Buddy (How a Rooster Made me a [Family] Man), by Brian McGrory (Crown Publishers, 329pp, 2012, $24) (video trailer)
The book I read by mistake, but I'm glad I did!
(Thought this was the book by Sy Montgomery* about an octopus or a chicken)
Author Brian McCrory (nephew of the Washington Post reporter of reknown) pens a totally funny book, in places. And though about a chicken, and family, the book really shines when McGrory writes about dogs** and his relationship to the dogs of his life.
Learning to be a Dad
I'd like to do a great job of writing a review of Buddy but I don't want to give anything away. Suffice it to say the author lived an enviable bachelor life in downtown Boston, writing for a living, in between his marriages***. Mostly focused on his second, the book also highlights how he met his second wife (unbelievable, but no hints other than involving a fish) and tells us all about the trials and tribulations of little girls, of which he inherits two, with his second marriage. Leading a hectic but suburban life all of a sudden (with a working wife) McGrory learns that 7- and 9-year-old girls can be more than a handful, speaking a language he doesn't get: for example, all three females love their ornery rooster Buddy and love to cuddle him while the author and said rooster are nearly mortal enemies. But all ends well, sort of, after several hilarious escapades.
*Sy Montgomery did write an endorsement on the back cover, however
**the first few chapters and one towards the end. Almost tear-jerkers but this reviewer wishes to state she wished he used only reward-based methods with his best friends
***"Marriages stay intact for one basic reason, because the people involved want them to, . . . Marriages fall apart for a million reasons. . . ." (p. 28)