Lily and the Octopus

I received this book from Net Galley and I loved it. When I saw the description of the book I just had to read it. Ted lives for Lily and vice versa. This is a story of love and devotion a man and his dog. I did have a few tears.. For many readers parts of this book will be hard, it was for me, taking me back to a hard time with my first dog. I must admit I laughed I cried but I loved it and Lily will stay with me for a long time.

www.thereadersdomain.weebly.com Facebook: The Reader's Domain

THIS BOOK!!!!!!! It made me laugh, it made me cry!!! How talented Steven Rowley is. So beautifully written. Any animal lover is going to love this book. I have a pug and the relationship I have with Ruby is accurately portrayed in this book.

A writer who struggles to open himself up to love and relationships in general, finds an unbreakable bond between himself and his dachshund Lily. As the writer struggles to work and integrate in society he becomes more dependant on the bond he shares with Lily. Through relationship breakdowns, Lily is the constant in his life. Then one day, he notices Lily has a growth named Octopus (metaphor for cancer) on her head. And so begins the journey of grief. Denial, anger, sorrow, acceptance and then embracing what little time Lily and he have left together.

Boy did I shed some 'eye water' (lily would have been proud!!!), when reading this, particularly at the end when the inevitable happens! But what a poignant, beautiful account of the bond us humans have with animals.

This is going to be up there with one of the best books I have read for 2016, and I don't think I'm biased because I love animals, it just ticks so many boxes! Humour, sadness, relationships, etc. There is a bit of everything in this that everyone will be able to relate to. Do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book. You won't regret it!

Beautiful Book , cannot wait to handsell this super book .. without a shadow of a doubt .. it will be a bestseller ... everyone will be talking about this .. Thank you Simon & Schuster

Anyone who has or has had a pet should add Lily and the Octopus to their reading list. It was heartfelt and written with so much love. It had me asking my 6 furry friends if they remembered the day the came home to live with us. Absolutely beautiful.

Excuse me for a moment while I wait for the emotional rollercoaster to slow down and cruise into the docking station, ready for me to get off.
Oh my heart. This book is a wonderful, emotional, heart bleeding story of a man and his dog.
Of course, once you read the first chapter you’ll know exactly how the story is going to go. Don’t let that stop you. Steven Rowley tells a wonderful tale of a dog and his owner. I fell in love with the relationship he has with Lily right from the beginning. I mean, surely everyone plays Monopoly and talks boys with their dog, right?! My heart is so full of love, but so heavy with sadness. This is a literary wonder. A book that makes you want to read it, but not continue on because you want to save yourself. You’ll never look at another dachshund without thinking of the beautiful Lily. Being a dog person I feel like I may have invested myself heavily in this book. There’s just no description of the love and loyalty a dog and owner have. Read this book… that’s all I can say. Read it and feel the love that exists in this world. I’ll be right back, I need to go and smother my two senior furry babies in lots of love!!!

4 Star Review This is Ted and his dog Lily's adventures with the octopus and I need to say this is not normally my type of book but I'm so glad I read it.
Its a story about life, love, fun and heartbreak, Ted and Lily have been together for over 12 years but one morning he finds an octopus on lily's head ......
This book made me laugh it made me cry and it also had me hooked from page one

‘It’s Thursday the first time I see it.’

Ted Flask lives with his dachshund Lily. Ted is lonely, but Lily is an adorable companion. Sure, she’s aging, she’s twelve, but the two of them have great times together. Until, one Thursday night, while Lily and Ted are talking about boys they think are cute, Ted notices an octopus over Lily’s eye.

This beautiful story is about Ted and Lily’s six month battle with the octopus. It’s also about life and love, about the bond that some of us form with our pets, about dealing with saying goodbye. It’s funny, heart wrenching and sad. Lily talks to Ted, and so does the octopus. Ted would do anything he could to defeat the octopus. Anything.

‘Lily you were, quite simply, the greatest to me.’

Reading this story, my thoughts were never very far away from my own special dog, the late great Sir Bruce the Battle Rat. If you are a pet lover, I think you’ll relate to this story. You may need tissues, I certainly did.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

#allthefuckingfeels

READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!

I have so much love for this little book. That synopsis sums up this book in the best possible way. It is sweet, funny and full of wonder. I love Ted and Lily so very much and that is because the writing is superb. Side note: that cover is super cute but the story is cuter.

A lovely book, a tissue requiring book, a hard book to read if you own an elderly pet. Ted's relationship with Lily is at the heart of the book and is a total joy to read. I love their conversations and I smiled and cried as the book went along. Sweet and achingly sad all at once.

Set in the bustling city of Los Angeles, Ted a middle aged man who is recently single and spends his days working from home and being with his rescue dog, a dachshund called Lily.

Lily gets sick from a tumor, symbolised as an octopus, and Ted's life is turned upside down as he deals with the sadness of Lily reaching the end of her days and the grief of losing his beloved companion.

The story takes you on a magical journey of Ted and Lily - sometimes I was unsure if Ted was imagining parts of the story or if it was actually happening. Reminiscing about the times spent together, the adventures they went on and the bond between man and dog, all the while trying to fight off the octopus.

