Maybe just nudge the puppy with your foot a little?

I picked this up because I absolutely loved Gurwitch’s book Fired; for a couple bucks at the library, that and a general regard for the former Dinner and a Movie hostess was enough to part me with my cash. There was a lot of good will going into the purchase.

And this wasn’t bad, per se – I got my money’s worth at least, and Gurwitch has an amiable tone with some interesting stories – I’m just not sure there was enough to sustain a book here. I didn’t dislike it, but I’m not a fan, and it feels a bit like kicking a puppy – there’s nothing to dislike, so it feels wrong to give a bad review.

The ostensible theme is family, but the essays are disjointed and some only tangentially address familial ties – reading about the author’s time at an adult sleepaway camp was amusing, but hardly fits in with tales of finding a nursing home for her parents or the same parents’ questionable choices in the author’s childhood.

There are worse companions to take a meandering journey with than Gurwitch, but I do wish she had stuck to family stories OR “isn’t society crazy – my friend retouches instagram photos of her dog” modern anthropology stuff instead of trying to stitch the two together with a loose theme.

So yeah, even if this is going straight into the resell pile, I don’t want to kick the puppy – this was charming and pleasant enough. But I am nudging that puppy back to the humane society.