Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Feb 17, 2008

Keleigh rated it:

This book struck me as both straightforward and subtly complex. The language is simple and unassuming, yet the attention to detail creates a much more layered and nuanced portrait than first perceived. I was intrigued, albeit occasionally confused, by the way Thomas hopskotched through time, shifting between present and past tense without ever truly grounding me in a “now.” I felt this was craftily intentional, conveying the “eternal present tense” that her husband now lives in, and she has been More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Joanie rated it:

Abigail Thomas book begins with a blurb that explains that Aborigines used to sleep with their dogs to keep them warm. Really cold night were referred to as "three dog nights." I was totally sucked in after reading that part but as much as I liked the book (maybe 3 1/2 stars would be more appropriate) it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

The author's husband suffers a severe traumatic brain injury when he is hit by car. He requires constant care and supervision an More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Lara rated it:

I scooped up several copies of Abigail Thomas' memoir, A THREE DOG LIFE, after hearing her read at a local, indepdendent bookseller a couple of years ago. The seal of approval on the cover by Steven King noting it as "The best memoir I have ever read." was certainly intriguing, but I was more taken by her and the glimpse she gave us into her life.

Simply told, in April 2001, Thomas' husband Rich took their dog Harry for a walk and was hit by a car. The accident shattered his s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 26, 2008

Jes rated it:

I love dogs so the title of this book caught my attention.
After Abby's husband suffers severe brain damage after being hit by a car while chasing after one of their dogs, the relationship that the couple shares is transformed. Richard, Abby's husband is a "new person" trying to make sense of the world around him. He gets irritated easily, says bizarre things and has sporadic and surprisingly accurate premonitions. Abby suffers from extreme guilt because she is not able to care f More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 10, 2007

Jenny rated it:

Memoirs are a tricky thing to read. Some feel self-indulgent and egotistical, some feel too intrusive and private and others keep you guessing why this person felt the need to write about their life. This memoir is hard to categorize. It's short, choppy, a bit meandering, and the title is deceiving. It's not about dogs, it's not even really about her husband's accident, it's more about her. Just her. Should her life stand still because her husband has no past, no future, and barely a present tim More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2008

Inder rated it:

Abigail Thomas's husband of 13 years was hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury, leaving him without any short term memory and unable to process most normal conversation. This is her memoir of coping with this tragedy.

I'm not going to pretend that this is a "fun" book to read, although sometimes it is. Ms. Thomas has a dry, self-deprecating wit that you can't resist.

However, I will say that this is one of the most beautiful memoirs I've read in some More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2007

Katie rated it:

Abigail Thomas's husband Rich sustained a brain injury after they had been married for 13 years. His ability to process new (or retain old) information was almost entirely destroyed. Thomas describes the stages of grief and self-doubt she experienced after her husband's accident. And the tremendous simplicity of these stages is what makes them so beguiling: the abstract concept of losing your husband -- of your husband essentially dying but continuing to live -- is one that on the surface see More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2009

Courtney rated it:

I would recommend this book to anyone who has gone through a tragedy or lost someone important to them. It also is a great book for anyone who has ever thought, dreamt or is plannng on doing any writing of their own. As a writer myself, I find Thomas truly inspiring because of that fact that she did not start writing until age 47. It's a quick, easy, inspiring read. Go Buy it!

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2010

Heather rated it:

I loved this book, although it was difficult to read at times. Not because of the writing - Thomas' writing is thoughtful, witty, easy-to-read. But the topic - what happens when someone significant in your life is altered mentally - can be uncomfortable and it's one that most of us will face. As Alzheimer's runs in my family, I probably will encounter it with my parents - and my husband may face it with me. How do you survive having to put your partner in a nursing home when he's a physically-he More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2009

Dawn rated it:

I learned from this book that it is possible to love someone so much that regardless of how they have changed, or why, or the fact there is no future you can continue to love that person, while still maintaining your own life. And the dogs made it possible I think. Amazingly coincidental, I began and read most of this book on 4/24/09; the 9 year anniversary of the car accident that injured the author's husband and changed her life forever.

