gilda_elise

Hugo was a dog. He died. Now he's a kitten. As Hugo adjusts to his new body (not just a cat--a baby cat!), his new home (San Francisco), his new outside (Where are the mountains? Where is the lake?), and his sudden urge to sit in every box he sees, he wonders if he'll ever see Cassie or Jerry again. Back in Lake Tahoe, Cassie and Jerry attempt to come to grips with life without Hugo. Cassie fills the void with Tadpole Guard, Worm Patrol, and ups her protection of Jerry (her human), who is in the midst of a cataclysmic midlife crisis. In addition to his dog dying, Jerry's last two books have been monumental flops, and he's still reeling from his fiance leaving him for another man. As if these problems aren't enough, his parents (who have become late-stage hippies) are coming to live with him for the entire summer. And so begins the journey of three souls, intertwined by love, loss, and perhaps something even greater. Told with Nick Pirog's charm and razor sharp wit, The Speed of Souls is at once a hilarious, moving, and transcendent work of storytelling.

I liked this book, even though I felt it had a couple of flaws, mainly that the main character, Jerry, is a bit too in touch with his feminine side. And for a man his age, he doesn’t seem to have learned any of life’s lessons. That sounds harsh, but I don’t mean it to be, because the story did pull me in and I found myself rooting for Hugo to find his way home.

But I think my favorite character was Cassie. She’s a happy dog, even though she mourns the loss of her “brother,” Hugo. She’s often the voice of reason, of compassion, and of just plain ol’ common sense.

I did see the ending coming, but that didn’t take away from being so happy that things ended the way they did.