This book is powerful and moving, I read it with a lump in my throat most of the way through, but it is so beautifully written that it was worth the emotional rollercoaster. This is the kind of book I couldn't stop thinking about when I wasn't reading it and when you find a book like that you know it's made a huge impact - so I've officially added it to my top 5 favourite books of all time!

I recommend this book to everyone but especially to dog lovers - you will have an instant connection with the story and the unbreakable bond between man and dog.

Oh my goodness, I didn't realise I would need the tissues when I picked this up to read.
The story of Ted and his little dachshund called Lily who he rescued is one that will make you laugh and cry.
Our whole family love our pets, especially our dogs like they are part of the family and this story encompasses that and more.
A truly lovely read, I will recommend it to many people.

Ted Flask had acquired Lily, his dachshund as a rescue dog. Now she was twelve and the centre to Ted’s life. Living in the city of Los Angeles and working from home meant Ted could spend a lot of hours with Lily. So much so that they conversed on a continual basis – it didn’t matter what it was about – Ted knew he could talk to Lily about anything; most times she didn’t answer in a conventional manner, but Ted heard her all the same.

The day – a Thursday – Ted noticed a tumour on Lily’s head (which was of course the octopus) Ted vowed to get rid of it. He must – he couldn’t lose Lily. She was more precious to him that anything or anyone. His life was about to be turned upside down; the invariable reminiscences of life with Lily filled Ted’s mind. Their time together had been filled with adventures both big and small; comfort and love from human to dog – from dog to human. It couldn’t end…

Lily and the Octopus is a powerful and emotional ride – the debut novel by Steven Rowley, it was sometimes difficult to read, but always magical. The bond between Ted and Lily is one that all animal lovers will know and recognise; the grief at the inevitable recognisable. Recommended to all, but remember the tissues.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy to read in exchange for my honest review.

When I first started reading this, I felt that had the growth on the dog’s head not been called an octopus, the book wouldn’t have been at all interesting. It was just a story about a man who discovers that his beloved pet has a growth, presumably a tumour. Calling it an octopus gave a quirky magical realism feel to the story, but it wasn’t enough to keep me reading, so I put the book down and read something else for a while. I thought I wouldn’t return to this story, but it occurred to me that since Simon and Schuster had published it, it must have something more in store. Had it been self-published and not from an author I knew, I would have stopped reading because I would have had no guarantee that it was worth continuing with. So, trusting in the evaluation of the editorial team at Simon and Schuster, I picked it up again, and I was glad I did.
The story remained a simple one of a man coming to terms with the inevitable death of his aging pet. The fact that he called the tumor an octopus allowed a long section where he went to sea in a boat and battled the beast, an extended metaphor, magical realism style, for his mental processing. It was a great section, very appealing for me as an author who loves analogies and extended metaphors and writes magical realism herself. It also allowed for a growing tension as the book neared its conclusion. At that point I developed an admiration for the author’s ability to do this in such a simple story—an admiration that increased when I got to the very moving end.
This is undoubtably a book for pet lovers, because most of us will outlive our pets and face the same very real challenges as the protagonist here. His contemplations on the inevitability of death are something worthwhile for everyone to consider, and not just for their pets, but for themselves and all their loved ones.
In summary, though I would have liked more of a hook in the beginning—perhaps hints of the magical realism to come—the book ended up being well worth a read, and due to the depth of the treatment of the subject matter, the skillful way the author built the pacing and tension, and the brilliant handling of the end, I’ll give it 5 stars.

4★

BEGIN! THE! STORY! OF! ME!
[NetGalley requested no quoting from preview copy, but I just had to – sorry.]

The “me” of this command is Lily, a small, elderly (87 in people years, we’re told) Dachsund, Ted’s relentlessly loving, entertaining companion. Ted’s love for Lily is just as relentless. Even if it hurts. Even when it hurts.

Lily was the runt of her litter, and she chose Ted. He says he couldn’t tell all the brothers and sisters apart “tumbling over one another like noodles in a pot of boiling water. . . a pile of paws and tails.” But Lily, the runt, ambled over, chewed his shoelace and untied it. He picks her up and with her tucked up under his chin, her tail wagged “like the pendulum of the smallest, most fragile grandfather clock.”

Ted reckons the breeder was pleased because it left what looked like a perfect litter for the next customers. But Ted knows he took home the pick. She is “fiercely loved.”

He’s a gay guy with parents, a close sister, and gay friends, loving, loyal friends who all accept Lily as part of the family. He and Lily have a regular schedule of pizza nights and Monopoly nights and lots of conversations. When she’s excited, she goes into SINGLE! EXCLAMATIONS! like the first sentence here.

I’ve had a lot of dogs in my life, including many working dogs who lived outside. But I also had a long-haired Dachsund who, like Lily, slept under the covers so it seemed she would suffocate. I don’t know how they breathe under there, but I guess any smells would be an attraction rather than a deterrence.

