Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Dog Who Danced by Susan Wilson

The Dog Who Danced by Susan Wilson

The Dog Who Danced

A Novel

by Susan Wilson

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Mar 2012, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of One Good Dog comes a novel about a woman's cross-country journey to find her lost dog, and discover herself.

"My name is Justine Meade and in my forty-three years there have only been a handful of people that I have loved. No, that's an exaggeration. Two. Two that I lost because of stupidity and selfishness. One was my son. The other was my dog."

If there's been a theme in Justine Meade's life, it's loss. Her mother, her home, even her son. The one bright spot in her loss-filled life, the partner she could always count on, was Mack, her gray and black Sheltie - that is, until she is summoned back to her childhood home after more than twenty years away.

Ed and Alice Parmalee are mourning a loss of their own. Seven years after their daughter was taken from them, they're living separate lives together. Dancing around each other, and their unspeakable heartbreak, unable to bridge the chasm left between them.

Fiercely loyal, acutely perceptive and guided by a herd dog's instinct, Mack has a way of bringing out the best in his humans. Whether it's a canine freestyle competition or just the ebb and flow of a family's rhythms, it's as though the little Shetland Sheepdog was born to bring people together. The Dog Who Danced is his story, one that will surely dance its way into your heart.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Wilson persuasively adopts a dog's perspective from time to time in a story full of cliché and sentiment. Fans of Wilson's One Good Dog, or new readers looking for a heartwarming tale of the bond between human and animal, will find plenty to enjoy." - Publishers Weekly

"Told from multiple points of view (Justine's, Mack's, and a couple who find the lost Mack), this is an emotional read about dealing with loss, accepting things you cannot change, and moving on with your life. Recommended for those who love dogs and enjoyed Wilson's earlier work." - Library Journal

"While not detracting from the story, there is predictable anthropomorphism, and Wilson readily relies on a Sheltie's nature and behavior to drive the emotion-packed story to its somewhat too-easy climax. As with Marley and Me and The Art of Racing in the Rain, it's hard not to like a book where a dog is a major player." - Kirkus Reviews

This information about The Dog Who Danced was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Susan Wilson Author Biography

Photo: Bob Gothard

Susan is the author of nine well-received novels including her 2010 novel, One Good Dog, which enjoyed six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and THE DOG WHO DANCED received the coveted Maxwell Medal for Fiction from the Dog Writer's Association of America in 2012.

Her newest novel, The Dog Who Saved Me, was released in March 2015.

Her 1996 novel Beauty was made into a CBS Sunday Night Movie starring Jamey Sheridan and Janine Turner and can still be seen occasionally on the Lifetime network.

She is working on her next novel, another work featuring the complicated relationship between humans and the dogs they love.

She lives on Martha's Vineyard with her husband. She has two grown daughters and three grandchildren. Susan also lives with her demanding terrierist, ...

... Full Biography
Link to Susan Wilson's Website

Other books by Susan Wilson at BookBrowse
  • A Man of His Own jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.