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Lily and the Octopus 9781471146640 Books

Download As PDF : Lily and the Octopus 9781471146640 Books

Lily and the Octopus 9781471146640 Books

Listen, everyone. Stop whatever it is you're doing and read this book. Since I started Lily and the Octopus, a few strange things have happened: 1) My dog has started talking to me, 2) I have laughed like a maniac in public while tapping at my Kindle to turn pages faster, and 3) I have become FAR more emotional in public than I am comfortable with.

You do not need to be a dog lover to appreciate this book. You just have to be, you know, not an insensitive a-hole. And even if you are, this might be your weakness (just don't read it in public).

I highly recommend this to everyone. It will knock your socks off.


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Lily and the Octopus 9781471146640 Books Reviews

The beginning of this whimsical tale was wonderful! I! LOVED! IT! The relationship between Ted and Lily was precious and every response from Lily was received with joy, until the Octopus came. Losing a LOVED one is hard, and some people cope by running away from their problems or by disguising the true issue. At first, I thought it was cute how Ted disguised Lily's issue; however, it got really old halfway through the novel. Death affects many people besides the person or creature who does, but it affects the dying person the most. I was irritated by Ted's behavior by the middle of the novel and found myself trying to tell him how to care for Lily. Overall, Rowley does a wonderful job engaging the audience in Ted's endeavor s to cope with Lily's illness and inevitable demise. I feel that the novel would have been more enjoyable from Lily's perspective.
Lily is a 12 year old dachshund, with a tumor on her head. Her owner, Ted, refuses to recognize the tumor and refers to it as an octopus instead. Clearly, denial is heavy throughout the book.

Ted has fun and loving conversations with Lily, capturing her excitement and joy in everyday things. He has angry, dark conversations with the octopus mostly telling him to be gone. He is furious at the octopus and “would pull the walls of this house down on top of him if he weren’t attached to the fragile skull of my deepest love.”

The book is beautifully written, and even during the odd fantasy scenes, such as a sea voyage to find and kill the octopus, the emotional depth is startling.

The ending was heartbreaking. Ted acknowledges for the first time that she has a tumor and that “the body drawing shallow breath beside me is only the shell of my beloved dog. That in almost all respects, she is already gone.” It made me sob as I thought of my beloved dogs, Bandit, who died of liver cancer, and Lucky who died of old age. I challenge anyone to read this without crying.
I had just finished reading "A Dog's Purpose," which is a marvelous, funny, sad, and insightful book into how a dog views the world, and how that makes them such wonderful companions. The oft-used cliche that a "dog will give you unconditional love" is brought forward in a unique and marvelous manner in that book. So I thought this book might be at least somewhat similar - a good book, albeit sad - about a dog and her owner. I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with all of the marvelous reviews. That doesn't mean this is not a good book - it only means it didn't hit the mark for me. I found the dog's owner tedious, neurotic, and somewhat self-centered. His projecting a personality into Lily (i.e. playing Monopoly with her) was uninteresting, the dialogue did not grab me and, well, all I can say is I'm sure many others enjoyed the book. I'd highly recommend downloading a sample before buying and see if it's right for you.
I loved it and I hated it. I hated that it brought out such raw emotions in me that I upset my own dog.
I'm extremely sensitive to all things animal, whether it's a happy story or a sad story.
I had a hard time putting this book down. It was magical and beautiful and frightening and sad all at the same time. Since finishing the book, scenes and thoughts from it have frequently come back to me. In my mind, that's the sign of something really good. Definitely worth reading.
A little over a year ago, I lost my sweet dog to cancer. Roxie was only 5 years when she passed away, having been diagnosed at age 4. That's way too young to lose a special member of your family. I still grieve for her and miss her every day. She was adopted at one year of age, so she was really only in my life for four short years. During those years, though, she wormed her way into my home and heart. She acted as my protector the few couple of years and then, in turn, I acted as her protector for the last couple, watching her grow weaker and weaker, but still striving to be the strong dog she always was. So when I heard about LILY AND THE OCTOPUS, I had to pick it up. Lily was the author's pup of 12 years; the Octopus was the cancerous tumor that grew on her head.

If you've ever had a sick dog -- heck, if you've ever been lucky enough to have been loved by a dog -- this book is for you. WARNING this book will make you cry. It may not make you sob uncontrollably like it did for me, but it should create some semblance of "eye rain" (the author's terminology), unless you have a heart like the Grinch's. Reading the author's heartache was cathartic and made me remember Roxie fondly. I knew exactly what he was going through.

The book is semi-autobiographical, but it's a work of fiction, nonetheless. It's told from the narrator's point of view (a gay man), who also happens to have conversations with his dog, Lily, and then the Octopus as well. It sounds a bit strange, but it really works. In fact, when I read the dialogue, I felt like I could hear Lily's sometimes super excited/sometimes mellow voice, and the Octopus' snide, callous voice.

"Dogs have pure souls... Dogs are always good and full of selfless love. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them. Especially you. Since the day I met you, you have done nothing but make my life better in every possible way." This was the author's response to Lily in response to her inquiry if Karma was reason she had the octopus. Again, eye rain.

The book was very well-written and provided a quick read from chapter to chapter. Besides a tribute to a fantastic dog, the book is also about aging, the aging of our loved ones and ourselves, and coming to terms with both. "I see a younger version of myself at each and it's all I can do not to wave; I wonder what my younger selves would think of me now, if they would recognize me or even care to wave back." That's a very powerful observation and felt so true.

I emphatically loved this book like Lily loved her red ball, and I hope you will, too.
Listen, everyone. Stop whatever it is you're doing and read this book. Since I started Lily and the Octopus, a few strange things have happened 1) My dog has started talking to me, 2) I have laughed like a maniac in public while tapping at my to turn pages faster, and 3) I have become FAR more emotional in public than I am comfortable with.

You do not need to be a dog lover to appreciate this book. You just have to be, you know, not an insensitive a-hole. And even if you are, this might be your weakness (just don't read it in public).

I highly recommend this to everyone. It will knock your socks off.