Abigail Thomas has a wonderful writing styl More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Chana rated it:

Written in a sparse prose that is exactly right. There is the tragedy which is sudden and heartbreaking, but it happens in a moment and one can't go back. Listen to this, "I thought I had accepted Rich's accident, even though I kept putting myself in a place where it hadn't happened yet. Rich hadn't left for his walk. I could stop him at the door. I thought that not accepting meant turning my face to the wall, unable to function. So now today I look up the word acceptance and the defi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 25, 2008

Carrie rated it:

This is a memoir about the past 5 - 6 years of Abigail's life. Her husband suffered brain damage one night when he was hit by a car while out walking their dog, would had slipped from his collar and bolted into traffic. After recovery, he's never quite been himself and has no short term memory. He must live in special homes as his rages and confusion are too much for Abigail and a nurse. The book follows her as she deals with the change in her marriage, the change in her life, and how she deals More...

0 comments like

Aug 23, 2010

Dinah rated it:

Nobody rips my heart wide open quite like Abigail Thomas. I had the pleasure of sitting in on a Master Class with her in college, and I have never encounter such a straight-shooter in both her demeanor and her writing. There is very little flourish to her memoirs: no padding of metaphors, few run-on sentences, latinate words only when they are exactly appropriate. This woman has an extraordinary gift for staring her very ordinary, and very difficult life straight in the face, and sketching its l More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 29, 2010

Thechicgeek rated it:

Stephen King declared this "Best Memoir I Have Ever Read." I have to say, I am surprised by that. I did enjoy the book but in many ways found it somewhat uninspiring. Abigail Thomas details the difficulty of trying to live happily after a loved one sustains a life-altering brain injury.

My problem with the story was that I felt she was just kind of existing, but not really enjoying her life as much as she could. To me, she was in a holding pattern. Abigail was simply More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 01, 2010

Grace rated it:

Abigail Thomas' "A Three Dog Life" is a jumbled up mess of a memoir that is out of control and incredibly difficult to follow. Is it about her three dogs? Is it about using the three dogs to cope after his husband's accident? Is it about her husband Rich's irreversible brain damage from the accident? Is it about her writing? These four concepts are meshed together in a stream of consciousness style that left me scratching her head and wondering who in their right mind would publish som More...

0 comments like

Nov 01, 2009

Nancy rated it:

Abigail Thomas had only been married to husband Rich for a few years when he went out to walk the dog he never wanted to own. The dog broke free, and Rich went into the road to save him, and was hit by a car. Traumatic brain injury. The "nicest guy in the world" would never be the same.

Thomas writes this memoir about the very situation which has occupied the worry section of my brain since I got married: what happens when the guy you marry is no longer the guy you mar More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 16, 2009

Ann Marie rated it:

Picked this up - no joke - because it was in the bestseller aisle at Sam's Club. It truly it a touching and poignant account, but I was often distracted by the stream-of-thought style of writing and overall organization. I frequently thought “what, where are we, when was the accident again?” The author’s husband suffers a serious brain injury and is no longer himself, actually no longer even fully functional. She chronicles the struggles, the hospitals, rehab facilities, a brief time at home w More...

0 comments like

Mar 21, 2010

Lois rated it:

In these poignant essays Thomas describes the five years following her husband's brain injury which necessitated his being institutionalized. How their marriage has evolved with him living always in the present - their companionship. She sells their New York apartment, buys a house in the country to be near him, acquires two more dogs to keep her company and makes a new life for herself teaching, writing, knitting, seeing friends and also living in the present. Illuminating and inspiring.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 07, 2010

Margaret rated it:

The best feature of this book is Ms. Thomas's writing - it's so down to earth, elegant, funny, wry, poignant, poetic - all those adjectives plus others in the same family(-ies). It's a tribute to her writing that once I started reading this book, I continued reading once I'd figured out after a couple of familiar, deja vu pages that, oh yeah, I read this book some time ago... The book is a series of essays, more or less in chron order, about her life partly before and mostly after her husband More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2009

Beejay rated it:

My sister lent me “The Book Thief” with the great recommendation that it was “the best book she had ever read”. I read it, and she was almost right – I give it second place. My sister lent me “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”, telling me that it was a real joy. I hated it so much it’s actually one of those rare books which I couldn’t even finish, and swore not to feel guilty about doing so. My sister lent me “The Faraday Girls”, assuring me it was a quick, easy, delightful read. I finish More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Louise rated it:

Abigail and her husband Rich lived happily in Manhattan. On April 24, 2000 while Rich is out walking their dog, he is hit by a car and sustains a traumatic brain injury. His skull was shattered, his perception of time and reality forever altered. After being hospitalized, Rich is moved to a home where they had experience caring for people with traumatic brain injuries.

