4 STARS
Pros: Amazing how much your life can change when you let yourself love and think of others instead of focusing solely on yourself.
Cons: Not the best written book but it's heartfelt and genuine and you can tell Gonzalez writes the truth.
Full Review:
Philip Gonzalez was born and raised in New York. He spent his youth fighting in Vietnam, battling those inner demons from that terrible experience and spending most of his adulthood as a Construction Worker. He made good money and spent most of his time traveling, going out to clubs and generally having a good time. But when he's involved in a terrible accident at a job site that costs him the use of his right arm, he starts to realize some hard truths. Those he thought were his friends aren't around anymore, even his family stops visiting. And as he realizes how alone he is, he falls into a deep, dark depression.
It isn't until his neighbor, Sheila, intervenes that he makes a change. She insists that he needs purpose in his life, something to do with his time, and that she is going to take him to the animal shelter where he'll adopt a dog. He's reluctant at first, his dealings with dogs having been short and sad in his childhood. But Sheila won't take no for an answer. So he goes to the animal shelter and reluctantly decides to take a small, scrawny Schnauzer/Husky mix on a walk around the block. And he stops during the walk, looks down at the small dog and there is an instant connection. He takes her home that night and it's shortly after that the dog, Ginny, reveals her interesting talent.
She seems to have a sixth sense wherein she can pinpoint where a cat, particularly physically disabled cats are. She takes Philip around the neighborhood and together they start to find stray cats, one stone deaf, the other blind in one eye, another with no hind legs. And together, using Ginny as a compass, Philip begins to take the cats to the vet, get them fixed and do what he can to give them a good life.
Some cats he takes and keeps as his own. Others he takes them to the vet, gets them fixed so they won't have anymore litters of unwanted kittens and then he releases them back onto the streets. On his daily/nightly walks with Ginny and his friend Sheila, he always has cat food, dog food and water and does his rounds, making sure that the stray cats he has found, with the help of Ginny, are as comfortable as they can be.
This book was written in 1993, almost 20 years ago, so I'm thinking that Ginny is no longer with us. But even if that is the case, it's obvious that she had a special gift and made a permanent impact on Philip Gonzalez's life. And that special gift helped give Philip Gonzalez purpose, helped him realize how good it could feel to share love and care for things again.
In a world that can be overwhelming and sad with its violence and bloodshed, this book was a gentle reassuring ray of hope and love. It reminded me that not everyone is selfish, not everyone is just out for their own gain. There are some truly good people out there and if you look hard enough, you'll find them right when you need them, the same as Philip did with Ginny.
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