Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Brag for a Friend, Dog Book Review, Dog Life, Dog Musings | Posted on 24-06-2010
Tags: book review, dog book, Justine van der Leun, Marcus of Umbria
In Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love, fellow freelance writer Justine van der Leun tells her tale of fleeing a magazine job in New York City for a much-needed fling with a hot guy in the Italian countryside. Amid her many stranger-in-a-strange-land adventures, the true love story unfolds between Justine and a field-bred, English Pointer that she names MARCUS before realizing the sad, neglected dog she found is a GIRL.
Part travel book, part foodie exploration, part cultural and familial observation, Justine weaves a sense of place and unwitting purpose into her story of what happens when you chuck your job, leave the country, and don’t quite know what will happen next.
Readers in our kind of dog circles may need to reel in some of their sensitivities since the dog care, dog ideas, and dog training issues raised in the book’s rural setting make for a tough read at times. Our horse-loving friends may also struggle with some of the horse training scenes. (Yes, she gets a couple of horses on a bit of a whim.)
What Interested Me More
I enjoyed the book. I truly did, for many reasons. Having grown up in a big Italian family that began with my great grandparents coming to the U.S. in the early 1900s, I found myself amused and totally identifying with some of the archetypes of sons and daughters, wives and husbands, in the families Justine encountered during her stay. I can attest to her descriptions being dead on.
Goodness knows my upbringing means I LOVE food and learned early on that food is love. Remember this essay about growing up an unlikely gourmet? Or how about these recipes? Frittata, wine cookies and pizzelles
Yet, when I asked the publicist if I could talk to Justine, after they offered me a review copy of the book, what I REALLY wanted to talk about was how on earth she took a poorly socialized, fearful, field-bred, off-leash-living, hunting dog from the Italian countryside into an urban community in the U.S.
In other words, what intrigued me most was what happened after her human romance faltered and after Marcus and Justine got on a plane to come “home,” except they had no actual home waiting for them.
What I wanted to know was:
- How petite, fearful Marcus coped with the moves, the new people, the modern landscape
- How did Justine teach Marcus that her new world wasn’t a scary, hideous place
My request amused Justine because it isn’t often that anyone in her life WANTS to talk about the nitty-gritty work required to modify the behavior of a very fearful dog. People literally shouted things at her from the sidewalk like, “That’s one flipped-out dog.”
Um, yeah, not helpful.
So, tune in tomorrow to learn how Justine and Marcus made their way through a world entirely new to both of them.
Plus, you won’t want to miss our Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love giveaway.
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FTC Disclosure: I received a free, review copy of the book from Meghan Walker from Tandem Literary Publicity & Marketing … as did many dog bloggers. Amid all the publicity, for which Justine and her team should seriously be commended, I hope I gave insights other than what others have done already on the book that came out June 8.
Photo credits: Justine van der Leun
[...] on a plane in Italy to return to a non-existent home stateside. As I mentioned in yesterday’s book review, while I liked the book a lot, what intrigued me more was what happened next. So, Justine and I [...]
Martha And Me … I promise … Marcus is VERY much alive and well.
As long as the dog doesn’t die, it sounds like a great read. I cannot handle books (or movies!) where the dogs die!
Now that’s a book review!
Thanks, Rod. I was so amused with your RV + 2 shedding dog piece this week. My sympathies.
Sounds intriguing — but I may have trouble reeling in my sensitivities re dog training and care. Appreciate the heads-up, IAC.
Susan, I understand. I stopped reading The Story of Edward Sawtelle because of the dog training methods used. Even though I intellectually knew it was set accurate to the times, I simply COULD not read with any pleasure about someone’s ability to deliver corrections to dogs.
In this case, we’re talking things like … outdoor-only dogs, puppies getting ill and being taken to the woods to be shot, people believing that female dogs need to have one litter (or at least access to nookie). Generally, it’s just people not really thinking about dogs the way Americans do, and certainly not the way our subset of dog-lovers do.
I don’t know as much about horse training, but I suspect regular blog readers like Maery and Sue would have trouble with those sections.
Well, Hilary … if we get enough additional questions, maybe Justine and I can talk again and add another installment.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s installment. I also want to find out the answers to your questions, and I have others!