The Dogs of Bedlam Farm

Today’s book, The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, by Jon Katz is a nonfiction work published in 2004. This story of a man on his farm, his three dogs, a couple of donkeys and his flock of sheep relates relationships – to the author’s self and with others, animal and human.

Katz spends a good amount of time sharing his thought process with us through his interactions mainly with his dogs. His love for his dogs seems to save him from himself. He watches how others’ love for their dogs also has palliative effects on them.

Most of the narrative takes place on a lonely upstate NY farm during a bleak winter. Having experienced many a bleak, harsh, lonely winter, I felt that his descriptions of the deprivations he and his animal companions met were very accurate. Another thing that rang true to me was the transformative effect of such evil weather. Katz showed in his writing how surviving such a winter gave him a more contemplative and deep view on things in general.

Overall this is a great book to read when you have some time on your hands and you are in a contemplative sort of mood.

With this post I dispense of the thumbs up or down ratings, for I realize that if a book were not appreciated enough to rate a thumbs down, I probably wouldn’t be reading it all the way through (for pleasure) at any rate.

Labels: dogs, farm, nonfiction, winter

posted by reader kay at 5:43 PM