Book Summary and Reviews of Ask Bob by Peter Gethers

Ask Bob by Peter Gethers

Ask Bob

by Peter Gethers

  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2013, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Dr. Robert Heller is one of New York City's leading veterinarians, and his "Ask Dr. Bob" advice column is hugely popular among pet-lovers. Yet Dr. Bob understands animals a lot better than people, and he definitely could use some advice of his own - especially when it comes to his family. His father is angry and controlling, his mother is nearly invisible, and his brother seems bent on destroying not just his own life but the lives of everyone around him. As for Bob's wife, Anna, she is all but perfect, assuming one can ignore her own colorful but deeply dysfunctional clan. And then, just when Bob thinks he's figured out what it takes to thrive in the human world as comfortably as he does among cats, dogs, and hamsters, tragedy strikes. How can he go on living when he is suddenly, soul-killingly alone?

In previous books, Peter Gethers has written charming true tales about what a man can learn from a beloved cat. Now he ventures into new territory with a funny, touching novel about a pet doctor who finds out what it means to be human, and what a family must do to truly become a family. Full of unforgettable characters, Ask Bob will remind everyone that sometimes we need a lot more than love to make the world go around - but that love is an awfully good place to start.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

A melancholy yet redeeming story of life and love, loss and redemption." - Kirkus

"With poignant insight into the precarious nature of human emotions, Gethers, author of nonfiction books about a beloved cat, including The Cat Who'll Live Forever (2001), dramatizes what it means to be vulnerable and how the pursuit of love and desire for renewal can soothe even the most tortured soul." - Booklist

"A touching, funny story about the mystery of love – human and animal – that rings too true."- Carl Hiaasen

"Ask Bob is a funny, smart, charming, and relatable romp - with dogs! I enjoyed every page." - Julie Klam, author of You Had Me At Woof

This information about Ask Bob 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.

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Author Information

Peter Gethers

Peter Gethers is the author of The Cat Who Went to Paris, the first book in a bestselling trilogy about his extraordinary cat, Norton. When not writing memoirs and novels, he is a screenwriter, playwright, book publisher, and film and television producer. He is also the co-creator and co-producer of the hit off-Broadway play Old Jews Telling Jokes, and one of the co-creators of Rotisserie League Baseball, which begat the fantasy-sports craze. He lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.

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