Dad My Dog reads smoothly, flows well, and contains interesting bits of description, like the following:

On this clear day, the closer mountains are covered in the greenest-of-green leaves, which are in sharp view. The mountains that rise beyond them seem to unfurl, one mountain range after another, each offering up its own brilliant-to-subdued green hues, becoming less and less defined as they go on for as far as the eye can see.

Caregiving can be draining physically and emotionally, but Warner also illustrates the upside as well. The book’s protagonist, Rachel, notes:

I used to think exotic travel and our whirlwind social life enhanced our marriage because of the grand fun and exciting adventures we had. When I think back about all of our comings and goings over the years, I wonder why it mattered so much . . . now . . . life is less complicated, despite how complex it has become in other ways.

Though I did not serve as the primary caregiver for either of my parents, I could still connect with Rachel’s experiences in My Dad My Dog. As well, at the time I was reading my novel, like Nick, my border collie was going through some older-dog health struggles. This provided another connection point.

Seeing things from Rachel’s perspective gave me a better appreciation of what my oldest brother might have gone through with my Dad, who lived in a retirement home for the last couple of years of his life before experiencing a rapid decline at the end. After my mother died, it was my brother who did the bulk of the activity related to my father, and after reading My Dad My Dog I’m even more appreciative of his efforts. The novel also gave me insight into some of the challenges my friends have dealt with, or are dealing with, as they care for and support elderly parents or ill family members.

Some books you read and move on from, forgetting them quickly afterward. My Dad My Dog, for me at least, was not one of them. Despite the fact that My Dad My Dog is a work of fiction, the novel resonates with honesty and authenticity. True, it’s not an edge-of-the-seat thriller, if that’s what you’re looking for. But sometimes, a change of pace is good, too. ( )