A Thousand Sunny Days

A Thousand Sunny Days is a memoir that will truly touch the heart of anyone fortunate enough to read it, but especially if that reader is a dog lover.

Three events shape Jason’s life’ The first is that he grows up with an unfortunately fractious relationship between himself and his father. Dad, you see, is one of that class of men who are easily able to criticize yet utterly incapable of expressing love. Jason’s relationship with his brother is not particularly better or satisfying.

The second event follows from the first. To state the obvious, those with difficult childhoods tend to have difficult marriages. Jason’s marriage falls apart. And then finally, when his best friend dies he is utterly, utterly alone, just another unwanted dog in the great pound of life.

Wait a minute.

Yes, Jason finds satisfaction and the nurturing love all humans crave in a succession of rescue dogs adopted from animal shelters which he takes into his home. He gives the dogs their external freedom, as they gambol happily through the outdoors in some of this book’s best scenes. They in turn reward their new friend-master with internal freedom of worth and joy.

So how’s the writing? Rather good, for a first-time writer. As one might expect, the best of it comes in defining the personalities of the various dogs. Oh, there will be some who will grumble that they might be a bit anthropomorphized, but Phinney never wanders into the land of Disney cartoons. Besides, anyone who has ever spent much time with canines knows that they have individual characteristics as defined and quirky as any human. Dogs are just generally more joyous about it.

This was a rewarding read, and incidentally the 309 pages are also filled with lovely photographs of the dogs. Enjoy.