We meet Ted’s family, friends, and ex who all watch him sink into alcohol, pain-killers and Valium as he copes with the realisation that his girl is ageing fast and what’s more, he’s found a scary growth on her head that is the octopus of the story.

Although the story is Lily’s, it is also Ted’s. We get to enjoy all the fun, silly things they’ve done, culminating in a hair-raising seagoing adventure reminiscent of Life of Pi. I loved Life of Pi. It’s fun to be carried away on these unbelievable escapades.

Rowley writes well and his characters are believable. The author tells us at the end that this began from a short story, and while a short story wouldn’t have been enough, this felt too long. I reckon a tight couple of hundred pages would have done justice to Lily, but I’m sure others will love it as it is.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster (Australia) for allowing me a copy to review.

This was such a wonderful book. As an avid pet lover, I was invested in this one from the start - and made it all the way to end before shedding a few predicted tears. What a way with words this author has. Thank you for sharing Lily's story!

Thank to to Simon & Schuster via Netgalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful book. I've had it for a while, but only just got around to reading it, and I'm so glad I did.

This is a novel about a man and his dog. Ted is the man and Lily is his dog. That may sound simple enough, but it goes much deeper than that. Ted and Lily's relationship is so much more than just owner/pet. Lily is Ted's child, partner & best friend. She speaks to him and has been his steadfast companion for twelve and a half years. Then one day the octopus arrives and changes everything.

This novel was a fantastic and fantastical journey through Ted's head for the time Lily is in his life. The language is so beautiful and this is so well written that the reader feels Ted's love for Lily and her trust of and devotion to him. The writing is so descriptive that Ted's grief felt like my own and I even cried on the train coming home from work. Then I got in the car and cried a bit more on the way home from the station.

Reading the Acknowledgements at the end I gather Lily was based on the author's own dog and he's managed to put his feelings about her into words so well that I shared those feelings with him, and they felt very authentic. That's a talent not a lot of authors have, in my opinion. I didn't find this novel hilarious; I found it poignant, endearing and lovely, and sometimes very said, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would recommend this book to dog lovers, cat lovers, octopus lovers, in fact, anybody who enjoys reading about the joy having a pet can bring to your life. Even if you don't enjoy reading about pets, read this anyway, because it's so beautiful you'd have to be pretty hard to please not to get something worthwhile out of it. I wish I'd read it sooner and eagerly away Rowley's future works.

EXCERPT:
The octopus has a good grip and clings tightly over her eye. It takes me a minute, but I gather my nerve and poke it. It's harder than I would have imagined. Less like a water balloon, more like . . . bone. It feels subcutaneous, yet there it is, out in the open for all to see. I count its arms, turning Lily's head around to the back, and sure enough, there are eight. The octopus looks angry as much as out of place. Aggressive perhaps is a better word. Like it is announcing itself and would like the room. I'm not going to lie. It's as frightening as it is confounding. I saw a video somewhere, sometime, of an octopus that camouflaged itself so perfectly along the ocean floor that it was completely undetectable until some unfortunate whelk or crab or snail came along and it emerged, striking with deadly precision. I remember going back and watching the video again and again, trying to locate the octopus in hiding. After countless viewings I could acknowledge its presence, sense its energy, its lurking, its intent to pounce, even if I couldn't entirely make it out in form. Once you had seen it, you couldn't really unsee it—even as you remained impressed with its ability to hide so perfectly in plain sight.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Combining the emotional depth of The Art of Racing in the Rain with the magical spirit of The Life of Pi, Lily and the Octopus is an epic adventure of the heart.

When you sit down with Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride.

The magic of this novel is in the read, and we don’t want to spoil it by giving away too many details. We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can’t live without.

For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion Lily, who happens to be a dog. Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.

MY THOUGHTS: I expected this to be a sad book, given the subject, but it wasn’t, at least not to the degree that I imagined. And I am writing this as the person who, when my dog went missing the week before last, spent two whole days driving around the streets searching for him, mobilising the town and rural posties to look for him on their rounds, and harassing the vets, the pound and the SPCA. Day three found me in tears, quite certain that he had gone off to die, as elderly blue heelers are prone to do, completely immobilized by my grief. Happy ending, he was located late on the afternoon of the third day, hungry and footsore, making his way back home. $200 later in pound fees and a quick trip to the vet to have him checked over and he was home. Where he had been for those three days remains a mystery; no one sighted him, and he's not talking!

Anyway, back to Lily and the Octopus. Dogs make the most amazing friends. They are loyal and loving. The emotions we, their humans, feel when our dogs' health is failing, are extreme. Ted is alone, other than for Lily, and has endowed Lily with many human traits. Well, maybe Lily could play Monopoly. Just because I have never tried playing board games with my dog doesn't mean that it can't be done. He is heavily emotionally invested in her, and when her life is threatened, he fights that threat every way he knows how. And in doing so, he learns a lot about himself, about responsibility, and about making tough decisions.

So, I didn't cry while reading this book. I smiled a lot, at times recognizing myself in Ted. It was a sweet, nostalgic read for me, bringing back memories of previous dogs I am lucky enough to have had in my life.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com