GOOD BOY My Life in Seven Dogs

Narrator Kelsey Navarro inhabits this memoir by the much loved, though often attacked, transgender writer Jennifer Finney Boylan. According to Boylan, life is about love--how we get and give it--why there's never quite enough. That's also what dogs are about, she asserts. It's not the unconditionality of their affection that's extraordinary, but our response, its mystery and depth. Pushed center stage for this history, the pets--who are often in the background in our lives--can be seen to exert an outsized influence. While capable of high theatricality, Navarro here employs the voice of a woman more amused than outraged. Adoration may be mysterious, but Navarro's quiet performance generates that precious nectar, and plenty of it. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2020]