Abigail lives alone with her 3 dogs and visits Rich regularly but she never knows from one day to the next how she More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Jillian rated it:

This isn't a romance book, per se, but it's about a deep love for a partner who has dementia after an accident. It was very sad, and has some beautiful passages. I loved the quotes: "Good things happen slowly, and bad things happen fast," and "What is art, anyway, except not pounding on walls."

The chapters describing the author's dogs' behavior after her husbands accident moved me to tears, and I found the chapter about "outsider art" very moving.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2009

Glenn rated it:

A memoir written by a woman who married a man named Rich later in life (she in her mid 40's and he in his late 50's), and how a tragic accident occurs while Rich is out walking their dog one evening. He gets hit by a car, which causes a traumatic brain injury. As a result, he has no short term memory, and has to live in an institution.

This is a story that will tug at your heart, as you can feel the emptiness that
Abigail faces and feels, trying to go on with life w/o being able More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Linda rated it:

Abigal Thomas is a hell of a writer. If I could be a writer I would be her. We know that a THREE DOG LIFE is, if we are of a certain age and familiar with THREE DOG NIGHT, about throwing on another dog when we are cold, for survial or for warmth. Her books, which I am working through at a fast pace are short but filled with insights and ponderings that comfort and warm us. She chronicles her husbands brain injury and the impact that it has had on their marriage and on her life. Her husband, " More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Tony rated it:

My wife adores this book. That, and the fact that it recognizes the majesty of dogs, I had to pick it up.

It's an easy read. A stream of consciousness voice that flits through the details of her husband's tragedy that leaves him with brain damage and the voice of a sage. His quips drop like Zen koans, cutting through preconceptions, like poetic innocence. These scenes with her husband are the most compelling.

I didn't realize, at first, that this was something like a collection More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2009

Jamie rated it:

The author's husband suffered a severe brain injury that changed their lives forever. This is the story of how their lives are now. There's an intense undercurrent of emptiness, sadness, and depression, and an absence of any forward momentum. The accident displaced both of them from the normal passage of time. He lives in a care facility, and she grows old in a house in the country with her three dogs and an empty refrigerator. The best parts of the book are the strange and imaginative things he More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I loved the writing style in this book - rich with fabulous images, especially for dog lovers. My favorite image from the book is when she talks about forgiveness. Paraphrased, she says that after a fight dogs run off across a field, bumping bodies and everything is forgotten; humans are the ones who get caught up with apologies. It reads like a series of essays, but there is clear cohesion among them.

The book is not really about the dogs but about what they bring to Thomas after he More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2009

Jill rated it:

This book is a glimpse into the life of the author who's husband was injured in a horrible accident. He was left with a severe brain injury. One minute he is there and then “he” is gone… life can change so fast! It is a realistic story of accepting your new circumstances and the limitations of your loved ones. It is tragic but a good read. It makes you stop to think about your losses and your blessings .. the thing I came away with was why am I waiting for “someday” .... How many times have we a More...

0 comments like

Jan 28, 2009

Perri rated it:

Abigail Thomas's memoir is an account of her life after her husband is hit by a car and suffers permanent brain damage. Thomas' struggle to redefine her existence parallels her husband's struggle to assign meaning, perspective, and context to the events happening around him. Her writing style is simple and rings true. One of my favorite passages reads:

I thought that not accepting meant turning my face to the wall, unable to function. So now today I look up the word accepta

More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2010

Linda rated it:

I tend to grab books with dogs on the cover so didn't really know what to expect from this rather thin memoir. The dogs really don't have too much to do with it although one managed to begin the chain of horrible events that led to the brain damage suffered by her husband and eventually the writing of this memoir. I love Abigail Thomas's raw honesty. So many lives are like hers. Perfect in little ways with niggling little imperfections. Yes, she loved her husband. And yes, he was walking the dog More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

reviews