Another Bad-Dog Book

August 22, 2011
Despite its title, this collection of personal essays from Cole (Toxic Feedback) is not a dog book, and only the title essay concerns the author's Chihuahua mix. Instead, this is a person book, and its scope is personal, for better or worse. Cole shares her most private thoughts: her worries that her husband is not her "best friend"; her obsession with her previous book's Amazon.com rankings; her shock, after friend-ing her high school crush on Facebook, only to discover that he is an aggressive poster of right-wing rants. Though Cole's willingness to let us see her from all anglesâin her rattiest bathrobe, drinking milk out of the cartonâis appealing and sometimes very funny, the content can feel scant. It sometimes seems as if the other half of the essay is missingâthe half that moves from the narrowly personal into the more meaningful, transforming anecdote that characterizes strong essays. Nevertheless, by the end of this friendly, honest book, the reader will feel much affection for Cole, her little brood, and her bad dog.