Pavlov's Dog

A light hearted humorous, witty story about a failing actor who's dog becomes more famous without even trying, really enjoyable read

Actually 3.5 stars but I have rounded it up for its moments of sheer brilliance (bonkerness).
This was a bit of a fun read for me. Well, initially hat's what it started out being. A bit bonkers, a bit strange, a bit funny on the side. But as it went on, it started to take itself a bit more seriously and started being a wee bit philosophical. Definitely a book that can be read on many levels depending on the readers own background and other comparisons they make from their own life experiences. It becomes the story of an unbreakable bond between man and his best friend and the lengths he will go to repair the past.
Stan is an interesting character to say the very least. A washed up actor who is scraping the bottom of the barrel just to do something in the field. Lowering himself at every turn. At one audition he loses out to, of all people, his own dog. Dog then becomes a star and he loses him too. Stan then follows the obvious downward spiral as Dog's star shines bright. To tell the truth, Stan is a pretty nasty person during these times and I did lose faith with him a bit along the way. But then, Stan is offered the ultimate gig; host of a new game show. A rather interesting (shall we just say) game show where the contestants have to act like animals. See, that's where the bonkers element comes forward! The rest of the book is beyond describing, mostly cos it just has to be read in context to everything else but, suffice to say, Stan's true colours shine out once again and you just know how it will all end up. And it does.
I say I enjoyed this book. Well, for the majority I had no idea where it was going, what was going to happen next, and when it did, sometimes I was a bit dazed and confused for a while until the whole thing managed to wrap itself up at the end. And then I wasn't too sure what I thought about that. I didn't leave the book completely satisfied but, at the same time, I couldn't see any other way that things could have worked out and, after a few days thinking about it, I have to agree that it was a fitting end for what had gone before.
During reading a book, I do have this annoying habit of rating it as I go on. This book swung between 2 and 5 stars for me the way through. With the book titled as it was, there was something I was waiting for throughout, I won't spoil it by mentioning here but I did get my wish and that basically is why I rounded up my half star.
This is definitely going to be a marmite book. I admit that it won't be for everyone. People will give up half way through even but, you know what, tempted as I also was to throw the whole thing it, I did stick with it and I am glad I did. There were some very funny moments that kept me going; that really helped. Whether I would read the author again is another question but I think he's one for the sample system to help me with.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.