Jon Katz has devoted most of his writing to his animals on the farm he lives. I have read several of them. "Rose in a Storm" is about his real life dog border collie Rose. Although this is in fiction form. The story is around Rose who looks over the farm and animals that reside there. She is wondering what happened to Sam her owner's wife Katie{ she does not understand that Katie died} it is winter time and a storm is coming. a big blizzard. Rose has to chase off coyotes and other dangers. she also helps an old stray dog referred to as the "wild dog" who once lived on a farm nearby and ran away years ago when his owner died. Sam her owner has an accident where he is taken away to a hospital and Rose is left to manage the farm and blizzard and dangers that go with it. I liked this book very much. I enjoyed that it was seen through the eyes of Rose the border collie dog. anyone who likes to read about Dogs may like this touching book. Jon Katz is good at getting into the thoughts a dog may have. I was looking for something quick to read while on vacation and managed to find this on the library shelf. On the positive side, it did keep my interest long enough for me to finish the book, and Katz's view of the inner thoughts and mental maps of a working farm dog initially intrigued me. Sadly, that's where the positive things end.The book was so repetitive: same ideas about a dog's mental map and level of comprehension hammered out over and over again, unvaried sentence structure, and many weary words. Character development was weak for all but Rose, the heroine farm dog. Yes, the focus is on Rose, but the story is told from the 3rd person, so why not flesh out Sam and the other animals a bit more? How many times did we have to hear that the cats were standoffish, and the rooster officious? Couldn't Katz think of anything more substantial than the trite stereotypes of familiar animals?Further, it seemed to me that his approach was too explicit. Rather than allow the reader to discover his own understanding of how a dog's mind works through an intricate plot and/or vivid description, Katz simply tells you straight out what he thinks Rose can and cannot understand, and exactly how he imagines her to think through problems.Finally, the weakest part of the book was the overly contrived and simplistic attempt at deus ex machina. I am no animal tracker, but I know that that one cannot diagnose "wolf" based on one set of foot prints. I suppose this is the sort of thing that happens when an author ventures into a discipline about which he knows little.I would not recommend this book.
What do You think about Rose In A Storm (2010)?
Gripping book. I skimmed through the metaphysical parts but enjoyed the rest of it.
—Cloe
I felt like I was on the farm, worrying about the sheep with Rose.
—daaboul
Love books about dogs. Period. This one was super!
—Kristi
